[dywalgi]

Hi I am new to the forum and a complete novice with BB as I have just ordered 2 BBMs -
1: Curve 8520
2: Bold 9900
both with 500MB of data and the bold has extra 2GB of data
wifi and email data.
I am awaiting delivery of the Bold 2moro
but the curve has been a delight to use and navigate - quick too considering.
But what a week - no BBM, no email wizard, no GMail setup and now no mobile coverage ...
Curve is on O2 and Bold is on Vodafone (awaiting it).
But to add further confusion - BB does not have a skype app.
I have to admit I have it on my laptop and don't use it nearly enough, as I use google talk when I am developing.
[Oh sorry, I should mention - I am a professional iT developer and consultant
with my own Ltd Co for my sins ... mostly academic but building the
experience.]
My Question - is this the worst week ever to chose a Blackberry?
My own opinion is -
No not really in terms of the major learning curve, I think any supplier has problems -
vodafone for example; an excellent provider for over a 25 years ...
[and sent the first SMS] yet on my phone - went down for over 2 months in my area.
I moved to Orange for a while, sad to say goodbye to Org as they were quite good, but are too expensive.
Which brings me on to my second question - as a "business mobile" shouldn't BB be doing everything to provide a service that saves us money?
No Skype app!
and with the current outage being caused by a simple lack of a proper executed disaster plan -
when are blackberry going to play nice with others and share the burden?

I can't wait for my Blackberry and whilst I can understand and accept that shit happens - I don't expect to be billed for it.

Has a compensation agreement been offered to users yet?

My wife's 8520 has only has text and calls - I could have bought an Airwide solutions phone built in 1992 that does that - "Happy Christmas" ... and on the Vodafone network too.

(this is tongue in cheek)

but Have I really made the right decision choosing Blackberry on

BLACKberry week?

[rambo47]

The outage has come and gone. Now that RIM knows what went wrong they can future-proof their systems against a repeat occurrence (or so we hope). If BlackBerrys are right for you it's never a bad time to buy them. But to really get the most out of your new BlackBerrys you should get the BlackBerry bolt-on or full BlackBerry data plan from your carrier. The standard carrier data plans won't give you BBM, push email, Facebook, etc.

BlackBerry has no obligation to save you money. Their focus is on providing the best possible experience, and if you think they offer value for the price then you buy. If not, you can always choose something else.

It's up to your carrier, who bills you, to offer you anything for the service outage. You don't pay RIM, you pay Vodafone. Sometimes carriers do give refunds for service outages so check with Voda. Ya never know!

[dywalgi]

Both phones have the Blackberry Data - BBM - Facebook - Push Email - [yet to experience the communication power of the BB - it's like throwing a straight boomerang - sorry that's a stick].
It is quite interesting that you state it is the carrier who pays for the Blackberry week not Blackberry.
I hope for blackberry that the carriers see it that way too.
What would happen if the carriers didn't carry BB anymore? Could blackberry still function? Fully?
I would be of the view - Playing nice with others is always best for the business - especially when one relies so heavily on them to "push" that business.
I think I have joined BB in interesting times and that Blackberry will either become a real concern for the iphoney -[please!!!!!] or it will sit on the shelf next to the ZX.
I have 24 months to find out or 14 days to switch to a Samsung. Let's hope BB are fully operational before then - because despite the hype - they are not working yet.

[rambo47]

No phone maker could function without the carriers. The way RIM has always handled it is to make the carriers the support/distribution mechanism. They sell it, they support it.

BlackBerrys are fully functional right now. As of early this morning it was business as usual.

[NJBlackBerry]

What are your Service Level Agreements with RIM and you carrier. That would define what compensation is due to you due to a failure to deliver the service.

We have no SLAs with either company. So we are entitled to no compensation.

If you think the Android is better (buy a spare battery; watch the blue screens) then get it. It is your choice.

[dywalgi]

Ahh you're US - I'm UK ... my mistake BBM is down here can send but not receive hence the boomerang ... Facebook is ok I think - but email is also down and the carrier is down on BB email server too ... phone worked ok until yesterday ...

[NJBlackBerry]

Just for grins try popping the battery out and then back in.
BBM "should be" back up in the UK..

According to RIM (not that I trust them one bit)...

[dywalgi]

NJblackberry - not bothered about compensation just yet - I have 2 weeks to use the phones and then decide whether or not my business and social life will be that of sitting in a cave - waiting for people to find me ... so far ... it is the carriers that provide the real communication - BB has simply provided a spinning clock - my life ticking away hoping BB will spring into ACTION ...

[dywalgi]

njblackberry - lol that's like telling a windows user - have you turned it off and on again ... doh! done and nowt different ... thanks for tech advice

[NJBlackBerry]

It was the one thing you left out from your tome

[dywalgi]

Thank you - I am completely new to BB and learning loads each day, but I tried the battery as it is what I would advise - I chose Blackberry not because of any advertising but simply because if business can trust BB then it can't be bad.
But this week has been exceptional and I would not like to guess at the millions BB has lost. Because this wasn't an email server down for 24 hrs in a single region - this was a global event that did the worst thing to a business user - it cost them business, business' have lost customers - not because the company did anything wrong - simply because the sales team were blacked out.

Like I said earlier - these things happen - but I also know that if my business had been affected by this weeks lack of communication - my contract with BB and it's carrier would be nulled and god help any carrier trying to claim an early cancellation ... not a judge on this globe would support them as the Judge was probably affected too.

Interesting times and BB have 2 weeks for this new customer to jump ship - I'm more interested in what BB can do now ... My phone arrive 2moro but my wife has been throwing straight boomerangs all week not one came back ...