New Yorkers Voice Frustrations Over BlackBerry Service Outage
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A massive BlackBerry service disruption continues to make life miserable for customers.
The problem started overseas and now has spread to the Tri-State Area, CBS 2's Tony Aiello reported. The service interruption is a global issue for BlackBerry's parent company, Research In Motion Ltd.
The company did say that there was no evidence that hacking or a security breach caused the issues. On the inconvenience scale, problems ranged from minor for some users to absolutely major for others.
RIM said that effects of the outage are still present for e-mail and BlackBerry Messenger delays, but browsing has been restored. The company also offered a solution to try and restore e-mail delivery.
The company suggested that removing the battery for 10 seconds and replacing it could allow messages to begin flowing in again. It warned, however, that incoming and outgoing messages could be subject to delays.
The company also said that "we believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can.''
1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg with BlackBerry users in New Jersey
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About 18 million Americans have BlackBerry smartphones – everyone from busy multi-tasking mothers to President Barack Obama.
On Wednesday, the service glitch hit New York while the problem stretched into the third day for users in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa.
"I can't access the internet. It's irritating, extremely irritating," one user said.
WCBS 880's Peter Haskell With Structural Engineer Byron Stigge On The Frustration
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"It's gonna be very hard because I text and get emails all the time – 50 to 100 e-mails everyday. This is going to be very inconvenient," Tony Sabala said.
For business users it's more than a hassle. A lack of communications in the field is a competitive disadvantage.
"If you want to function in today's business world you have to be connected all the time. And the only way to really do that well is to have a smart phone," said communications consultant Cathy Gay, adding when asked what happens when a service like BlackBerry goes down, "You are up that proverbial creek without a paddle."
BlackBerry said the problem began at a data service center in England and the company is working fervently to fix it.
Senior CNET writer Maggie Reardon said this couldn't come at a worse time for the company.
"They're facing a lot of competition from Apple with the iPhone, they've got a new one coming out on Friday. There's also the Google Android phone we're going to see a whole slew of new phones coming out for the holidays," Reardon said.
These options are catching the eyes of consumers.
"I want to do Droid or iPhone, because BlackBerry's getting old now," Corrine Warren said.
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