Dear Editor:
I am writing to express the collective frustration and concern of the residents of Vavenby, B.C. regarding the recent cell service outage that left our community without vital communication means for two full days. This incident not only caused inconvenience, and a full stop to active businesses, but also posed a serious risk to our safety, as we were unable to access emergency services.
The power outage, which was resolved within 12 hours, was swiftly attended to by BC Hydro teams, and for that, we are grateful. The cell service, managed by Telus, remained non-operational long after the power was restored. Repeated attempts to seek assistance from Telus resulted in assurances there were no outages, despite the clear absence of service. The issuance of repair tickets that subsequently vanished into thin air only added to our distress and confusion. There seemed to be no communication between the administration of Telus and the ground crew near the site of issue.
Our sole source of information came through the diligent efforts of our electoral representative for Area ‘A’, Usoff Tsao, who consulted with local Telus contacts to provide us with updates when it was clear customers were not going to get any information by calling the support lines of their service provider. Koodo is my provider and they stated to me that Telus will not even consider outage reports unless there are over 100 reports. This needs to be adjusted for rural locations where towers are in place as many residents could not even call in to report the outage due to having cell coverage only and no internet either if they got service from Telus. With a town this size, if there are more than three reports, there is clearly an issue, and it should be taken seriously – especially after repeated reports from those who had landlines.
The lack of direct communication and clear outage reporting protocol for residents in Vavenby, where a tower is found from Telus is unacceptable. The absence of a backup generator to ensure continuity of service during power outages is a glaring oversight that needs immediate rectification as well an effective protocol to call in outages that work. If the backup generator wasn’t the issue, we would like to know what caused the issue, and the delay in repairs.
Clearwater did not lose cell coverage during the power outage. Most Vavenby residents had to drive to Clearwater to make important calls and use internet.
We, the residents, would appreciate a public statement from Telus addressing the above.
It is imperative that Telus takes responsibility for this lapse in service and provides transparent communication to rebuild the trust of our community. We look forward to a prompt and satisfactory response.
Sincerely,
Kaare Long
Vavenby, B.C.
