Outage hits all email accounts, messenger and apps

Oct 10, 2011 14:17 GMT  ·  By

BlackBerry users have just started to report issues with BlackBerry Messenger and email, which suggest that the network is down.

This is not the first time that users complain of BlackBerry outage, but this time seems to be a global issue as we've seen reports from all over the world and BlackBerry owners in our team seem to be affected as well.

BBM, Facebook, MSN Messenger and Twitter are not working, as well as any other applications that require data connection, including AppWorld.

In addition, sending or receiving emails, regardless of the account, is impossible at the moment. However, the BlackBerry outage does not affect Internet browsing.

Although RIM has yet to make any official statements, the issue has been confirmed by Vodafone Egypt via Twitter: “There is Blackberry outage, it's from RIM side (Blackberry Manufacturer), stay tuned with us till further updates.”

If you're affected, let us know in the comments and make sure you state your location. UPDATE: According to one of our readers, it seems that a datacenter issue on RIM's side is to blame.

[USERCOMMENT=IncidentGuy]Well, it's not worldwide, it's Europe, Middle east and Africa, but near enough. Issue in their Slough datacentre.[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 2: RIM has aknowledged the issue and has initiated an investigation. It also claims that only users in EMEA are experiencing these issues: "Some users in EMEA are experiencing issues. We're investigating, and we apologise for any inconvenience," via Twitter.

UPDATE 3: Reports from our Facebook followers state that RIM's service is down in Indonesia and India as well.

UPDATE 4: Outage affects South Africa as well.

[USERCOMMENT=bash]bis down in southafrica......causing commotion[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 5: Reports start pouring in from the UK as well (London, Essex, Middlesbrough, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Derbyshire, Oxford, Glasgow, Cheltenham, Ipswich)

UPDATE 6: BBM is also down in the Netherlands and is causing some confusion in Kuwait and the UAE.

[USERCOMMENT=Dana]Here in Kuwait the blackberry service is down, there is a huge fuss about it.[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 7: Looks like the outage has hit parts of North America, too

[USERCOMMENT=Sj]BB service is down in Canada as well![/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 8: Starting around 5PM UTC we're seeing BBM working sporadically but still no email.

UPDATE 9: Some BlackBerry users now report that Internet browsing is affected as well. We're unable to confirm this as we're able to access web sites without using WiFi or other alternative connections. The latest update from @BlackBerryHelp is little more than a renewed apology to customers.

[USERCOMMENT=annie]Statement above is wrong. All internet browsing is affected[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 10: At 5:30PM UTC, outage reports start coming in from South America (Brazil and Chile), Belgium and Malaysia.

UPDATE 11: The USA seem largely unaffected according to users from the NYC and SoCal areas.

UPDATE 12: (Bucharest) I just got a bunch of emails at  6:58PM UTC on my Orange Torch 9800 but nothing more after that. Apps still fail. Can anyone confirm BB services coming up and back down intermittently?

UPDATE 13: Disgruntled readers start drawing analogies between this and the infamous and extended Playstation Network outage earlier this year.

UPDATE 14: A reader from Croatia reports all BB services are back up. Still down for me though, in Bucharest.

[USERCOMMENT=proudtobecroat]Croatia (Hrvatska) service started at 20:41 in local time! Facebook down, gmail, gtalk app up, bb app world up.[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 15: Intermittent BB services confirmed by users in SA

[USERCOMMENT=rossouw]also down in south africa came on for about five min got loads of messages could go on facebook and every thing and it then went off again. Highly P-O[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 16: At 6PM UTC services are coming back up at Orange Romania. Tons of emails have arrived, apps and AppWorld are working, but not BBM. Anyone else seeing services being gradually restored?

UPDATE 17: 6:15PM UTC - UK apparently next in line to BB services recovery. Still down in Austria and other European countries.

[USERCOMMENT=granma]10.15 GMT email and facebook back up and running in Aldershot, Hampshire UK[/USERCOMMENT]

UPDATE 18: 10PM UTC - service is being restored in the Netherlands. UK still partially down. No sign of recovery in other regions yet.

UPDATE 19: Oct 11th 2AM UTC - BB services still down in Canada; outages start to affect the USA. Been running nicely with no hiccups in Romania for the last 6 hours.

[USERCOMMENT=sieWell]Still no service in Wisconsin USA, northern Milwaukee area[/USERCOMMENT]

[USERCOMMENT=Kelli]No Internet access for at least 6 hours so far for me in Atlanta. Email & twitter work, but can't bring up any websites. Already rebooted, didn't help.[/USERCOMMENT]

NOTE: We now have a follow-up BlackBerry Network status article for updates starting 10/11/2011.