BlackBerry Internet Service problems explained
Over the course of the last few months a number of BlackBerry users in South Africa have complained about problems with the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) that offers them flat-rated Internet access for their BlackBerry devices.
Almost all on-device data usage is unmetered for a flat monthly rate that is usually around R60 (or bundled into the contract). This excludes bandwidth intensive streaming services such as YouTube and using your BlackBerry as a 3G modem.
BIS also grants users access to services such as BlackBerry’s well-known push email functionality and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).
This means that if a BlackBerry user is unable to connect to BIS, for whatever reason, they stop receiving mail, are unable to use BBM and often can’t use data-driven applications such as Twitter or Facebook. Which makes it quite understandable that BlackBerry users, who are unable to connect to BIS, are getting hot under the collar.
Complaints about BIS interruptions are streaming in from all over South Africa and are directed at all three operators that provide BlackBerry services in the country, namely Vodacom, MTN and Cell C. A wide range of BlackBerry devices also seem to be affected, making it difficult to pin-point a common problem.
The nature of the complaints also vary widely with some users reporting being disconnected from BIS altogether for significant periods. Others report problems with intermittent connectivity. Still others say that they find themselves completely disconnected from the network and unable to make or receive calls even though the device indicates otherwise.
The head of device portfolio management at MTN SA, Teddy Maduna, said that MTN is not aware of any gross service degradation on the Blackberry Internet Service.
Maduna said that taking into account the additional bandwidth MTN invested in the service in 2010, any service degradation would be isolated and not network-wide. Any concerns in this regard MTN would be happy to isolate, he added.
Vodacom also said that they don’t see a general issue, but added that they’ve picked up on a number of problems affecting BIS usage.
Some of these issues are due to isolated faults on the network, but most of the time the issues are linked to the configuration of the BlackBerry device itself.
It is worth noting that Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys recently revealed that there are around 1 million BlackBerry devices on Vodacom’s network. If 1% of these experience a problem at any given time then 10,000 Vodacom users would have issues with their BlackBerry.
Conifguration related issues
According to Vodacom, BlackBerry devices set to “3G-only” mode is the biggest problem as it affects many of their subscribers and causes those that leave 3G coverage areas to lose their data connection altogether.
Vodacom said that they are addressing the issue, mainly by calling affected subscribers and helping them to reconfigure their devices.
The possibility of some problems being specific to a device and software version combination hasn’t been ruled out either, but no device-specific problems have been isolated as yet.
Twin-SIM and wider issues
Another issue that affected fewer subscribers is linked to Vodacom’s twin-SIM offering. In most cases where the problem is found the second SIM is installed in an iPad and whenever the iPad connects to the network it throws the BlackBerry off. Usually this requires the BlackBerry to be rebooted for it to reconnect to BIS.
Vodacom said their Customer Care statistics reflect four BlackBerry-related faults reported by more than one subscriber in February and March, all of which resulted in a clear problem being identified and rectified.
Vodacom also said that they upgraded the capacity of their BlackBerry service towards the middle of March, meaning that Vodacom BlackBerry users should see an increase in speed on BIS.
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