What Is Wrong With Gmail?

[khall64au]

Anyone else had probs with Gmail lately? Had loads of important emails not getting through and I thought this was one of the better email providers!

Also uploaded a bunch of hi-res pics to an FTP folder - which were there when I double-checked but receiver swore they didn't exist and I had to upload all over again...

Can somebody please explain?

[thaigerd]

Same with me

Gerd

[ajahnlau]

Can't reply to an email today.

[Camelot]

I've used Gmail a lot in the last 48 hours, including big up- and downloads. Zero problems so far.

[niebla]

About six months ago I was applying for a job and the person I was emailing could not recieve email from gmail. I had to use a different ISP. Other than this I love Gmail. They do a great job with SPAM.

[khall64au]

Weird - I did a test and sent emails to and from my Gmail account - no problem, but other correspondence is a BIG problem. Freaky technology!!!

[Erwin1011]

Just send off test emails to all my other accounts. works fine. (28-03 : 08:16 )

[astral]

I think they had problems with their servers, but it is back to normal now.

[baabaabobo]

To contact the Google Mail Team, visit http://mail.google.com/support/bin/request.py and fill out a feedback form. "We love to hear from users, so let us know what is on your mind."

[Prakanong]

Its down right now just when i need it but this is the first time i have experienced a problem.

[ProThaiExpat]

Doesn't email assign subscribers to different regional servers, ie. UK, US, Asia, etc?

It may help to jump to another server but I haven't tried it.

Perhaps doing a web search by country+gmail to see if you can hitch on to another server?

[Amethyst]

lots of problem with gmail slow in getting incoming mails

[Thaising]

Google Apps' Gmail Faces Downtime Problems

Google is grappling with performance and availability problems in its free Gmail service for at least the third time this month.

For at least the third time this month, Google is grappling with performance and availability problems in the Gmail service of Google Apps, the suite of hosted services that many consider a potential threat to Microsoft's Office suite of desktop software.

The latest problem began affecting users on Tuesday morning (EDT). It remained unresolved Tuesday evening, affecting also regular Gmail users who aren't on Google Apps, according to a company spokesman.

"A number of Gmail users are having some difficulty accessing and sending mail, and we are working as quickly as we can to resolve the problem. Some Google Apps accounts are also affected," he wrote via e-mail. "We know how important e-mail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously."

Background

The software-as-a-service model, in which applications are hosted centrally by their provider, has generated enthusiasm as an alternative to the traditional approach of having users load and maintain software on their own servers and PCs. Championed by Google and seen as a threat to Microsoft's core business, this software-as-a-service model, however, has an Achilles heel: availability problems.

Several threads on the Google Apps discussion forum show that users started reporting problems accessing the Gmail component of the suite at around 10 a.m. EDT. A Google official who posts messages on behalf of the company in Google Apps discussion boards under the Google Guide name acknowledged passing on the complaints to the appropriate Google staffers in a thread at around 1:10 p.m. EDT.

Some time later, at close to 4 p.m. EDT, Google Guide popped up in another discussion thread, acknowledging the problem existed but saying it hadn't been solved yet.

"A subset of our users are still experiencing 'Server Errors' and 'Oops' messages when trying to access Google Apps email accounts. Since many of you depend on email communications, we want to assure you that we are working diligently to find a resolution. This is currently our top priority and we'll continue to post updates as they become available," this Google official wrote.

A similar Gmail access problem in Google Apps erupted on March 12 and apparently lasted at least two hours, as acknowledged by Google Guide in a thread.

On March 1st, Google Apps' Gmail was hit with an outage that affected some users starting at around 1:30 p.m. EDT, but it wasn't until more than 8 hours later that Google Guide declared the problem solved.

How Many Affected?

All three incidents this month have affected an undetermined "subset" of Google Apps users, including those on the Premier version of the suite, who pay a fee that grants them a service-level commitment from Google of 99.99 percent uptime. In fact, the March 1st incident prompted Google to offer its Premier customers an extension on their contract at no extra charge.

"As a gesture of appreciation, we are offering all of our Premier Edition customers the maximum credit specified in our SLA," Google Guide wrote at the time. "For those receiving a credit, your free trial of the Premier Edition will still expire on April 30th, 2007, but we will extend your contract to May 15, 2008. This translates to an extra 15 days of Google Apps free of charge."

Grant Cummings, an IT professional from Ohio, is a Premier customer affected by the Gmail problems. He pays the $50 per user annual Premier fee for himself and his wife, and hosts two personal sites on Google Apps: Nasal Passages and Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.

"Today is the second major outage of service for one of us. About 2-3 weeks ago I was unable to log in, send or receive e-mail on my account, and today she's in the same boat," he wrote in an e-mail interview with IDG News Service.

Those having technical difficulties with Google Apps can contact the support team through the Google Apps Help Center.

[nikster]

it's one thing when I can't send mails or can't log in.

it's a different thing if emails that are addressed to me get lost. that would be catastrophe. does anyone know if emails were getting lost as in permanently lost during the downtime?

personally i have not noticed any problems but i don't get a large amount of email on my gmail account.