BlackBerrys going down tomorrow -- on purpose this time
Well, this is refreshing, we guess: a warning that RIM's North American services are going to go down before it actually happens. Waterloo sent out a note this week that it'll be taking down the giant, scary, HAL-like machines that power BlackBerrys operating in the United States and Canada tomorrow, Saturday the 22nd, from 6AM to 10AM GMT. Translated, that's 2AM to 6AM EDT, which we figure is a relatively painless period for RIM to be knocking out service, all things considered. It looks like virtually everything involving data could be affected, including sending and receiving messages, registering devices, and web browsing -- but let's be honest, if you're checking your email on your phone at 4AM, you need to put the darned thing on the nightstand and catch some shut eye.[Via Boy Genius Report]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave @ Mar 21st 2008 3:01PM
and THIS is why I own a WinMo Device and don't use blackberry.
elgee02 @ Mar 21st 2008 3:15PM
Heh, my treo 700w had more downtime than my BBerry 8830. WM is fine, I still prefer BBerry.
Volcom @ Mar 21st 2008 5:00PM
Is there a reliable source to this? , i see no Press Release on RIM's site
this is pretty big for businesses that rely on RIM's network.
Ed @ Mar 21st 2008 5:05PM
I see nothing on their site either, but a call into their tech support does confirm it. It's on their greeting message.
kash @ Mar 21st 2008 5:12PM
how does your wm6 device have more down time then a blackberry device.. u must have one shotty e-mail admin
Dave @ Mar 21st 2008 5:56PM
I think he was just referring to how the Treo750 is an overall piece of shit, but you cant really blame windows mobile for that now can you? Everyone knows Palm's made after the year 2002 are pieces of shit.
Donald @ Mar 21st 2008 6:01PM
If you call tech support now, the message is gone. The maintenance has been postponed.
Donald @ Mar 21st 2008 6:28PM
To follow up on this, because of flooding in the Midwest emergency services requested the postponement.
Michael S @ Mar 23rd 2008 3:19PM
It would be funny if the tech's didn't get the email that the maintenance is postponed and took it down anyway.
Josh @ Mar 21st 2008 7:12PM
Dave, I'm sure the IT hacks at your company have a better record regaring downtime with their Exchange server than BB has with it's NOC.
Dave @ Mar 21st 2008 10:13PM
Josh, I'm going to assume you were being sarcastic. As a matter of fact the IT hacks here do suck, yet my exchange server is almost never down, but to get some perspective with how BlackBerry vs Windows Mobile works:
BB Phone BB Enterprise Server Exchange Server
VERSUS
WinMo Phone Exchange Server
Now call me crazy but I like the second option a lot better, since not having middleware means most likely less problems. But hey, maybe you like paying RIM to access your Lotus, Exchange, or GroupWise mail.
Plus, if I REALLY had to access crap middleware I would just install BlackBerry Connect on my Tilt, which I don't think anyone sane who has used it is going to say that ANY Blackberry device even comes close.
Henry Mensch @ Mar 21st 2008 7:43PM
as a blackberry customer with t-mobile i'm glad that i read engadget because this is the only way i knew this might happen.
Tib02 @ Mar 21st 2008 10:14PM
I was thinking the same thing...
So when was RIM or T-Mobile going to say something about this outage?
Dave @ Mar 21st 2008 10:15PM
ugggh it wouldnt let me put arrows, but the diagram should have looked like
BB Phone....BB Enterprise Server....Exchange Server
Versus
WinMo Phone.........................Exchange Server
Busta Smith @ Mar 22nd 2008 3:36PM
I don't exactly know too much about blackberries but I hear alot of junk about them on the news. I have a samsung blackjack II and overall the phone is decent. the battery life is alot better but overall it's the same ole same ole. the processor to me is still kind of slow and mediocre, about the same speed as my 4 year old motorola mpx-200 only the blackjack has a bigger screen and can do more. The only real thing I meant to say is that I have never experienced an outage of any type using windows mobile 5 or 6, now. I couldn't imagine paying for a service for email and such when I can easily get it for free without any outages involved. Kind of an easy question to answer when considering a blackberry compared to most of the better WinMo devices out here. I dunno, I was bored and was reading this blog and figured since I'm poor I'll just add one cent to the log..........lol. happy easter folks !!!
mschaffer @ Mar 25th 2008 4:35PM
So, are they adding India to the governmental back-door access during this outage?