Workers throughout Washington were left helpless Thursday morning when they discovered their BlackBerrys were not receiving e-mails.
The service disruption began in the wee hours of the morning and lasted through the early afternoon, stunting life for many Washingtonians, particularly those on Capitol Hill and K Street who use their BlackBerry as a mobile office.
“I can no longer manage my day,” said Peter Loge, a lobbyist at Milo Public Affairs LLC, who is often away from his desk at meetings and hearings on the Hill. “It really hinders my ability to do my job.”
For others, the outage provided a much-needed break. Dan Scandling, press secretary for Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., who is attached to his BlackBerry “at the hip,” said the outage had him “jumping for joy.”
Thursday wasn’t the first time BlackBerry service saw an extended disruption. In February 2008, an upgrade to the wireless system caused a three-hour service disruption. In April 2008, a minor software upgrade crashed the system. A software glitch also caused a smaller disruption in September 2008.
Research In Motion Ltd., the company that makes BlackBerry, is still investigating the cause of Thursday’s problem. – Violeta Ikonomova
