News & Rumors

Research in Motion Statement Regarding December 22nd Service Outage - BlackBerry Messenger to Blame!

by Kevin Michaluk

on 23 Dec 2009 08:35 AM

246

Pheeww... Good to be back up and Running!

* Update: Been getting lots of tips, and we've received the same message ourselves, from the BlackBerry Network Administrator pushing you to upgrade to the latest version of BlackBerry Messenger. We'll be paste the email in down below. Better upgrade! *

WOW. BlackBerry Messenger brought down BBM. Who would have thought. Our CrackBerry readers were first to pick up on the issue and we were quick to report that BBM was on the fritz... from there it escalated into one crappy evening with all BlackBerry data services going down. But we're glad to be back in action.

RIM Statement - December 23rd

A service interruption occurred Tuesday that affected BlackBerry customers in the Americas. Message delivery was delayed or intermittent during the service interruption. Phone service and SMS services on BlackBerry smartphones were unaffected. Root cause is currently under review, but based on preliminary analysis, it currently appears that the issue stemmed from a flaw in two recently released versions of BlackBerry Messenger (versions 5.0.0.55 and 5.0.0.56) that caused an unanticipated database issue within the BlackBerry infrastructure. RIM has taken corrective action to restore service.

RIM has also provided a new version of BlackBerry Messenger (version 5.0.0.57) and is encouraging anyone who downloaded or upgraded BlackBerry Messenger since December 14th to upgrade to this latest version which resolves the issue. RIM continues to monitor its systems to maintain normal service levels and apologizes for any inconvenience to customers.

BE SURE TO UPGRADE to the latest version of BlackBerry Messenger. You can grab it by visiting blackberry.com/messenger from your BlackBerry's web browser or from BlackBerry App World.

Email from BlackBerry Network Administrator

------Original Message------
From: BlackBerry Network Administrator
Subject: BlackBerry Messenger Software v5.0.0.57 Update Available
Sent: Dec 23, 2009 12:23 PM

A new version of BlackBerry® Messenger software is now available. If you are currently running version 5.0.0.55 or 5.0.0.56 of BlackBerry Messenger, please upgrade to version 5.0.0.57 as soon as possible. This version addresses issues with versions 5.0.0.55 and 5.0.0.56.

To download the most current version of BlackBerry Messenger software, please visit www.blackberry.com/blackberrymessenger and follow the on-screen instructions. Please note that the software update is available free of charge, however downloading and using applications over the wireless network may incur data usage charges depending on your service plan. Please check with your airtime service provider for information about service costs. If you have any questions about this update, please visit www.blackberry.com/support/messenger.

Thank you,
Research In Motion Limited

©2009 Research In Motion Limited. All rights reserved. BlackBerry®, RIM®, Research In Motion®, SureType®, SurePress and related trademarks, names and logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world.

Filed Under: News & Rumors; Tags: data outages

246 Comments

Posted by brattface Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

That's just wrong, I dont even use Blackberry Messenger.

Posted by gemni73 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

well that sucks..i don't even use BBM like most do because I have friends who own other cellular devices. Well I am glad that things are back up and running for all of us! Its amazing how dependent we've become on our smart phones(BBs)..remember the days of just being able to make phone calls? LOL Now we can do everything from one little device and if some of those functions(messenger, email, chat, internet) are taking away, we no longer know how to act. My how times have changed! We are held hostage by technology.

Posted by Databust Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

I second that my friend! I don't use it(BBM)either, yet still get the outages from the internet a lot this year! With all the $$ Verizon charges, you would think between them and RIM there would be some sort of rebate check or something - throw us a bone - when the only thing consistant is loss of service frequently.

Posted by LuvDaHennessy Saturday, Dec 26, 2009 774 days ago

verizon will never throw u a bone. instead they will increase your early termination fee (320 bucks i think) so that even if your unhappy u cant leave ..fuck those priks

Posted by dh321 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

BBM causes a system wide crash?!?! Glad RIM isn't responsible for y'know, security or Wall Street or something..

Posted by keithsuth Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

1. What did security have to do with this? It was a glitch in the new BBM they put out. Don't take yourself so serious.

2. RIM is a Canada based company, I would hope that they wouldn't be in charge of security for something in NY. It'd just be weird...

Posted by FenderGeek Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

You are aware that large portions of the military and Federal government rely on BlackBerries daily, right?

