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BlackBerry users hit by eight-hour outage

BlackBerry users in North America found themselves without service for more than eight hours.
BlackBerry users in North America found themselves without service for more than eight hours.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • BlackBerry didn't give reason for outage, which ended around 2:45 a.m. ET
  • At one point, 100% of North American customers were affected
  • A similar outage hit BlackBerry system last week
  • Research in Motion says it has about 32 million global BlackBerry subscribers
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(CNN) -- BlackBerry customers throughout North America were without e-mail and Internet services for more than eight hours after a widespread outage that lasted until early Wednesday.

Customers began receiving e-mails again around 2:45 a.m. ET. Initial reports of outages came from BlackBerry around 6:30 p.m.

BlackBerry did not give a reason for the outage. It was the second such outage for users in less than a week.

At one point, BlackBerry estimated 100 percent of its customers in North America were affected by the outage, according to an e-mail sent to customers.

"BlackBerry subscribers may be unable to send or receive messages. Subscribers may also be unable to register their device, roam in another location, or use other services such as Internet browsing," the e-mail said.

"BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers may be unable to use the BlackBerry Internet Service web site or perform activities such as creating new accounts, integrating third-party email accounts, or viewing email attachments."

Research in Motion Ltd., maker of the devices, said it had about 32 million global BlackBerry subscribers as of the end of August.

BlackBerry phones run on multiple wireless carriers, including AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon.