BlackBerry service out in N. America
Disruption affecting all wireless carriers
NEW YORK - A major service outage afflicted users of the popular, addictive BlackBerry smart phones across the United States and Canada on Monday.
Officials with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless said BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. told them customers of all wireless carriers were affected.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 12 million worldwide BlackBerry subscribers had problems, as some users reported being able to access their service normally Monday afternoon.
But Garth Turner, a member of the Canadian Parliament, said during a caucus meeting that the incident's impact couldn't be overestimated. "Everyone's in crisis because they're are all picking away at their Blackberry's and nothing's happening," Turner said. "It's almost like cutting the phone cables or a total collapse in telegraphs lines a century ago. It just isolates people in a way that's quite phenomenal."
Bell Canada spokesman Jason Laszlo said the majority of their BlackBerry customers are affected.
"There's really no estimated time of repair," Laszlo said.
The BlackBerry service, which lets users check e-mail and access other data services on their handheld devices, has become a lifeline for many business executives and is increasingly popular among consumers with models like the BlackBerry Pearl.
In a statement, RIM said a "data service interruption" was resulting in "intermittent service delays for BlackBerry subscribers in North America." The company said voice and text messaging services were not affected.
Disruption affecting all wireless carriers
NEW YORK - A major service outage afflicted users of the popular, addictive BlackBerry smart phones across the United States and Canada on Monday.
Officials with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless said BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. told them customers of all wireless carriers were affected.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 12 million worldwide BlackBerry subscribers had problems, as some users reported being able to access their service normally Monday afternoon.
But Garth Turner, a member of the Canadian Parliament, said during a caucus meeting that the incident's impact couldn't be overestimated. "Everyone's in crisis because they're are all picking away at their Blackberry's and nothing's happening," Turner said. "It's almost like cutting the phone cables or a total collapse in telegraphs lines a century ago. It just isolates people in a way that's quite phenomenal."
Bell Canada spokesman Jason Laszlo said the majority of their BlackBerry customers are affected.
"There's really no estimated time of repair," Laszlo said.
The BlackBerry service, which lets users check e-mail and access other data services on their handheld devices, has become a lifeline for many business executives and is increasingly popular among consumers with models like the BlackBerry Pearl.
In a statement, RIM said a "data service interruption" was resulting in "intermittent service delays for BlackBerry subscribers in North America." The company said voice and text messaging services were not affected.