Posted by mjgallaway Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

....its gunna happen.

Posted by Floont Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

And everyone trusts Cyberdyne with our communication and security. No worries.

Posted by dwaynewilliams Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

These things will happen. There are so many people using BlackBerry services, that shut downs are inevitable.

Posted by anthonyc Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

this new version of BBM better be awesome! lol

Posted by ceepee Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

The RIM BBM dept needs to get the boot. They stay f*Cking shit up!

Posted by BD_Nupe Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

So....you put the * in 'f*cking' so you wont curse..then said shit right afterwards lol

Posted by Tony Bag O Donuts Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

the holidays and everyone buying new devices for their spouse, family, etc.

Posted by vx1 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

all is good now :)

Posted by mattyg151 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

so was it really the old versions causing the issue or did pushing the new version break stuff ... HMMMMMMMM

Posted by webmastir Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

This is completely unacceptable. They just lost a BB user for life come middle of next year. I cannot wait!

Posted by dgbrock Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

So you're gonna...what?...switch to iPhone? have fun with AT&T. Hope you don't need reliable phone service.
With 10+M new BBs flooding the market in a short period of time, at the busiest time of the year, @#&! happens.
Merry Xmas.

Posted by bigtime2 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

You would have switched anyway, now you just have this outage to "blame" so you can get away without paying ETF.

Posted by dreedy1 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

You probably already had it in your head that you wanted to switch phones/carriers anyway so don't use the outage as a scapegoat. Flaws are gonna happen...outages are gonna happen. Unforunately, it had to be an extended one. I know...it sucks balls. But if you wanna use this outage as an excuse then you're just lying to yourself and feeding BS to all of us. You already had it in your head to probably switch to a Droid, iPhone or whatever so what's the use of saying that?

Posted by frankdlr1972 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

RIM needs to fix these problems with outages once and for all. This should not happen at all, let alone a few times a yr!!!

Posted by phreddyl Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

It must be nice to be perfect and never make mistakes... I hate the outages too but blackberry is still the most reliable out there and I think we all need to get a grip and realize that shit happens...

Posted by frankdlr1972 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

If you're running any type of network, then you've got to be a little better at redundency. The end users shouldn't have to deal with these issues as often as RIM allows it to happen. RIM should be thoroughly testing their environment to prevent any foreseeable problems. And don't start with this was unforeseeable...pls ;)

Posted by Valjean1962 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Just remember to hold your utility/cable/internet/sanitation/sewage (choose applicable entity and enter here) provider(s) to the same incredibly high standard when they encounter their next unscheduled service interruption... Why don't we un-knot our collective panties and get on with our lives? The stink of feigned righteous indignation is getting a bit thick in here... Does anyone mind if I open a window?

Posted by webmastir Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

I will be going to an Android device. I won't go to iPhone as long as they are strictly AT&T. Have fun bricking your phone everytime you install an app/theme etc. Oh ya, also have fun paying an insane amount of money for apps. Android > BB. It's a given

Posted by Alexontherun451 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Haha I like that you are going to Android, because of an outage. How many times has GMail gone haywire?

These things happen on every platform, get over it, I'm sure you will receive all of your precious spam and p0rn in a timely manner from now on.

Posted by mciriello Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Android is an unproven fad. Do you see nearly every major corporation and goverment agency using Androd phones. I think not. Enjoy your toy.

Posted by Jessiboo719 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

But its a TOY. Trust me, I am a die hard blackberry user an can see the pros of the Android. But there are a ton of cons, the ONLY thing it has going for it is the apps. The only reason the apps are so cheap is because its completely open source. But as far as the phone itself goes, you don't have many options with the phone book or how you get your email. Once you have a gmail account set up on it the only way to get rid of that account if you get a new one is to do a hard reset on the phone. Its a great phone with a smooth operating system, but its got nothing on the Blackberry.

Posted by rick2123 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

hahaha have fun with your android man. my girlfriend really loves her's...lol!

Posted by sheesh Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

hey, remember when the new iphone came out and they couldn't activate any of them because the system went down from too many activations?

ya.. it's a good thing RIM isn't in charge of the worlds security.. everyone should switch until they fix this thing one and for all... *rolling eyes*

Posted by katiepea Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

This is probably gonna be it for be and blackberry, it's inexcusable at this point, no data for a day, now RIM wants me to upgrade BBM but it won't restore contacts on either of my phones.

