“Absolutely terrible” is how Darlene Jurkowski describes cell service in her community of Chelton, just west of Borden-Carleton on the southern shore of Prince Edward Island.
“You cannot call a person without getting cut off, you sound like a robot half the time, you can’t understand what they’re saying,” Jurkowski told CBC News.
Like many P.E.I. residents and tourists, she is living with dropped calls, unsent texts, or just no service at all.
Jurkowski helps run a family construction and excavation concern, so she needs a reliable way of making business calls.
“We’re paying high prices for cell phone services that we can’t use,” she said, estimating her Bell contract costs her about $400 a month.
Gary Smith owns a cottage nearby and has a rust-proofing shop. He had hoped to spend time at his cottage while still booking appointments and dealing with customers, but the poor cell service is getting in the way.
“It’s just impossible up here,” he said. “I can hear them, they can’t hear me, or vice versa.”
‘If there’s ever an emergency…’
People in the community say it’s a safety issue too. They worry about elderly relatives being unable to reach them, and wonder what will happen if they ever need to call 911 for help.
“We have kids. We have elderly people who live near us. Are we going to be able to make that call?” said Chelton resident Sam McKendrick.
McKendrick has young children and also works from home some days. She worries about not being able to do her job properly, and not being able to get calls from her daycare.
“If there’s ever an emergency, can they get a hold of me while I’m here?” she said.
Just west of Charlottetown, the Town of Cornwall has problem spots too.
“We need to be able to communicate in times of emergency,” said Coun. Cory Stevenson, who said bad cellphone service has been a dominant issue among constituents.
The town is working on changing its bylaws to make it easier for companies to construct cellphone towers, but they don’t have a new one yet.
Stevenson said the approval process falls under federal jurisdiction but the town wants to reduce “red tape” on the municipal side.
Minister says she ‘can relate’
Belfast-Murray River MLA Darlene Compton is the provincial minister of economic development, innovation and trade, the department dealing with P.E.I.’s cellphone service issues.
Compton lives in one of the areas of eastern P.E.I. that also has bad service.
“I understand and can relate to the frustration of all Islanders,” she said. “We’re very well aware and concerned.”
We need to have the buy-in from the companies. My understanding is that there really isn’t a business model there for them to improve service…— Darlene Compton
Compton said the province set aside $2.5 million late last year to help build more towers, and officials are talking to service providers. Initially there wasn’t much interest from them, she said, but she hopes that will change.
“We need to have the buy-in from the companies. My understanding is that there really isn’t a business model there for them to improve service, so we as a province — and through the federal government — are going to have to find a way forward,” said Compton.
A study has been done to identify the worst areas for reception, and the provincial government plans to meet with cellphone service providers again in the fall.
Compton said details of who exactly would use any new infrastructure and how it would be paid for still have to be worked out.
In the meantime, she encourages people with bad service to complain to their cellphone companies and the CRTC, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. In the end, she said the federal government might have to step in because lacking cell service is a safety issue.
Cell companies respond
CBC News reached out to a number of cellphone companies about the problems people are reporting.
In a statement, Eastlink wrote: “We have no reports of broad mobile service issues across the Island and remain committed to continuous improvements.”
Rogers said it was committed to bringing about a “reliable wireless experience while continually investing in our national network.”
