April
19th, 2007 - News Article
BlackBerry blight: Disruption
leaves users feeling lost
By Jim Stafford
Business Writer
The
BlackBerry mobile communication device suffered
a systemwide hiccup late Tuesday, and the disruption
of its e-mail service carried into Wednesday and
washed over Oklahoma as well as the rest of the
nation.
The system outage blocked Black-Berry's e-mail
service, frustrating users of the addictive mobile
devices.
It wasn't immediately clear how widespread the
problems were, or whether they affected all cellular
carriers that offer
BlackBerry service.
But the outage certainly affected Oklahomans who
rely on their devices to stay in touch with e-mail
and wireless calls while on the go.
"My
BlackBerry stopped receiving e-mails sometime
last night after 10,” said
Brad Thomas, vice president for technology at
Oklahoma City-based
Perimeter Technology Center.
"(BlackBerry
maker) RIM claims that the service was restored
around 7 Eastern time this morning; however, I am
still having issues where my incoming e-mails come
in bursts.
"I won't get any for 20 to 30 minutes then I'll get
them all at once.”
Research in Motion Ltd., the Canadian company
that makes the devices and runs the e-mail service,
did not respond to requests from
The Associated Press for information.
The
BlackBerry disruption was noted by several state
business and technology leaders who were contacted
Wednesday morning by
The Oklahoman.
"It seems like the problem over the last 24 hours
has been sort of erratic; I've been getting e-mails,
but I know my husband was not getting them last
night nor this morning,” said
Sheri Stickley, chief administrative officer for
the state
Commerce Department.
"It's interesting that BlackBerries have become one
of those essential tools that we wonder, ‘How did we
ever get along without them?' ”
However,
James Johnson, site development officer at the
Commerce Department, reported no problems with
his
BlackBerry service.
Sheryl McLain, interim executive director of the
Oklahoma Health Care Workforce Center, said her
service suffered a couple of "glitches” Tuesday
night, but she was able to re-send the messages
Wednesday morning with no problem.
"Having just moved my office today, this is what is
keeping me connected until I can get the laptop and
related connections completed in the new location,”
McLain said. "So, it hasn't impacted my reliance
and fondness for this amazing mode of
communications.”
Some welcome respite
For
Tom Walker, executive vice president and chief
operating officer at not-for-profit i2E, the outage
brought a welcome respite from the torrent of
e-mails that flow into his
BlackBerry.
"It actually reminded me of the ‘good old days' when
you could actually enjoy your evening down time and
your early morning coffee without interruption,”
Walker said.
Greg Main, chief executive officer at i2E, said
the outage hit his device, but e-mails eventually
did arrive.
"My
BlackBerry messages did not reach me overnight
but arrived in a flood at 8:40 this a.m., so I
didn't suffer any serious anxiety,”
Main said.
"Several years ago I would have periodic outages but
none recently. If it doesn't happen again, it won't
be a problem.
"If reliability does become an issue then users will
surely flock to alternatives.”
Treo users shrug
Of course, for Oklahomans who use other devices, the
BlackBerry outage meant nothing.
"Thanks for the heads-up, but I currently use a
Treo 650,” said
Dewain Morrison, a partner with Oklahoma
City-based 4D
Networks Corp., when asked about the outage.
One
BlackBerry user who subscribes to the service
through
T-Mobile USA was told by a customer service
representative for that company that the outage was
"a RIM issue and not a
T-Mobile issue.”
"The time of resolution is not known to us right
now,” the representative said.
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