Posted by sk8er_tor Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

All my contacts were restored when I upgraded from .55 to .56 and now to .57 on three seperate devices: 8900, 9000, and 9700. Maybe you should back up your BBM contacts. RIM has given you several ways to back-up. They do it for you remotely or you can do it through Desktop Manager. You can also save a PIN in the address book so there's even a third option. So don't blame RIM because you don't want to back-up.
Some people really need to learn to use their phone before complaining.

Posted by katiepea Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

This is the 12th outage this year, I DO backup my phone and probably know more about it than youn my point was that remote backup isn't working on a version they recommended to install, and I'm on vacation, you're retarded. Everything you said was ill composed and incorrect

Posted by sk8er_tor Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Thank you for your wise answer, but you're not the only one here with BB knowledge. If you do backup and you have your contacts' pins stored in your address book, then stop crying. Besides, you are complaining and you haven't even attempted the upgrade. I didn't even have to restore my contacts after I upgraded. So calling me a retard instead of listening to what a fellow Crackberry user said... really, it makes you sound like the retard. And very mature might I add.

And you tell me that everything I said was ill composed and incorrect... so you are telling me that I am dreaming that I upgraded my BBM and I did not lose my contacts? I must also be dreaming that my BBM messages are going through as well.

You are on vacation yet you are very uptight. Maybe you should stop worrying about your BB so much and try to enjoy your vacation.

Posted by surfbumhuey Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

my contacts were restored right away after i updated..

Posted by webmastir Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

haha. i couldn't have said it better katiepea

Posted by fracturedpsyche Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

How many times a year does this happen? 2 or 3. It could be worse:
u could be running a windows OS lol!

Posted by mattyg151 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

this has been true in the past, BUT this is also twice in less than 10 days

Posted by frankdlr1972 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Don't become complacent, RIM needs to fix these problems with outages once and for all. This should not happen at all, let alone a few times a yr!!!

Posted by Valjean1962 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Frank, put down the torch and pitchfork. Look behind you and you'll see that the villagers have deserted you, they're not storming the castle walls at your back. If we were only so impassioned about other things...

Posted by tedacura1 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

There are outages in everything... lights..MTA....all types of services..even your cars break down sooner or later so tell me when your find the perfect world....bet you are all using your BB now.....Happy Holidays.

Posted by CeluGeek Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

It's funny you mention that "It could be worse:
u could be running a windows OS" because while my Curve 8900 was reduced to a glorified dumbphone yesterday, my Windows computer kept working just fine... and with all data functionality.

In fact, I had to take my SIM card out of the 8900 and into an iPAQ 910c (yeah, Windows Mobile baby) to get usable mobile data. I know bashing Microsoft is trendy and people think doing so will make them cooler, but when a Windows Mobile phone can give you more reliable data service than a BlackBerry, something is definitely wrong with RIM. Heck, BlackBerry had data problems even via Wi-Fi, thanks to the dependency on RIM's stupid proxy servers.

Also, it'll be extremely irresponsible from RIM if something as trivial as BBM took their network down. As a user who doesn't use BBM at all (it's the first thing I uninstall), I find totally unacceptable to have my service affected by such a useless piece of software.

Posted by trjnberry Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

I discovered in one of the comments to the blog announcement yesterday that using the Bolt Browser can get you access to the internet even thouugh there is a system wide BIS outage. I think had the majority of complainers knew that, they wouldn't have been so quick to criticize RIM and threaten leaving the platform. Perhaps in the future when these events happen, the Crackberry Blog can remind users of alternatives they can use to get around the problem, or least minimize the inconvenience.

Posted by longhairbilly Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

I tried Bolt several times yesterday and it did NOT work for me.

Posted by keithsuth Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

however, i have a friend who had Opera Mini working. I get your point though.

Posted by dreedy1 Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

That all this new releases of BBM of 5.0 and greater are useless unless you have a 5.0 OS on your phone????

Posted by yavoh Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

Nope. They'll work with OS < 5

Posted by corydunbar Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

any smartphone will encounter problems eventually. unfortunately BB had to encounter it so close to Christmas. well at least its done and out of the way.

Posted by fracturedpsyche Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009 777 days ago

App world is froze up with everyone trying to DL bbm!