As if they didn't have enough stress in their lives, millions of BlackBerry users suddenly found their email nonfunctional last night and this morning when RIM's messaging service abruptly went dark. Those itching for an email fix in the middle of the night had to put away the smart phones and bust out their laptops. The service was restored this morning around 7 a.m.

The scary thing about the outage isn't just that the service was offline for 12-plus hours but that RIM still doesn't know what caused it. That means it could happen pretty much any time—and not just to BlackBerrys but to any wireless device like them. And BlackBerrys are supposed to be the reliable ones, historically known for their "rock solid" service, as PC World notes.

So what's the lesson here? Don't put all your techie eggs in one basket, and always have an alternate means of getting access to critical information like your email.

RIM says that nearly all BlackBerry users should have their service back by now, but if not, ABC News is reporting you should take these steps to fix it: 

• From the main screen, use the track wheel to select the radio tower icon (turn wireless off).
• Click the track wheel to turn the radio off.
• Wait five seconds.
• Click the track wheel to turn the radio back on (turn wireless on).
• You will need to wait a minute for the network to sync up. You should see all capital letters in the top right corner of your screen.
• NOTE: Test whether the BlackBerry can send and receive. If not, please continue.
• Remove the battery from the BlackBerry. Wait a minute. Put it back in.
• Once the device boots up, validate your radio tower is on.
• You will need to wait a minute for the network to sync up. You should see all capital letters in the top right corner of your screen.

Have you been affected by the BlackBerry outage? Post your experiences here.