BlackBerry End of Life

[Ken6]

Fido is quoting Blackberry's End of Life bulletin and saying that the use of BB OS10 and earlier phones will be compromised after Jan 4. That same bulletin says that BlackBerry Link will not work; however, I use Blackberry Link off-line all the time and it works fine and that should not change. Likewise, I have an old flip phone of some no-name brand that started out with another carries and now works just fine on Rogers. I therefore wonder whether this push by Fido to upgrade Blackberry phones is all about sales and not about the utility of the BB OS10 phones after that date. Can anyone enlighten me as to why any phone carrier would discontinue support for Phone or SMS or Data functions for any phone of any make, and especially of BlackBerry? Of course, upgrades such as 5G will not be useable, but I believe that any phone with a carrier's SIM card should work.

[Original_Lucy · Accepted solution]

Good morning @Ken6 , I too have a BlackBerry OS10 device,  the KEYone.  It's true that there will no longer be any support for the BlackBerry devices.  What that means is BlackBerry is no longer providing security updates or support for any mobile related products. I believe that the notice was more of a courtesy message. You must have a KEY2 if January is your eol date. 

Having said that,  your phone will continue to work for you until it can no longer utilize updated apps and browsers. The notice is basically telling us that it's support from BlackBerry for security patches and optimization is over. BlackBerry link will also not be supported on the BlackBerry servers. I still use my Priv and Passport when I travel, there are times when I cannot access websites. They will continue to function until technology leaves us behind. Heck, I still use my PlayBook for streaming music at the cabin. I hope that provides a bit of clarity regarding our beloved Blackberrys. Have a good day, and enjoy that amazing device. Cheers 

[Ken6]

Thanks.  There has been no OS update for my Q10 for quite a long time, and most apps have already quit; however, it works great for Phone, SMS, and email when away from WiFi.  I do miss Maps and the Browser is pretty iffy, but useful sometimes. As long as the resident apps, such as Contacts and Password Keeper (for reference) continue to be accessible, along with Phone, SMS, and email, then I'm happy.

[Original_Lucy]

Hi @Ken6 glad to hear your BB is still doing what you need it to do. I wish my PlayBook still did 😉 

[Ken6]

Yes it does still work.  Here is a fun e-mail I sent to a bunch of people after BB turned off its servers:

6 Jan 2022

I turned my phone off for 3 days. Before BlackBerry shut down their servers on Jan 4th the speculations ran wild: all the news media quoted the "official" word from BlackBerry that all phones would quit; cell company messages were mixed & mine said they'd give me a deal on a new one, warning that mine would become "unreliable"; the techies on the blogs weren't so sure they'd quit but suggested some precautions to take. It was y2k all over again. 

Then after the shut down people from all over the world began reporting to the blogs that all of their phones' basic communications functions, including cell data and WiFi, were still working as before, only the BlackBerry logo by the Wifi & Cell symbols was missing. Freedom Mobile even gave their BlackBerry customers a $25 rebate, before the shutdown, for the confusion they caused, clarifying that service would not be impacted--no action required.

So, I turned my BlackBerry phone on this morning and carry on as if nothing happened. 

The moral of the story‎ is that the major corporations and media players may identify some of the issues out there, but you need to dig deeper to get the real stories. But that's not really news to anyone anyway.