Posted on December 2, 2009, at 7:53 AM .
First of all, I’d like to introduce the mobile operators in China. As you may know, there are now three mobile operators in mainland China. The biggest is China Mobile, which owns TD-SCDMA found in UMTS networks in China. China Unicom is another, and it owns WCDMA and has recently launched the iPhone. The third is China telecom which owns CDMA2000.
BlackBerry is just beginning to become popular in China but there are still some major barriers. Many of my friends use a BlackBerry, but RIM has not established any retail outlets or simple means to buy their devices. Most of us get our Blackberry phones as smuggled goods or from friends abroad. China Mobile now offers BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) with the Blackberry 8700, but it comes at a very high price, about 398 RMB- 598 RMB/month ($60 to $85 USD). This is all going to change very soon. The latest news is that China Telecom have announced BIS support, and they are going to be shipping the BlackBerry Storm and Tour in the near future. China Mobile are also rumored to be releasing the BlackBerry Curve 8900 and Bold2 (not sure) soon. We have also heard from an official at China Unicom, who has confirmed they are in talks with RIM, so we will hopefully see some BlackBerry devices from them as well. Overall, China is going to see a big surge in devices around all of mainland China.
Continue reading about BlackBerry in China and what RIM can do to succeed
Posted on November 17, 2009, at 9:57 AM .
There are reports all around that the BIS is down across North America. Personally, I never notice these things when they happen because I’m on a BES, but I feel for everyone affected. The outages are reported with AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Again, there are so many reasons why the BIS might be down that it’s impossible to speculate, but if multiple carriers are affected, it’s probably a node somewhere in RIM’s network.
Are you experiencing an outage? Where are you and who is your network provider?
Posted on October 3, 2009, at 12:33 PM .
If you’re here, you likely have heard, RIM has rolled out BlackBerry Internet Service aka BIS 2.8. One of the features that has been added to this release is the ability to synchronize Gmail contacts to your device. Unfortunately, providers oftentimes don’t give you any notice that they’ve updated and finding the version of the BIS that you’re on can be a pain. Fortunately, I’ve dug up a way for you to be able to tell whether it’s been updated to BIS 2.8. Thanks to RIM’s help section, it explains where you can turn the contact synchronization on and off, via the menu system.
It states:
1. On the BlackBerry® Internet Service web site, in the left pane, click Email Accounts.
2. Click the Edit icon beside your Google Mail™ email address.
3. Select the Contacts check box.
4. Click Save.
After you finish: To stop synchronizing your contacts, clear the Contacts check box.
So if you don’t see this option, you’re not on BIS 2.8 yet. If you do see this option, you’re all set! Remember, you have to be running OS 5.0 to use this feature. Let us know if this feature is available from your provider in the comments.
via Nan Palmero | Power User
Posted on September 15, 2009, at 10:28 AM .
RIM, in partnership with Zain Saudi Arabia and Alcatel-Lucent, have launched the BlackBerry solution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Alcatel-Lucent is leveraging its strong local presence in the region to provide Zain Saudi Arabia with the project management, end-to-end implementation, installation, commissioning and on-going support for delivering the BlackBerry solution to the Saudi market. With Alcatel-Lucent managing integration and deployment, Zain Saudi Arabia can focus on managing subscribers and providing adequate customer care.
When the program launches, Zain will be offering its customers the BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Pearl 8120 and BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220. Customers will also have access to BES and BIS.
Hopefully Saudi Arabia will also be able to get their hands on some of the latest devices that will be launching this fall in North America.
Posted on September 10, 2009, at 11:49 AM .
Yesterday, customers all over North America were experiencing problems getting BIS email.
There are a number of reasons why your BlackBerry BIS email me not be working. For example, it’s possible that the NOC has gone down. The NOC is the Network Operations Center, and it is where messages go when they leave your device before being passed to the carrier. If the NOC goes down, your email will stop sending and you have to wait for RIM to fix the issue.
You may also stop receiving email if the carrier’s BIS server farm is having issues. This could be for any number of reasons. Other reasons include server hardware failure at RIM’s end, or a software bug.
Due to the complex nature of the architecture it’s impossible to speculate without some kind of hint from RIM. Sites such as Dataoutages, are great for providing updates and they had the following on yesterday’s issue:
Reported by: Multiple sources across Canada and USA.
Trouble Ticket Number: TT000011677021
Severity: 2-Medium
Description of Issue: Degradation of RIM BlackBerry BIS service.
Location of Issue: All Regions ;All Markets and surrounding areas
Start Time: Sep 09 2009 12:06 PM PDT
Symptoms you MAY experience: RIM BlackBerry BIS customers may experience delays in sending/receiving email.
Estimated time of repair: Unknown
Technicians are working towards resolution as quickly as possible.
What’s going on RIM?
Posted on June 26, 2009, at 1:31 PM .
The BlackBerry Internet Service will be upgrading to 2.7 6/26 11 PM- 6/27 3 AM throughout the US, Canada and finally the Americas. The upgrade will be to improve the help screen, language support as well as add a minor change to the option menu. During the 4 hours when maintenance is going on, users won’t be able to access their BIS accounts.
If you’re looking to connect with friends tonight, make sure it’s via SMS and not your BIS email.
Click through to read the changes that will be made to BIS 2.7
