Personally, we like our technology and will only give it up when they pry it from our cold, dead hands. Then again, we do admit we can be obsessive. There is also something to be said for how you use a device. A tool is just a tool. You can use scissors to make delightful paper dolls, or you can run with them. That said, Blackberry users do tend to develop addictive and dependent behavior around the device. It's much rarer for people to complaint about how they can't stop using scissors.

What's your take on the issue? Are Blackberries and products like them a positive for users and those around them or are they more likely to be a hindrance?

No BlackBerry for Obama: Setting "CrackBerry" Limits [Wall Street Journal]

— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times)

AT&T Data Network Knocked Out in Northeast [Gizmodo]

Kapil's brand new Blackberry arrived with a battery that won't charge. He wants T-Mobile to exchange it, but he says T-Mobile wants to replace it with a refurbished Blackberry instead of a new model. Kapil is fighting back, but even at the executive support level all he's found are rude, uncooperative T-Mobile employees who keep saying there's a process, and that someone will call him back—which never happens. Kapil refused to hang up on the fourth day and demanded to know what happens next after nobody calls back, which seemed to confuse and anger the T-Mobile rep he was speaking with. And for those of you who can't listen in, we've transcribed some of the juiciest parts.

powered by ODEO

After a few minutes, the rep grows audibly annoyed with Kapil and tries to get him off the phone:

Your other option is to call customer care.

The reason I'm calling your executive office is because customer service has failed me and they are not helping me, and now you're telling me that my only recourse is to continue leaving messages but no one is calling me back. I have called every day—

[cutting in] Sir, sir, we took a message this morning. He has 24 hours to give you a call back.

I understand there was a message left this morning—

[talking over him] Okay, so— but—

—but there was also a message left on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week and no one has called me back.

Uh, uh, from the notations in the account I don't—

So you're telling me the notes are more accurate than me? Because on this conversation there's only one person that was part of that initial conversation and... it's not you. I'm telling you that I've called all this week—

[cutting in] I'm telling you nobody from my team, nobody from my team, uh, went into your account.

What if they forgot to leave a note to that effect? Is that my problem?

It doesn't matter, that's not how our system works sir. Even if they were in the account and, and, and didn't leave a note, it still shows there in the account.

So what if I—

[cutting in] At, at this point sir, I'm not going to argue with you. I can give you a phone number. If you need immediate assistance you have customer service to call. Okay?

I have tried—

[overlapping] Do you have any other questions or concerns for me?

I have tried customer service and they have refused to help me, so I called your executive office—

[cutting him off] Well sir, this is your option at this point, sir.

May I speak to a supervisor in your department?

No sir, you're not calling customer service, you're calling our executive offices.

This goes on and on like a Beckett play for a while. Eventually Kapil tries a different tactic, and discovers that just because he's been led to believe he's speaking to executive customer service, he may have actually been rerouted to regular customer service on his previous calls:

You're evading my question here. I understand your process, that someone will call me back in 24 hours. I'm asking, if that does not happen, what's happens next?

Somebody will call you back within 24 hours sir.

(Laughing) Are you a South Park fan at all? The TV show? [silence] Ever seen that TV show?

(Pause) ...No.

There's an episode of South Park where... imagine you're a character called the Underpants Gnome. And these Underpants Gnomes are stealing everyone's underpants, and when asked why they're doing that they put up a sign that says Step #1, collect underpants, Step #2, a bunch of question marks, and Step #3, profit. When you ask them what step #2 is, nobody knows. You're kind of doing that to me, I'm asking you if this doesn't happen, if your process doesn't work the way that it's supposed to, which it hasn't for me all week, what is the next step in the process. Like, how do I get past this?

Okay, again I'm telling you, you may have called the corporate office, but more than likely, it looks like from what I can see that you may have gotten transferred back to customer service, okay? As far as our team receiving the call, the first call that was received by our team this week was this morning, okay? So, from that point we have 24 hours to call you back.

But I have somebody on the phone. You're in the same department.

I'm trying to explain our process sir. Do you understand it or do I have to explain it again?

