Several hours after service issues were first reported this morning, Verizon Wireless has confirmed that 4G LTE service has been restored throughout the country, and that 3G CDMA services were never affected. So that miserable half-day of reliving the pain of 3G speeds is now behind us, hopefully never to return.

Verizon confirms LTE data services fully restored, 3G never affected originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you're having trouble getting a data connection on your Verizon-branded handset this morning, you're not alone. We've been receiving a bevy of tips from disgruntled Verizon customers, due to an apparently widespread outage across the carrier's mobile data network. Based on what we're seeing on Verizon's @vzwsupport Twitter feed and forums (linked below), it looks as if both 3G and 4G networks have been affected. We tested some handsets in the San Francisco area, and can confirm that data connections there are indeed down at the moment. We've reached out to Verizon for comment, and will let you know as soon as we hear more.

Update: Verizon's 3G CDMA network appears to be up, but 4G LTE services are still unavailable. Meanwhile, Verizon reps confirmed to us that the company is looking into the outage.

Update: LTE users in New Jersey are reporting that the service is back up, and we're online in New York City as well.

Update (again): And now for something completely different: a statement from Verizon.

Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is returning to normal this morning after company engineers worked to resolve an issue with the 4G network during the early morning hours today. Throughout this time, 4G LTE customers were able to make voice calls and send and receive text messages. The 3G data network operated normally.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

PSA: Verizon users reporting data outages across the US (update: back up) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Per an @VZWSupport tweet (and a quick glance at our in-house Thunderbolt) LTE is back online, so all is well in the Big Red universe once again.

Continue reading Verizon Wireless outage knocks out 4G LTE for some, 3G still 'works' (update: fixed)

Verizon Wireless outage knocks out 4G LTE for some, 3G still 'works' (update: fixed) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Mike Lazaridis apologizes for BlackBerry outage: 'We've let many of you down' (video) (Update: full services restored)

Mike Lazaridis apologizes for BlackBerry outage: 'We've let many of you down' (video) (Update: full services restored) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that was quick. Mere hours after holding a press conference stating that it didn't know when BlackBerry users would have their BBM, internet, and email working again, services have begun to come back online. Apparently email is up across the globe, as is BBM. Web browsing, however, continues to be "temporarily" unavailable to those on EMEIA networks in Europe, the Middle East, India, Africa and Latin America. There is of course a considerable backlog of messages to get through, but the good news is that all the BlackBerry bits and bytes are flowing freely once again. Hit the source link to get the info straight from the horse's mouth.

RIM recovers, BlackBerry services coming back online originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you don't own a BlackBerry yourself, chances are you know somebody who does. And if that person lives in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America or South America, they're probably quite unhappy with RIM at the moment. This week's service outage began with a server failure in the UK, and spread like wildfire to Africa and the Middle East, before continuing on to parts of Asia, the US, Canada and a good portion of South America. This is only the latest BlackBerry service outage for RIM, bringing email, BBM and web browsing services to a halt. But with BlackBerry services playing a critical role in real-time business and government communications, any interruption is unacceptable, and costly for all.

RIM CTO David Yach responded to questions during a press conference this afternoon, explaining the original cause of the outage (that UK server failure, along with a series of failed redundancies), and how that grew into the global outage we're experiencing now:

"It's a backlog issue. Clearly we have a backlog in Europe, based on the initial outage and the time it's taken to stabilize that. At this point, we have not throttled the other regions, but as you can imagine, with the global reach of BlackBerry, people using it to contact others around the world, there's a lot of messages coming to Europe from Asia and the Americas, and those would be backed up on the other system. It's looking like over time that backlog built, and started impacting those other systems."

The obvious solution would be to clear the backlog and restore service, but in doing so, RIM would purge any undelivered messages. Yach said that all emails will eventually be delivered, however, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about there (there was no related comment regarding BBM messages). When asked what the company would be doing to "make right" by way of its customers, Yach emphasized that his focus was only on restoring service at this point, and made no promises of restitution.

Is the BlackBerry outage affecting you? Let us know by voting in our poll, or leaving a comment after the break.

