People in two rural Cape Breton communities say they're fed up with poor phone service
Norma Jean MacPhee | CBC News | Posted: September 6, 2017 10:11 PM | Last Updated: September 6, 2017
Fourchu and Framboise residents say their phone service is noisy or doesn't work at all
Two rural communities in Cape Breton are fed up with ongoing landline phone disruptions.
"You can send people to the moon but they can't get a good phone service out here," said Jim MacQueen. "Makes you wonder what they hell they're doing."
MacQueen lives in the rural fishing village of Fourchu, N.S., about an hour from Sydney. Cell service is not available in the area.
MacQueen said his landline has been inconsistent for more than a year, either full of static or not working at all.
"It's not good. Should have better phone service than this," said MacQueen. "We're paying enough for it — damn near $100."
Sarah Morrison lives down the road in Framboise. Her phone went from bad to worse during the summer.
"For the month of July you got a lot of crackly noises, you might get a little bit of a conversation," said Morrison. "But since the 7th of August I've had absolutely nothing on my phone."
Worried about emergency services
Morrison said she's quite frustrated with the situation.
"My phone will ring constantly and you go to pick it up and it's dead. There's no dial tone, there's no nothing," said Morrison. "It's hellish because we can't get any kind of contact to fire departments, ambulances, anything if it's needed."
Morrison said many of her neighbours have had their phone service restored but she's still waiting.
"They keep telling me, 'There's a part on the way, there's no guarantee as to when it'll be fixed,'" said Morrison. "The next time we call, 'There's a part on the way, it'll be here on the 16th or the 17th,' or, 'Yes, it'll be fixed tomorrow, guaranteed.' Tomorrow never comes."
Blair Wareham has lived in Framboise for nearly 40 years. He said the phone lines have never been great.
"My phone, you can hardly hear anyone on it, it's cracking so bad."
Wareham said you can't predict when it will work.
"Some days you might pick up the phone and it might work great, you pick up the next hour, there's nothing."
Folks from the two communities are holding a meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the problems.
Phone company response
Bell Aliant declined an interview. In an email, a spokesperson said equipment repairs were completed last week and there are no widespread disruptions.
The spokesperson said anyone having problems with their phone services should phone them.