[NecessaryEvil]

We have a client that is pushing the boundaries of what Exchange was meant to do...and it's of course spilling over to his BlackBerry.

Now, first off, I've been with the company for 10 months and he's on his 3rd BlackBerry. 2 Bold 9000's and now a Torch.

The likely problem is just the number of emails and contacts he may have on the BlackBerry. Somewhere between 4000 and 10,000...a contact for every doctor, patient, nurse, etc. that he's CC'd in an email for the past who knows how many years. We're running latest version of BES, whatever the single client free version is, just for him.

His secretary told him he can only have 1500 contacts on his BlackBerry, which I'm sure is an artificial number she's making up to try to get him to come to his senses, but I honestly lack that kind of faith. We've had to put in a new harddrive just because his Outlook store was taking up 1/4 of his hard drive. Deleting is not an option for him, not that it would matter anyway as he's getting hundreds of emails per day. (He got 87 emails in the span of 45 minutes while I was backing up his Bold 9000 and transferring everything to the Torch).


So, now that he's had the Torch for 2 weeks, he wants us to replace it because it's slow and locking up. While it's certainly possible there's a legitimate issue, it's more likely it's simply choking on all of this guy's excesses.

Is there a limit to what the Torch can do? Is there a limit to what BlackBerry can do? While I certainly agree that this is a user-caused issue, it may be easier to accommodate the user than (unsuccessfully) attempt to force him to change.

[Erandhawa]

first you'll probably want to check how much space is left on his torch. If he has plenty of memory left then u'll want to upgrade the os to the latest .246. If his phone is running low on system memory you will probably want to limit the number of emails to be saved on the phone. This won't delete them from the server it'll only bump them off the phone. Swapping the phone won't really do anything since hes just gonna load it up again.

[NecessaryEvil]

Exactly. I'll see about going to .246 (is that an official? I had no qualms with running my personal Bold on betas, but I'm not even going to consider it for this guy).

Unfortunately, he's the kind of guy that thinks he needs access to everything all the time. I don't know how he'll like losing all those emails...but there's nothing we can do.

[branflakes]

I have a similar client; he never deletes an email and works his Blackberry (and computer, etc) to the bone. Basically, I set limits and he doesn't actually really notice anymore. I archive his email account (or he'd kill the email client), and his Blackberry is set to clear emails after a certain number of days. If he wants to save a specific email, he has to choose to.

Go to .246. It is official and helps the Torch a lot. Limit the apps he has on his phone, so there's more room for emails. Otherwise, be honest that there are limits to what the phone (and any smartphone) can hold. Perhaps push him to use a laptop more when he's not in the office and needs access to emails the Blackberry doesn't have. My client has an ultra-portable laptop, partly because he knows he gets attachments all the time he can't read on his BB.

I feel your pain. Some clients just don't understand the limits of technology. And that technology can not replace good computing habits.