Outage -- Engadget Mobile

outage posts

Verizon "Mobile Web" service currently down

by Nilay Patel posted Nov 5th 2009 @ 2:32PM

We've been getting a slow trickle of tips telling us that Verizon's Mobile Web service is currently down nationwide, with no ETA on a fix. That's Mobile Web, the featurephone service, not, you know, big-boy data, so chances are you're fine -- our various VZW smartphones are unaffected. (Although we did have a dropped call and some spotty voice quality on a DROID this morning -- ruh roh.) We'll let you know if we hear further.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

T-Mobile USA down all over the place? (update: yes)

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 3rd 2009 @ 7:24PM

We're getting reports from sea to shining sea this evening that T-Mobile service is down or intermittent on both voice and data -- particularly bad timing in light of the recent Sidekick drama. We've tested in New York and it's definitely down for us -- both voice and data -- so how's service treating everyone out there?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We just got an official statement from T-Mobile, and it's confirmed -- service is down. Here's the statement:

"T-Mobile customers may be experiencing service disruptions impacting voice and data. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible. We will provide updates as more information is available."

Update 2: All service is now restored, according to the company -- they say about 5 percent of users were affected by the outage, though circumstantial evidence would certainly suggest that the number is higher (especially considering that New York City was one of the dead zones).

Danger's server woes leave Sidekicks in the lurch

by Chris Ziegler posted Oct 4th 2009 @ 4:48PM

Look, Danger, we know that you're hard at work on... ahem, "other things" right now, but can you please just take five and figure out what's wrong with your servers? Sidekicks rely very, very heavily on the ability to phone home for even basic tasks -- looking up contacts, browsing the web, you name it -- and it seems that Danger's data center has been on the fritz for a solid two days now with symptoms ranging from text message weirdness to dead address books and everything in between, up to and including a completely unusable experience. Frantic calls to T-Mobile are resulting in comped bills for some subscribers, so if you're affected, you might want to give 'em a ring.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Apple: Jailbreaking encourages cell tower terrorism, "catastrophic results"

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Jul 29th 2009 @ 12:37PM

If trashing your push messaging wasn't enough to steer you clear of using your iPhone in unauthorized ways, this next bit of news might have you back on the straight and narrow. According to Wired, Apple's latest salvo in the fight over jailbreaking is a claim that pernicious, iPhone wielding techno-hackers at home or abroad could modify the baseband and use it to attack cellphone towers, "rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data." Of course, the idea that this would become more likely if the legal status of jailbreaking changes is totally absurd, but why let that stand in the way of a legal argument?

In a related note, one of our editors (whose jailbroken iPhone shall remain nameless) got a strange baseband pop-up error this morning -- the very same morning that AT&T is suffering a "massive connectivity outage" throughout the northeast and midwest. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.

Read - iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims
Read - Anyone Experience the AT&T Outage?

BlackBerry BIS drama today?

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 13th 2009 @ 5:41PM

We've been getting tipped left and right that BIS outages are affecting BlackBerry customers on many carriers today, meaning your hands have probably become progressively twitchier over the last couple hours as they've become further and further removed from up-to-date email access. Horrifying, isn't it? Our own Jacob tells us service has already been restored for him, so hopefully everyone out there in RIM land is in good shape; of course, if you're still having issues, drop a line in comments.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Is T-Mobile's data service down for you?

by Ross Miller posted Feb 15th 2009 @ 7:44PM

We've gotten more than a handful of tips about T-Mobile's data service being down to be a coincidence, from a number of different regions of the US -- Kansas City, Cincinnati, Minnesota and Cleveland, among others. We've asked T-Mo for an official comment, but in the interim let us know if you're having problems accessing mobile web or email.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Say it ain't so, AT&T: reports of another East Coast data network outage

by Tim Stevens posted Jan 6th 2009 @ 9:19AM

Were you hoping to spend the day glued to your iPhone or BlackBerry, keeping an eye on our live Macworld coverage while in the office? If you've got AT&T on the East Coast, you'd better make sure your wireless data connection is operational. Just like in September we're getting a number of tips from people on the right side reporting outages and error messages when attempting to connect. Meanwhile we're not finding any issues out here in SF or Vegas, and the Midwest appears to be going strong after last week's shenanigans. We've pinged AT&T for deets, but let us know -- what're you seeing on your end?

