BlackBerry network stability details
Millions of BlackBerry users were recently left without Internet services for three days, caused by problems on the Research in Motion (RIM) network.
The downtime on the RIM network raised concerns from observers that the company’s infrastructure started to buckle under the increased traffic load.
Patrick Spence, Managing Director Global Sales and Regional Marketing at RIM, denied that the problems were caused by traffic load. Spence said that they constantly monitor traffic load to ensure that they upgrade their infrastructure when needed.
More RIM network problems?
Over the years RIM and BlackBerry built up a reputation for excellent network stability and reliability, but according to industry sources the company experienced numerous problems over the last twelve months.
MyBroadband received information from industry players that RIM network problems were to blame for close to 10 BlackBerry service problems over the last twelve months.
Patrick Spence
One source highlighted that they have seen a significant increase in problems on the RIM network this year – a trend which is new to them.
Spence denies that they have experienced numerous problems this year, adding that during the past eighteen months, RIM has maintained BlackBerry network service availability of 99.97%.
“Over the course of the past twelve months, RIM had one other significant incident where some customers in Africa experienced delays to their BlackBerry service over the course of a two hour period. This was not a network outage and no messages were lost,” said Spense.
Who is bending the truth?
The conflicting information from RIM and from the industry sources raises the question of whether one party may bend the truth to serve their needs.
The explanation may lie in how a ‘significant incident’ is defined. While the mobile operators may see a network problem causing BBM and BIS interruptions as BlackBerry problems, RIM has a different view.
Spence explained that the data they provided is based on the “measurable and material impact on their customer base during the working day.”
“It is based on real-time data from our Network Operations Centre,” said Spence.
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