News - The Blackberry network is down

(Note by The CT Blogger - Service is being reported as being back as of 11:10 AM, 4/18. No word on the cause. http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/18/technology/rimm/index.htm?cnn=yes)

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-6177072.html

"A widespread system failure of Research In Motion's network has left BlackBerry users in the Western Hemisphere without e-mail on their handheld devices.

The problem, first reported on news site WNBC.com, is believed to have originated around 8 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday and has not yet been solved. Because the problem concerns the RIM BlackBerry network, all cellular carriers that support BlackBerry are affected. On the BlackberryForums.com discussion site, some people also indicated that they could not browse the Internet.

RIM has acknowledged the problem through a recorded message that plays when calls are placed to the BlackBerry customer servicehotline. The message states that the company is "currently experiencing a service interruption that is causing delays in sending or receiving messages." No updates have been provided, and no time frame has been given for resolving the problem. However, the automated message assured callers that they would be kept in the loop.

Attempts to reach press representatives at Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM have been unsuccessful."

and,

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4871

"But the bottom line is much of the world is addicted to the CrackBerry and they want some communication when their fix is yanked away. What's next? These poor addicts may actually have to talk to each other."

As a non-mobile computing Luddite, who even detests his cellphone, I can only wonder about the true cause of the outage and how the "Alphabet Agencies" are watching this unfold.