I noticed the same thing around 5:30 PM EST today. I'm on AT&T (BlackBerry Bold 9000), showing a strong 3G connection, AND an excellent wi-fi connection. The browser gets hung up "requesting" and shows a communication error on any site I try to visit (including "easy" sites like google) that usually comes up in mere seconds. I've done the on and off and battery pull also, to no avail. WTF? The rest of the phone is entirely functional (texting, calling, etc.). Very strange.
What other browsers are out there that are faster than the standard on the phone?? it seems to be extremely slow for me and how do you get the pictures and colors to show up in emails? any help is great!