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BlackBerry Network Turns Sour

by Tim Stevens on April 18, 2007 at 09:27 AM

MIllions of business users, and plenty of celebrities, awoke in horror this morning to a dead BlackBerry device. Well, not entirely dead, but at least a device that wasn't receiving any emails. The cause? It turns out that RIM, the company behind the BlackBerry, suffered a massive network failure last night as originally reported by Engadget Mobile.

The technical fix to the problem is slated to come sometime this morning, with RIM performing a full system reset to get things back online. Unfortunately, the system has been down since roughly 8PM Tuesday night, meaning there are over 12 hours' worth of e-mails backlogged in the system just waiting to go flying to users' handhelds. So, even when they do get things rolling again, it could be the better part of the day before the entire system will be completely up to date.

This of course isn't the first time BlackBerry users have had to suffer through some unsettling times, with the numerous threats of a complete shutdown for the service due to a string of patent disputes over the past few years. We've even had minor email hiccups of our own using BlackBerrys.

Now, you do have other choices: The Treo line of smart phones are very popular, offering even greater functionality than the Berrys, while other Windows Mobile devices, like the Samsung Blackjack, offer plenty of portable power in some very svelte packaging. That said, we've had plenty of trouble with our Treos, and even more with our Windows Mobile devices. The fact is, few smart phones work 100 percent of the time, in our experience.

Let's hope the upcoming iPhone offers Apple's relatively smooth level of reliability.

UPDATE: According to RIM, things are under control and the network is coming back online.

From AOL Money News and Engadget

Tags: BlackBerry

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