Twelve minutes in, we find out that the mysterious Pancho—he's the Godot-like character who's supposed to call Kapil back—isn't even someone Kapil has spoken to before, although Jason doesn't seem to understand or believe that. And at about the 13:30 mark, Jason finally gets upset enough that he reveals that he does have a record that Kapil has called several times before—something he has kept denying knowledge of throughout the call.

It's really a masterclass in how to pretend to offer customer service while stonewalling a customer. We like to imagine there are posters up around the T-Mobile offices that display our favorite line from Jason: "It's not a refusal, sir, it's how our process works."

(Photo: Getty Images)

"This is an emergency notification regarding the current BlackBerry Infrastructure outage," RIM support account manager Bryan Simpson said in an e-mail. The message said the outage affected enterprise clients and "users of the Americas network."

RIM was not immediately available for comment and its e-mail gave no estimate on when service may be restored or how many individuals could be affected.

UPDATE 1-RIM notifies of "critical" BlackBerry outage [Reuters] (Thanks, Mexifinn!)

I would be wiling to pay, hm, maybe up to $15 extra to be able to use airplane WiFi that accessed the entire internets. Crackberry and diddlymail (Yahoo) users will be thrilled. The rest of us will have to wait.

JetBlue to Test Inflight Email, Instant-Messaging Services [WSJ]
(Photo: MeghannMarco)

Is this true? We do not know. The post claims an "inside source."

From Blackberry Cool:

We've just received word from one of our friends inside AT&T that the US carrier has been successful in their attempts to lockdown the GPS functionality in their upcoming BlackBerry 8820 so that the only functioning 3rd party software will be TeleNav.

First, this is a major piss off to AT&T customers looking to get their hands on the BlackBerry 8820 mid-September, but what's more important is why AT&T chose to do this. Apparently - and remember, this is coming from someone inside AT&T - the carrier didn't want to launch a device that would seem superior (or be competitive) to the iPhone. Sounds a little crazy, until you realize that a GPS/Wi-Fi'd device with push email and no funny-texting touch screen that's subsidized in price sounds a bit more appealing than a $500 device that enterprise customers can't use.

...the move would be unusual for the carrier as it typically encourages the adoption of BlackBerry phones for business customers and only sees a small amount of income from TeleNav's service, which is available at $6 per month for GPS use during ten trips and $10 for unlimited trips. The 8820 includes no camera and is generally considered at odds with Apple's phone, which focuses largely on media playback and other personal uses.

Seems like a dumb move to us and an unconsumer-friendly move at that. If it's true. And we're not saying that it is. Just to make that abundantly clear.

EXCLUSIVE: AT&T neuters the BlackBerry 8820 in favor of the iPhone [Blackberry Cool via MacNN]

A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with chelsea.

chelsea: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. May I help you with your order today?

You: I am interested in the international BlackBerry and am looking for detailed information for rates on data and voice when making calls from different countries in Asia.

chelsea: Please hold on while I check that information.
chelsea: Unfortunately you will not be able to use the phone in Asia.
chelsea: I do apologize.

You: Hmm. OK. Actually [I] am nearly certain the international BlackBerry can be used everywhere but Japan.

chelsea: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.
chelsea: I will be right with you.
chelsea: I just tried to look for Asia in the countries list, and it was unavailable.

You: Yeah. Asia is more of a continent than a country (like Europe—not a country, France—a country). I'll stop by a store I guess and try to figure it out.

chelsea: Ok.
chelsea: Thank you for visiting Verizon Wireless, I look forward to speaking with you again. Have a great day!

Your chat session has been ended by your Verizon Wireless online agent.

Ads We Hate [Slate] (Thanks, Wade!)
(Photo:Maulleigh)

The memo Cingular prepared in the wake of last week's massive Blackberry outage, after the jump...

(Photo: Unhindered by Talent)

The memo:

What's Happening?
The nationwide RIM outage received a great deal of publicity and some customers are calling to request service credits. BMG leadership has decided that any customer requesting the request should receive a 1 day service credit.

How Am I Impacted?
ANS should NOT transfer these calls to BEUC (Business End User Care.) For this issue only, our ASRs will apply the credit.

If you receive a call in which the customer requests a credit for the RIM outage this week:

1. Explain that due to the inconvenience of the nationwide RIM outage affecting all carriers, Cingular the New AT&T is happy to provide a one day service credit for the loss of service. The credit will appear on the customers next invoice.

