Why cellular service was so poor after Fiona

Just as Islanders contended with damage and power outages in the days after post-tropical storm Fiona, many faced another frustration: poor cellular service.

On Tuesday, a government committee heard some reasons why.

Former Liberal premier Robert Ghiz, now head of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association that represents Bell, Eastlink and Rogers, said after post-tropical storm Dorian in 2019, all three companies invested in more backup generators for their towers.

But after Fiona, they ran into problems getting fuel to those generators due to downed trees and lines blocking access, and also because of the province-wide gas supply issues in the days after the storm.

"Part of the problem was, a few days into the storm, it was impossible to get fuel, so we had some members that were out waiting [in] lineups at gas stations to get jerry cans to put diesel into the generators, so that the cell towers would be operating," Ghiz said.

"That's why things were slowed down, and perhaps unavailable for periods of time."

Ghiz said securing fuel for telecom companies needs to be more of a priority. 

He also acknowledged companies could've done a better job communicating with Islanders about the issues they were facing. 

After Dorian, an independent report recommended telecom companies be a part of storm media briefings. 

The association said companies did inquire about participating during Fiona, but were told by the province it wasn't necessary. 

"As we have meetings with EMO and different partners after the storm, we need to find a way to ensure we can keep cell towers operating on generators for a longer period of time," said Ghiz.

Communication with Islanders

Eric Smith, senior vice-president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, said companies could have communicated better with Islanders, to explain more clearly what was leading to service issues and what was being done to address them.

"I think there's room for both government and industry to do a better job of educating people on how they can prepare themselves for these storms," said Smith.

"For example, there are battery backup solutions for your cordless phones, for your internet modems, etc., where if the connectivity to your home still works — it's not because a cable is down, you just have a pure power outage — you can still access service."

Green MLA Lynne Lund said the lack of phone service was discomforting for people, and it's important to work out the issues before the next storm hits.

"A lot of people spoke of being scared, about not being able to get help despite the fact they were home with newborn babies if something went wrong, or couldn't check in loved ones who were seniors ... There was a lot of fear around not being able to make contact with people."