Continue reading RIM clarifies global service outage, doesn't provide ETA for restore

RIM clarifies global service outage, doesn't provide ETA for restore originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It's day three of RIM's BlackBerry service outage in much of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil and Chile. But now the problem appears to have spread into Canada -- RIM's home turf -- and we're even hearing reports of some service issues in the US as well. We've reached out to RIM for comment, but we'd like to hear from you. Let us know whether or not you're having issues in the poll below, and jump past the break to sound off in the comments.

View Poll

Update: RIM has posted the following statement to its BlackBerry Service Update page:

BlackBerry subscribers in the Americas may be experiencing intermittent service delays this morning. We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience. We will provide a further update as soon as more information is available.

Update 2: RIM UK has also posted a statement:

We know that many of you are still experiencing service problems. The resolution of this service issue is our Number One priority right now and we are working night and day to restore all BlackBerry services to normal levels.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

BlackBerry outage spreads to US and Canada, continues in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America (update: RIM confirms) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Oct 2011 09:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, RIM, things really aren't looking good for you over in EMEA, are they now? We've received several reports of a second BlackBerry outage for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and our friends over at T-Mobile UK and Vodafone Egypt have confirmed again on Twitter, just several hours after RIM tweeted that service had been restored. So, what's going on over there? We're reaching out to RIM for a statement, and like those of you affected, we can only hope that things get back up and running very quickly. Are you outraged? Experiencing perfect service (and in EMEA)? Jump past the break to tell us what's up in the comments.

Update: RIM has issued the following statement:

Media statement - October 11
Some users in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, India, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina are experiencing messaging and browsing delays. We are working to restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Update 2: Another update from RIM:

The messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested. As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

BlackBerry services offline for some in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Again. (update: RIM confirms India, South America, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there's one thing RIM doesn't need right now, it's another BlackBerry outage. Well, are you sitting down? RIM UK is currently investigating issues affecting "some users in EMEA" -- that's Europe, Middle East and Africa, for the acronym-disinclined. The company has turned to Twitter to acknowledge the outage, with T-Mobile UK and Vodafone Egypt chiming in as well (and pointing fingers at RIM, as expected). The Telegraph reports that the "glitch" hit around 11AM this morning local time, and is affecting email and instant messaging services, along with web browsing, leaving users unable to use their BlackBerrys for anything but making phone calls and sending texts. BlackBerry outages appear to be a rather frequent occurrence for RIM, typically hitting during peak usage times -- like, for example, 11AM on a Monday. So are you currently without service? Jump past the break to chime in with a comment.

Update: BBC is reporting that email services have been restored after the outage affected millions of users.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

UK server failure sends BlackBerry devices offline in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (update: restored) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If your Dish Network-connected TV is claiming total signal loss, then at least take comfort in the fact that you're not alone. While the company hasn't revealed exactly what the problem is, Facebook and Twitter posts indicate a "technical issue" with satellite location 129. The really bad news comes when we learned that bird is responsible for carrying many HD channels and HD locals (check the links below for a list of all channels on 129). Switching over to SD channels will let you watch (if that can really be called watching TV) most content in the short term -- DBSTalk posters advise hitting menu and selecting 1 on your remote to pull up the guide if you're having trouble. If you currently hide standard-def channels, press menu, then 8, then 1 and uncheck the "HD only" box to see the working channels for now. We'll keep checking for any updates on the situation, but for now you're on your own in a 480-line wilderness, so good luck.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Dish has a new webpage up to help customers deal with the situation here, while those who can't get through on crowded helplines are advised to check out @dish_answers on Twitter.

Update 2: Dish's site linked above indicates it has "identified the issue" and estimates it will be fixed overnight.

Update 3 (9/14): According to Dish Network's official Twitter account, things should be up and running again now. Satisfied? PS - Another helpful DBSTalk post recommends a guide data update by pressing Menu, then 999 and then the right arrow.

Continue reading Dish Network satellite 129 outage knocks out HD channels nationwide - Update: Fixed!

Dish Network satellite 129 outage knocks out HD channels nationwide - Update: Fixed! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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