2. Identify the monthly service charge for the RIM service

3. Complete the attached e-mail template and send it to the ASRs

4. Quote the customer the amount of their credit based on the table below

5. If the customer is not satisfied please politely explain that the outage occurred for less than 24 hours and that 1 day's service credit covers that loss of service. If necessary, escalate to team managers or floor support using normal escalation procedures. Do not transfer the call to BEUC.

Credit Amount based on the Monthly Service Charge (MSC):
Customer's Monthly Service Charge for Blackberry / Credit Amount

• $74.99 / $2.50
  
• $69.99 / $2.33
  
• $64.99 / $2.17
  
• $59.99 / $2.00
  
• $49.99 / $1.67
  
• $44.99 / $1.50
  
• $39.99 / $1.33
  
• $34.99 / $1.17
  
• $29.99 / $1.00

You can read all the hot and heavy prose about system caches and failover processes in the NYT article at the bottom of the post because we're certainly not going to waste our precious morning trying to make it sound interesting. — BEN POPKEN

R.I.M. Offers a Reason for BlackBerry Failure [NYT]
(Photo: decaf)

And it hasn't just been loss control that has suffered, he adds: "This issue sucks. I've been getting grief about it from my now ex-girlfriend thanks to this delay. She thought I was ignoring her e-mails when I was receiving them hours late."

So I write back expressing my fervent hope that he was kidding about the "ex" part. No chance.

"We got into a really bad argument earlier in the day," he replies. "She sent me a few e-mails and when I didn't respond right away, she thought I was ignoring her and called it off. I didn't get the e-mail it was over until around 2 a.m. today."

Not knowing what else to say, I suggest that perhaps this situation might be covered by his BlackBerry service-level agreement. His reply:

"I'll call RIM and tell them to give me an upgrade on a new girlfriend."

BlackBerry owes this guy a girlfriend [Network World] (Thanks, Maxwell!)
(Photo:David Wilmot)

Your email is not being pushed through to your device as of about 8pm tonight. Might want to make some other plans. No word on when the outage will end. —MEGHANN MARCO

UPDATE: According to WNBC the outage is sort of over.

Officials with RIM said they tried to reset the system and they were concerned that the backlog of data, which could cause a bigger problem as it rushes through now that the system appears to be online.

RIM officials said messages would be sent out in stages so the system does not crash.

RIM officials recommend all who depend on their BlackBerry as a major way of communication should make some back-up plans in case more problems occur Wednesday morning.

Massive Blackberry Outage [WNBC]

This chick is on hold for two hours and seventeen minutes waiting for a Crackberry rep to pick up.

In the meantime, she pets her pussycat, pees, showers, and takes a nap, on camera.

Happy customer service week.

Unfortunately, such CSRs are rare. But Cingular apparently still has them and Lee W's good experiences with a couple Cingular employees lead him to stay as a customer even after a frustrating spate of technical problems. What did these CSRs do that was so different? They just admitted that there was a problem and helped as best they could. Seems so easy, doesn't it?

Lee's email after the jump.

I've been having issues with my new refurbished Blackberry from Cingular. Basically, my reception went hell and the device has a nasty habit of neglecting to connect to the Edge network for hours at a time. So I spent some time today on the phone with them arranging a replacement. Easy enough — oddly enough. I first went to a store to do it, but they couldn't — so they gave me a $40 credit on my bill for my trouble. Go figure. And thank you!

But then I got an email from them telling me that my mailbox was full. Problem is, I delete everything every day. And the cingular.com/blackberrystart web page showed that I had zero messages. Until I clicked on "manage folders." That showed I had 600+ messages and was over my limit. But there was no way to delete them.

I called in again, and despite attempts by a sweet CSR girl to resolve it, we got nowhere. And she told me the Blackberry people were gone for the day, so I'd have to call back the next day. I thanked her, then asked for a 2-level escalation. She said "Uh... okay" as if wondering how I knew that.

I got to a manager who was weirdly and refreshingly nice and understanding. The Blackberry folks were indeed gone for the day, but he walked me through the process — as he remembered it — from his own Blackberry doing the same thing. And his tips actually worked.

