[STV0726]

BlackBerry Link Remote File Access is Nothing to Rely on
________________________________

Almost since it was first unveiled as a feature of BlackBerry Link, I have tried and tried again and again to make use of the highly promising Remote File Access feature. It was easy enough to set up afterall - just click a few buttons, choose what folder(s) you want to share, and done. It started off working fine. I was quite impressed with it. I could not only access my desktop files, but I could take photos and video directly from my BlackBerry and move it to my desktop which was super convenient.

Of course, good things never last, at least not for BlackBerry, it sadly seems. As soon as my desktop was rebooted or powered off then back on, access would break. I would have to at least toggle the option off then back on from my Z10.

Lately though, and I frankly don't know what has changed, the problem has gotten worse. Now, access often flat out doesn't work. It is non-functional. I toggle it on and off on the computer, then the Z10, vice versa, change the order of operations, reboot both ends, you name it...nothing works.

All I have now is folders that are not deleteable sitting on my Z10's device storage named after my computer as it was identified in Link. I cannot access my files remotely at all. I actually have multiple of these folders because one troubleshooting step I tried was renaming my computer to refresh/reset everything to no avail.

In short, BlackBerry Link's finally gotten clean, lag-free, and professional looking in the recent 1.2 version. (I will always give credit where it is due.) Unfortunately, Remote File Access is still intermittent at best, and most certainly nothing to rely on when one needs his/her files on the go.

BlackBerry, I remember an analyst for The Street, Gary Krakow, saying for you all to "put up or shut up". Sadly, despite everything, when all is said and done, you still have yet to learn these lessons. If you can't make a feature work, don't throw it in there. Everything negative you do adds up big time at this point...

Let me remind you that we CrackBerry faithful are just about your only truly loyal customers left, and sadly even we are starting to drop like flies. You are running out of people that like you. You have absolutely no time left for a "sorry, this version is what it ought to have been since launch." Get Link and ALL of its promised capabilities to work perfectly NOW, or remove the extras and streamline a basic backup and sync application that just works beautifully. Afterall, it is these fundamental yet paramount functionalities like synchronization, that BlackBerry is supposed to be all about, yes? It devastates me that the Contacts app is still intermittent and inconsistent, Link is a dink, we must wait for 10.2 for multiple alarms when that should have been a calendar functionality since day one, and lastly, why any and all of this is still being overlooked with the desperate state your business is in. Here's a different kind of "crack" for you...get crackin'!


-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[Bla1ze]

So many people have issue with Remote Access though I have zero idea as to why. It does and always has, worked flawlessly for me on my Mac.

[3hb78ftg]

So many people have issue with Remote Access though I have zero idea as to why. It does and always has, worked flawlessly for me on my Mac.

Same here with my PC.

BlackBerry Z...my weapon of choice.

[STV0726]

So many people have issue with Remote Access though I have zero idea as to why. It does and always has, worked flawlessly for me on my Mac.

Hi Bla1ze,

Thank you for your input. I'm glad it is working for you. Sadly, for something in the category of "oh crap I forgot a file in an important business meeting", which is what it aims to be according to their own help file, we need closer to 99.9% reliability and up-time rather than most people having issues with it.

It is sad for me. I truly want to use this feature but I have just about given up for now. Afterall, I can only do all the trouble shooting steps I listed above plus go thru my network and firewall settings so many times before I want to pull my hair out.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[RyanGermann]

I have occasional problems with it that I have I think narrowed down to "reboot the Z10 and it works".

Bla1ze, do you have any contacts in BB where those of us who are reasonably technically sophisticated could in some way report bugs or walk through the process? I was looking on the support website and I didn't see a centralized way to report errors (and what good would it be to tell them "it was fixed when I restarted my Z10" without a log or something to support it?)

I am sincerely offering to help BB nail down "intermittent" bugs, which are usually the hardest to define and fix, and I bet there are a lot of CB members who would love to see this feature stable. For me, mostly stable, but then the connection is dropped during a file transfer or when I try to access a PC it shows as "Offline" when I'm sure it's not (sometimes BB Link crashes, but I thought that shouldn't make a difference... unless a core Windows OS service crashes).

