MLAs hear about the problems with P.E.I.'s cell service — but not solutions

P.E.I. MLAs heard more details Tuesday about the connectivity problems plaguing cellphone users on the Island, but not much about solutions.  

Staff with the provincial Department of Economic Development and Trade described problems with reception and dropped calls, along with some ways cellular providers could make improvements. 

MLAs from all parties, and the government bureaucrats sharing information from providers, agreed that the growing population and use of cellphones on the Island are straining wireless capacity.

"Our job is to represent the concerns of our constituents and the concerns of our constituents is that the cell service on P.E.I. sucks," said Green MLA Peter-Bevan Baker during a meeting of the standing committee on education and economic growth. 

The committee also heard that the province is using outdated technology. Modern 5G technology is only used for cellphone data in P.E.I., while voice calls are split between the older 4G network and even the older 3G network.

Figures from just two cellphone providers, Telus and Bell, provided to the committee on Tuesday showed that of 600,000 daily calls, just under 2,000 are dropped — about a third of one per cent.

O'Leary-Inverness Liberal MLA Robert Henderson said he found that figure to be low.

"In my riding [the service is] atrocious," he said. "Sugarcoat it any way you want … that's not accurate. Unless you have evidence to say otherwise, I can talk to just about any constituent in my riding and there's areas where you get zero service. So I'm finding that hard to believe, unless certain areas are better than others." 

P.E.I. needs more cell towers, but the government has little leverage to convince cell phone companies to build those.

The federal government has mandated a national 5G upgrade by 2027, but the Island will likely be the last to get updates as companies focus on larger centres first.

PC MLA Robin Croucher said the lack of service in certain areas is not an inconvenience, it's a safety concern. 

"Our providers are giving us second-rate service as an entire province," he said. "How do we emphasize the need for them to come to the table and make the investments to give us the service that we're paying for and that they're providing? We need to challenge them to do better." 

One thing the province says has gotten the attention of Telus, which has the main contract for government cellphones, is switching some of those phones to another carrier.

"We've experienced areas that have extreme performance issues," said director of business infrastructure services John Brennan. "We have moved some of our users from our primary provider, Telus, to Eastlink where Eastlink is providing more stable service in certain geographical parts of the province."  

Telus told CBC News on Tuesday that it's collaborating with the province to improve connectivity.

"Telus is committed to meeting the needs of our customers as cellular traffic and data usage levels continue to rise on Prince Edward Island," it said in a statement. "We continue to collaborate with the Government of Prince Edward Island with respect to improving connectivity."

Ghiz again asked to meet with government

MLAs also want to connect with former P.E.I. premier Robert Ghiz, who heads the industry group representing cell phone companies.

Ghiz has twice declined invitations to appear before the committee, which is looking for accountability and solutions from industry, along with a better timeline for improving service.