* Official Update from RIM: 

RIM Statement - November 7, 2011: There was a global Internet issue this morning that impacted a number of Internet Service Providers (ISP) around the world. RIM's BlackBerry Infrastructure was not impacted however, some customers may have experienced delays with their ISP. RIM continues to monitor the situation.  *

* Update: So it seems the BlackBerry service hiccups some reported experiencing this morning were not of RIM's doing (all services a go for RIM), but rather were the result of broader internet issues. We're expecting an update from RIM shortly as to exactly how and why BlackBerry services were affected. *

It looks like some users are reporting that the BlackBerry Internet Service is experiencing issues this morning. Reports from Twitter and the CrackBerry forums are saying that some users cannot send/receive emails or BBMs. I'm not having any issues here on Verizon and Kevin seems to be okay as well, so we're not quite sure just whats up yet. Hit the forums and let us know where you're at and stay tuned and we'll report back as we find out more ...

Discuss more in the forums

We've spoke about BIS 4.1 coming to North America soon and the latest Sprint PlayBook gives us a good indication as to when. Unless plans have changed, it appears as though Sprint customers (and maybe other carriers) will be enabling BIS 4.1 tomorrow at some point. Most likely in the wee hours of the morning to limit the impact on services.  That's about it for now -- we'll just have to wait and see if they roll it out or if it's been put off for another date, which does sometimes happen.

Learn more about BIS 4.1

Some good news for those of you who live in Europe. RIM and carriers have rolled out BlackBerry Internet Service 4.1 after having completed the transition in Asia Pacific last month. European users, and in this case -- Alain from Paris are now reporting larger attachments and various other features BIS 4.1 brings are now working as expected. Next on the list for rollout is North America, you can jump on past the break for a refresher of what's new in BIS 4.1. Keep in mind, some features may not be available to all devices and may not fully be enabled until BIS 4.1 is rolled out to everyone.

Thanks, Alain!

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We heard back in March that we would soon see an update to BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS). As revealed back then, we will be seeing improvements to email including large email and native attachment support, inbox priming for new account integrations and additional language support. In addition to this, changes to the email flow on SIM swap means you'll want to be extra careful when switching devices, especially if you plan on selling your old BlackBerry. That's right, make sure you do a security wipe before passing it on. Who doesn't do that anyway? Seems like common sense to me. You can check out the full Overview from the BlackBerry Knowledge Base after the break.

For those of you wondering how you get the BIS 4.1 update, well, there is no way to get it, exactly. The update will be rolled out by RIM at some point and pushed to your device.

Source: RIM

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BlackBerry users will soon be getting a much needed update to the BlackBerry Internet Service, commonly known as BIS. According to information N4BB received, we can expect to see BIS 4.1 come in waves with Asia Pacific first (September 10th), Europe next (September 23rd) followed finally by North America (October 8th).

It looks like new BlackBerry devices running BlackBerry OS 7 will have increased message limit sizes, including the body of the email and attachments sent/received. This means fewer truncated emails and a reduction in the amount of times a user will need to hit "receive more". It is unknown at this time if these changes will also be available for pre-BB7 devices.

There are also changes being made to email accounts, such as when adding a new email address to your BIS account, the last 20 emails on the server will be pushed to your device. Additional changes include added security for email accounts and the ability to switch SIMs with no interruption to email service.

To see more of what's in store with the BIS 4.1 update, check out the rest of the slides after the break, and if you'd like to discuss the changes head on over to the forums.

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We've been getting plenty of users in North America and Europe letting us know their has been some issues with BIS as of late. Many folks in the UK have spoken up in the CrackBerry forums and for some North American users BIS over WiFi has been down for what is going on 48 hours now. Some carriers are advising that it is due to a BIS update that is rolling out now but -- the accuracy in that info cannot be confirmed at this time. What about you all, any issues? If so speak up in the comments or in the forums.

Discuss more in the CrackBerry Forums

It's close to that time again, another BIS update is set to roll out and RIM has announced the details for it. Savvy users found the information long ago, considering it was put into the RIM knowledge base over a month ago now but realistically not everyone checks there. So what will be new when BIS 4.0 rolls out? Check below for details:

• Automatic Login Improvements  
• Language Support - Vietnamese and Hindi
• Google Calendar Synchronization Improvements 
• Secret Question Changes
• Windows Live Integration Re-validation removal

All in all, minor changes really with the exception of additional languages but some of the stuff there should help if you ever need to make changes to your BIS account as a whole or if you're either a Google user or Hotmail user. You can hit the RIM knowledge base for the full details on each change.

View the BIS 4.0 documents via the RIM knowledge base

On Wednesday Microsoft announced on their Office 365 blog that they will be dropping the additional cost they were charging customers to sync their BlackBerry smartphones calendar and address book.

We have exciting news for Microsoft Online Services customers. We are in the process of updating pricing for Hosted BlackBerry Service for Exchange Online to make this service available free of charge. Starting today, BlackBerry mobile e-mail for new Exchange Online customers is now free through our Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS). For existing customers, we expect to be able to provide more information later this month on how you can take advantage of this change.

If you're unfamiliar with Office 365, it's Microsoft's competitor to Google's business cloud environment Google Apps. Microsoft Office 365 delivers the power of cloud productivity to businesses of all sizes, helping to save time, money and free up valued resources. Read more at the Microsoft blog.