RFA is a huge deal for me (personal, not public, "cloud") and I think it could be a competitive advantage for prosumers if it was marketed effectively... but it MUST be rock solid!

[STV0726]

I should add one of my pet peeves right now...

If Link requires being run as a UAC administrator on modern Windows to work consistently, back the drawing board BlackBerry...NOW.

Btw, I have also tried disabling and enabling the LAN BlackBerry Private Network it creates, and rebooting the PC, BlackBerry, or both does nothing consistently for me.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[Benjamin_NYC]

Just stopped working for me this week. Then started again when I disassociated then reassociated my device with my computer.

Unfortunately, this lack of reliability makes it nifty but useless for all intents and purposes.

Sad that one of BB's only true differentiating features is, once again, plagued with instability.



Posted via CB10

[STV0726]

Just stopped working for me this week. Then started again when I disassociated then reassociated my device with my computer.

Unfortunately, this lack of reliability makes it nifty but useless for all intents and purposes.

Sad that one of BB's only true differentiating features is, once again, plagued with instability.



Posted via CB10

Re-associating does nothing for me.

My patience has run out.

You heat BBRY?! Out of patience!!

I personally think a brave blogger should break the Sunday Silence and write an article on this issue to make BlackBerry realize it is a priority.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[Henry Jr]

Works for me on my Windows 7. No probs

Posted via CB10 from my Q10 (SQN100-3)

[ital1]

I have the same issue on Windows Vista. My understanding is that Vista did not have a particularly solid iPv6 implementation, and knowing that RFA uses iPv6, I always assumed that was the issue for me.

Posted via my Z10

[STV0726]

I have the same issue on Windows Vista. My understanding is that Vista did not have a particularly solid iPv6 implementation, and knowing that RFA uses iPv6, I always assumed that was the issue for me.

Posted via my Z10

A) It is highly possible that Vista is fine now with the service packs PLUS the special maintenance patch that brought over many of the 7 improvements to Vista. They really are very, very similar.

B) The status of my connection for BlackBerry Virtual Private Network shows no iPv6 connectivity. This may be my issue...or is it only supposed to show specifically when activity is happening? Windows 7 reports no problems with the connection/adapter.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[STV0726]

Okay, great to see SOME folks have it working.

We're at about a 50% ratio. That is horrible. Regardless if it is working for you, this is a major issue BB's Link team needs to address ASAP.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[ital1]

A) It is highly possible that Vista is fine now with the service packs PLUS the special maintenance patch that brought over many of the 7 improvements to Vista. They really are very, very similar.

B) The status of my connection for BlackBerry Virtual Private Network shows no iPv6 connectivity. This may be my issue...or is it only supposed to show specifically when activity is happening? Windows 7 reports no problems with the connection/adapter.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

Thanks for the information; I will check the Windows site to see if there any new updates. As for the IPv6, I believe I checked the BlackBerry forum when I was doing my trouble shooting and I read that RFA uses IPv6. My specific issue is that while I can see my laptop in my Z10's file manager, I cannot see the folder that I specified in Link. All that I get in file manger is a blank page.

Posted via my Z10

[wasalph]

Hi all, i only had the setup working once under bblink 10.1, but never had the luck afterwhich even after upgrading bblink to the latest version. In just as disappointed and gave up until reading this thread, seeing some users have had good connections. Would it because of network setup? My setup includes a firewall (untangle) and router.

Perhaps there are port forwarding required (upnp disabled here)? What is this i read that need ipv6?

Also read elsewhere about windows own firewall as possible culprit.

Z10 STL100-2 10.1.0.4181

[rthonpm]

I've had limited success with RFA. It works for awhile, and then stops. The issue I have is that troubleshooting is hard because of the number of variables:

Mobile network
Firewalls (at the host and router level)
Handset issue
Link software

The idea of the process is great, but it's flaky. Luckily, I have Box and SkyDrive as backup locations, but I don't necessarily want to store confidential files on a public cloud service.

