Dubai: BlackBerry users with etisalat faced unexpected disruptions in web usage, e-mail and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) services for most of the workday yesterday.
In a statement sent to Gulf News, etisalat said the disruptions were caused by "a problem affecting an international carrier link" which were eventually resolved yesterday. The telecommunications company did not elaborate on the matter.
Reem J, who works in the media, said she gets to work at 10am every day but expects e-mail messages to start coming in at 9am which she relies on to plan her day before coming in to work.
"I reached work having no idea what the day's agenda would be," she said, adding that she relied on her BlackBerry for work related e-mail around the clock. The etisalat statement did not mention how long the disruptions lasted but subscribers who spoke to Gulf News said the outage ran between 8am and 2pm.
M.S, a Dubai banker, said she only faced disruptions in BBM services, which did not significantly hamper her work. Others however reported disruptions in web usage and e-mail.
Subscribers reported finding etisalat's customer support line continuously busy.
Reem said she was put on hold for "five minutes" after getting through, and was told that BlackBerry subscribers were facing "general disruptions".
"They did not have a clear idea as to what caused it or when it would be resolved," she said.
Elkin Witchwood-Green, a hypnotherapist in Abu Dhabi, said this was the latest of the disruptions he had faced with BlackBerry on etisalat. "I did not receive a single e-mail all day because of the disruptions. The reason I bought a BlackBerry was to be able to send e-mail while on the road. You can't take a laptop everywhere," he said.
Frustrated
Etisalat's BlackBerry users faced major disruptions in July when the telecoms company pushed a faulty software patch on to subscribers' devices which caused severe battery heating and drainage. Frustrated subscribers then complained about being left in the dark for days on the cause of the malfunction and how to resolve the issue.