Microsoft Office 365 Blog

The next progression in BIS-land is 4.0 and it looks like we have some good updates to look forward to. N4BB snagged a doc that shows off the upcoming features of the latest BIS. As usual it's not a ton of little upgrades, but rather a few mid-sized ones. Updates look to include:

• Integration with BlackBerry ID (BBID)
  
• Improved BIS End User Communications
  
• Automatic Login improvements
  
• Support for new service tiers
  
• Google Calendar Improvements
  

No official date for release just yet but it doesn't seem like it would be too far off. Typically the rollout seems to happen over a few weeks to various carriers and we get no real word of a launch. Overall some pretty good stuff in this update. Hit the source link for more info.

Source: N4BB

*Update 2* - 11:35am EST Many reports of BIS being back up rolling in across all the carriers in question. Issue seems to be resolved. Give it a little time to hit all users across the many regions in question.

*Update* - 11:20am EST - It looks like users (including myself) are now able to send emails, but still not receive. Hopefully full email capabilities will be back up soon.

It's been quite a while since we had an outage across multiple carriers and regions in North America, but it looks like BIS email is down for most carriers across the US and parts of Canada. No one is receiving email, but it appears that browser, BlackBerry Messenger, voice and SMS are still working however. It looks like the outage started in the wee hours of the morning today, but there is no word on when they'll be up and running. Keep it here and we'll report anything as it pops up. Jump into the forums for more discussion.

Discuss in the Service Outage forum

Starting this month, customers may sign up for BIS at a Chine Mobile service center in BYOB fashion - Bring Your Own BlackBerry. As for pricing, BIS plans will start at RMB 98 (15 USD) with 30MB of monthly data allowance. To step it up a bit, customers can choose to pay 10 RMB (2 USD) more for a 50MB quota every month. Neither plan includes telephone service, though, as the intention is that both these plans function as an add-on to an existing service plan.

For many, this may very well be a dream come true and definitely, it is a step in the right direction. Previously, BlackBerry service in China was available to governmental and enterprise users only, to whom the luxury of a BES plan costs RMB 198 (30 USD) or more. But now, individuals may jump in and discover the world of BlackBerry as well - for an affordable price. Any CrackBerry readers from China taking advantage of this offer?

Source: Marbridge Consulting Via: BlackBerry Cool

Having seen BIS 3.2 released to APAC and EMEA users already, many folks in North America should now be waking up to find that their BlackBerry Internet Services has now been updated as well. Reports from all major carriers indicate that the update went as planned and the new options are now available. Those options include:

• Google Calendar Sync - The option to sync your Gmail calendar with your BlackBerry calendar
• Automatic Login Enhancement - Username and Password in order to access the BlackBerry Internet Service no longer required when on your BlackBerry
• Show and Hide Password Option - Subscribers can choose to show or hide the passwords for all email addresses that need to be validated by clicking the Show password or Hide password options.
• New Password Criteria - Newly created passwords for BlackBerry Internet Service accounts and BlackBerry email addresses must meet new criteria.
  • Must include 8 to 16 characters
  • Must include at least one letter and one number
  • Cannot include the word "password"
  • Cannot include the user name of the BlackBerry Internet Service account or BlackBerry email address that the password is associated with

Some long awaited additions there. Have at it folks and let us know how the calendar sync is working out for you all should you opt to use it. Word is it works with Google Apps as well which is a plus.

Over the weekend a lot of users within Europe have been confirming that they have BIS 3.2. One of the main updates of BIS 3.2 is the option to sync your Gmail calendar with your BlackBerry calendar.

Automatic Login Enhancement has also been introduced. This means that you no longer have to enter your Username and Password in order to access the BlackBerry Internet Service when on your BlackBerry. Of course when logging in online then you'd still need to enter those details.

Other changes that BIS 3.2 brings are:

• Show and Hide Password Option - Subscribers can choose to show or hide the passwords for all email addresses that need to be validated by clicking the Show password or Hide password options.
• New Password Criteria - Newly created passwords for BlackBerry Internet Service accounts and BlackBerry email addresses must meet new criteria.
  • Must include 8 to 16 characters
  • Must include at least one letter and one number
  • Cannot include the word "password"
  • Cannot include the user name of the BlackBerry Internet Service account or BlackBerry email address that the password is associated with

Source: BerryReview

The forums are filling up. The CrackBerry support email is getting lots of folks stating issues and we're led to believe we may have an outage on our hands. Some folks are reporting slow web browsing, email delays and general connectivity issues. Thus far, seems limited to North America but, if you're in another area and experiencing issues then please, let us know in the comments. I'm on Rogers and not seeing this yet, how about you all?

Just like the Hotmail icon that started showing up for BIS users about a month ago, it appears as if AOL mail is now showing a new icon of its own. Adrian let us know that this AOL icon is now showing on the device replacing the standard globe icon. So far just Hotmail and AOL are showing off, while a few users have reported seeing this for Yahoo! as well. We're pretty sure this is an after-effect of the updated BIS rollout but haven't been able to verify it. No love on the Gmail front however, but if things keep up we may see that change in the near future as well. Thanks Adrian!