I'm hoping improvements to Link are coming since the RFA feature is the closest thing to the network access capability of BES that's available for those of us too small to run one.

Posted via CB10

[Anonymous2039]

For me, Remote File Access sometimes stops working somewhat randomly and my PC will show up as "Offline" in File Manager. I've found that following these steps makes it work:

1. Close File Manager
2. In Settings -> BlackBerry Link (on the phone), turn off Link, wait ten to twenty seconds, then turn it back on.
3. Reopen File Manager and it will finally connect after a while.

If you disable your firewall completely and it works, the problem is with your firewall. There's a thread somewhere on CB that talks about fixing this (what ports to open...).

--Q10 and Canadian all the way! Posted via CB10 on 10.2.0.1443. #IChooseBlackBerry10

[battleax78]

I'm one where if I know I set it up correctly, it should work. I'm not going to jump through all these hoops when I shouldn't.

One of these hoops that I can do nothing about is RFA works when I turn off the cellular network (Verizon), but when I turn it back on, nothing. Just the spinning circle, but no files again. Only works over wi-fi and cell network off. Running Windows Xp on the desktop, Win 7 on the laptop and both behave the same.

Yes, the cell network box is checked.

[bbmtna]

For me, Remote File Access sometimes stops working somewhat randomly and my PC will show up as "Offline" in File Manager. I've found that following these steps makes it work:

1. Close File Manager
2. In Settings -> BlackBerry Link (on the phone), turn off Link, wait ten to twenty seconds, then turn it back on.
3. Reopen File Manager and it will finally connect after a while.

If you disable your firewall completely and it works, the problem is with your firewall. There's a thread somewhere on CB that talks about fixing this (what ports to open...).

--Q10 and Canadian all the way! Posted via CB10 on 10.2.0.1443. #IChooseBlackBerry10

Thanks for this. I've never had this feature working since day one. I've even thought about doing a wipe on my device and see from there. I'll look up that thread.

Posted via CB10

[heyjohnnybravo]

So many people have issue with Remote Access though I have zero idea as to why. It does and always has, worked flawlessly for me on my Mac.

Mine was that way..then I switched Macbooks and started using a leak and it's always been spotty.

Worked perfectly with official releases and initial versions of Link however.

[Joel Hill]

Remote file access does not play nice with any of the leaked updates. If you're running one if those you can't rely on it.

Posted via CB10

[STV0726]

I'm not using leaks - I never do.

And you shouldn't have to open ports. If Link needs them, it should add then to Windows Firewall and Vista / 7 will give the user a prompt to allow it.

-STV on Z10STL100-3/10.1.0.4780 TMO US

[rizdragon]

my RFA only works when i am connected to the same wifi network. it rarely works on mobile network. my pc has Win XP Professional.

[campbecw]

I have no problem with it at all. Toshiba laptop here. I use it daily! It's my favorite feature.

Night Radio Show Tune-In and Discussion: C0012487D Q&A with an Ex-Mormon/LDS: C00121BDD

[wasalph]

I have no problem with it at all. Toshiba laptop here. I use it daily! It's my favorite feature.

Its nice to know your're having perfectly working remote access... may i know your network config? router? firewall? When ur phone ia outside your network, is it connected via wifi or mobile data?

Z10 STL100-2 10.1.0.4181

[campbecw]

I have no firewall on my router, as far as I know. I'm no techie. I have a standard Shaw Wifi router and my computer simply sits in a corner, on, and has been told never to sleep. Since I got my BlackBerry and set up remote access I haven't opened my laptop in weeks. It's just on all the time and when I need to work on my thesis wherever I may be, I just load it up from home.

I've set BlackBerry Link settings in my phone to access the home PC over the data network as well as Wifi. Sometimes, if it says it's offline, I'll switch the feature on and off again and it picks up the PC right away.

I've been using remote access since it's release in official OS versions. I've never installed a leak. In currently running 10.1.0.4181

Night Radio Show Tune-In and Discussion: C0012487D Q&A with an Ex-Mormon/LDS: C00121BDD