On December 3, the Town sent a letter to the largest telecommunication providers continuing to raise concerns with respect to cellular reception, or lack thereof, in several parts of the Municipality.
Since the letter, the Town has held meetings with a Vice-President from Rogers and a Senior Manager of Government Relations with Bell. During these meetings, the Town has continued to stress the challenges of unreliable cellular reception, and the need for the new Main Street tower to be completed and the need for other providers to utilize this upcoming infrastructure to ensure improved service for their clients as well.
The following provides highlights of these meetings:
- Work on the Rogers Tower, to be located on Main Street, has commenced, but is not finalized. Once the tower is complete, additional work will be required to install the required technology on the tower itself.
- The primary challenge with lack of service appears to be due to network congestion. While service near the TransCanada Highway (where the topography is elevated) seems to be stronger, it too is increasingly becoming congested, according to coverage maps provided by some provider(s).
- While there are federal regulations encouraging the co-utilization of existing infrastructure, these are not yet in place for the upcoming Rogers Tower. This means that Bell customers, as an example, will not inherently benefit from the new tower. Of note, this does not apply for 911/emergency calls, as these can be done using any tower(s).
- The Town will continue to work with Bell to request that in light of the confirmed tower, they prioritize our area for their planned modernization/upgrade efforts. While this was not initially an area on their priority list, these efforts are having them look at the area more seriously, now that a new tower is being constructed. Customers who experience cellular reception issues should each call their provider(s) directly, explaining specific area(s) of issue, and ensure they track the location(s), which will help demonstrate a need.
While the Town will continue ongoing advocacy efforts for increased cellular reception, residents are urged to do their part and inform their telecommunication provider(s) of their issue(s).
The full letter sent in December can be viewed HERE.