Update: We still haven't received official word either way, but by the sounds of it data is back up for at least most of you. We'll keep after AT&T for some sort of confirmation.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Down for everyone or just you? AT&T experiencing a major data outage on the East Coast.

by Paul Miller posted Sep 3rd 2008 @ 9:45AM

Ruh-roh. AT&T's wireless data service seems to be down in a major way, at least on the eastern half of the country. We're seeing problems with both Edge and 3G from places such as Boston, New York and St. Louis. It's primarily iPhone users pinging us on this, and in AT&T's forums, but we're guessing it's not just limited to them. How is it looking for you?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We've just spoken to AT&T and they've told us they're "aware of the reports." We'll keep our ear to the ground and update as soon as we have more.

Update 2: AT&T now tells us that it all came down to a "routing issue" in the Northeast that was patched up at 11:56AM this morning. For what it's worth, BlackBerry and text services were apparently unaffected -- but we doubt that's much consolation to iPhone users in withdrawl.

Is your Samsung Instinct acting up?

by Darren Murph posted Jul 11th 2008 @ 6:01PM

At first, we figured our Instinct here at Engadget HQ had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but we're now receiving a flood of tips from individuals nationwide having the same issues. Put simply, it seems that certain data services are thoroughly borked, with our Weather app being unable to refresh for at least the past 18 hours (some are reporting even longer). Additionally, we're hearing that folks are having to manually refresh their email and deal with all sorts of error messages when attempting to use any of the data services. So, what gives? Are you having data-related issues with your Instinct? C'mon Sprint, this is your best-selling EV-DO device of all time -- it'd be nice to have it working for the weekend. Oh, and great job showing all those angered iPhone 3G users that your network doesn't have issues, too.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Are BlackBerry services down (again)?

by Ryan Block posted May 3rd 2008 @ 11:51AM

It's hard for us to be sure about this stuff for sure in the early stages, but since last night we've gotten a flood of reports from readers that BlackBerry services are down on T-Mobile and possibly also Bell Mobility (if not other providers). What's the story, are you having any trouble? Shout it out in comments -- if you are, do us all a solid and leave your location and provider. Even if it's just an isolated outage, you know you desperately need to get your act together when Palm, of all companies, is taking potshots.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: We've heard that there was indeed a planned outage scheduled for last night, but it was due to end 6 hours ago. And curiously we continue to get feedback that services are still down.

So it looks like it was just pockets after all -- hours later most people seem to be reporting things are solid with service.

BlackBerry service outages keeping your weekend interesting?

by Paul Miller posted Mar 29th 2008 @ 1:18PM

Having some BlackBerry troubles? You're not alone, we've been receiving some sporadic tips on the subject, and some forum users have reported outage trouble as well, though for other users it seems just fine. Let us know how your service is doing. Or don't -- this might be just the chance you were looking for to ditch work email and get a start on that spring tan. We won't tell a soul.

BlackBerrys going down tomorrow -- on purpose this time

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 21st 2008 @ 1:52PM

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]

Palm ads take a shot at RIM's recent Blackberry outages

by Nilay Patel posted Feb 14th 2008 @ 2:22PM

Nothing says Valentine's Day like trying to cash in on a vulnerable, insecure relationship -- and it looks like Palm's doing its best to, ahem, "be there" for Blackberry addicts left a little shaken by Monday's network outage. The company's taken out full page ads in several national papers and changed its homepage to read that Palm devices include a little something called "uptime" -- which is actually pretty funny since we've got a Treo 750 here that's been rendered all-but-useless by AT&T's various outages these past few weeks, but we'll still grant points for panache. Of course, that still doesn't change the fact that a recent survey ranked Palm dead last in customer satisfaction, but since when has being a homewrecker had anything to do with long-term happiness?

[Via coolsmartphone]

Blackberry outage shows that RIM learned nothing in 2007

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 13th 2008 @ 3:40AM

As with RIM's April 2007 outage, the latest downtime has been officially blamed on a flawed software upgrade. According to RIM, the millions left without email can lift their kinked neck and point a crippled digit at an "internal data routing system within the BlackBerry service infrastructure that had been recently upgraded." This upgrade, like the one in 2007, was meant to boost capacity and speed message routing. Right, the same issue which RIM assured us had been resolved last April.

RIM affirms that BlackBerry services are down -- again

by Darren Murph posted Feb 11th 2008 @ 5:18PM

Oh noes! BlackBerry addicts everywhere have reason to panic this afternoon, as their beloved network is indeed experiencing technical difficulties -- and it's certainly not the first time that this has happened in the past year. Reportedly, an e-mail sent by RIM support account manager Bryan Simpson affirmed that a "critical severity outage" had taken place. The message went on to say that it was acting as an "emergency notification regarding the current BlackBerry Infrastructure outage," that was (is) affecting enterprise subscribers and "users of the Americas network." So much for that "won't happen again" line, huh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]