Then, completely unprompted, he told me Cingular is having serious integration issues these days (Really!?!?!?!? ). New service is taking 4-6 hours to get up and running. And many people are having serious reception problems. In fact, he said his reception turned to shit about the same time my service and my wife's service did — and he's in Austin while I'm in Los Angeles.

Despite the fact that I believe their "fewer dropped calls" campaign is actually true because Cingular offers fewer completed calls, I have to give them props for candor. Their service sucks these days and they admit it. Tuning 38,000 towers from two separate systems can't be easy. But they get bonus points for admitting it's a problem.

Too bad I can't call and commend them.

A T-mobile store told him he could get a Blackberry with an unlimited email plan. It was the perfect solution and Mat bought it.

The only problem being that such a plan doesn't exist. When he complained to T-mobile HQ, he was told there was nothing they could do as he had no proof in writing.

Ouch. T-mobile really drops the ball on this juggler, after the jump...

Matt writes:

So...I'm a British variety performer who travels extensively in Europe during Summer, and I have a delightful wife who has a slightly less delightful recurring back injury. I wanted a way of being able to email her from wherever I was in Europe, as much as I needed to, so I could check she was ok while I was working away. I talked to a very helpful T-Mobile staff member who told me that there was a price plan for my Blackberry that would give me unlimited email for a flat monthly fee. Brilliant. I checked that I would be able to use the free unlimited email from other countries in Europe and the helpful staff member didn't just say yes, but even started to list all the countries I that my free email would work in. Excellent. I bought the contract. A couple of weeks ago, T-Mobile started charging me for emails. I got in touch with them and they said it was their mistake and corrected it. Fine. While I was talking to them on the phone, I double-checked that my email would work in Europe and was told that it would work, but I'd have to pay for each email sent. Not good. I explained that I had been told that I had free unlimited email in Europe, and was told that no, I didn't. Time to contact customer service. I regailed them with my tale and was told that they never offer free unlimited email outside of the UK. I told them that I had been told by their customer adviser that I would get the free email outside of the UK, and that was the sole reason I had purchased the price plan. They apologised and offered to credit my account with 60. I said thanks, but that didn't really solve my problem and what I really wanted was the free email outside the UK. They said no and seemed to imply that I was making up the bit where the staff member tells me inaccurate information. I mentioned how I understood that customer service calls are recorded and how this would confirm my story - I actually mentioned this several time, they always seemed to ignore it. I wonder why? After a little more to and fro, they offered another 25 credited to my account. I explained that this still didn't solve the problem. All I want - I told them - was the price plan that I had been led to believe I already had. This morning I got a terse email from them. They said that as there was no written evidence that I had been misled (not sure how there could be..) there was nothing else they could do. Looks like the customer doesn't come first. It's a great shame that their choice of customer service strategies brings results that leave all parties annoyed, where they could have taken alternative action and created a very happy and satisfied customer. I wouldn't have bought the price plan I am now saddled with had it not been recommended by the customer service staff member I talked to on the phone. I have been best misinformed and at best lied to in order to make a sale. Crappy crappy crappy. Mat Ricardo, Gentleman Juggler Impossible feats with impeccable style www.MatRicardo.com"

RIM agreed to pay NTP $612.5 million in a settlement, after Judge James Spencer threw a righteous cow over the absolute juvenility of the entire dispute.

NTP, weeping the tears of martyrs all the way to the bank, have gone on record as stating they aren't happy with the settlement but will stoically cry themselves to sleep on beds made of money for the good of the nation.

Link: Blackberry Settles Patent Dispute

• Eddie Bauer is holding a 60% off winter sale on clothing for women and men, as well as 'gear.' The online outlet follows suit with an additional 5% off.

• If you squeeze your shopping in this morning, Gamestop.com has free shipping until 11am PST for orders over $75. Use code: 3DAY75.

• And since it wouldn't be indicative of the hopelessness of fighting the American cellular telephone hegemony to complain about a company on the same day you post a deal for their product, Cingular is offering the RIM Blackberry 8700c for $150 with a $150 rebate with a (probably two-year) contract.

• Today's Woot!: A 250GB hard drive for $55. Not a had deal at all if it were new. Unfortunately, these drives are refurbished, and god knows what happened to them before Woot got them in stock. We'd say pass—hard drives are fragile enough as it is.