To the Editor:
We moved to Bayside 23 years ago and never had a problem with our cellular connection until around 18 months ago. We now have one bar at best, causing calls that do get through to be one-sided before being dropped. The impact of this with the threat of environmental issues combined with our rural location and frequent power cuts is dire. Without cellular back up during power outages, there is no way of reaching out for assistance or accessing vital information regarding power restoration or other situations such as a forest fire.
This is an insupportable situation because the U.S. cell transmissions, along with other Canadian providers such as Rogers, are being increased to support growing demand while Bell’s are not. Bell is dragging its feet with only word of “sometime in 2026”.
The Town of Saint Andrews is also seriously affected and while the population in summer explodes leaving visitors in the same boat, the year-round population is also increasing. Having no cellular service, or one that is constantly being dropped is tolerable considering where we live and what was previously available.
How many Bell customers in Charlotte County are in this situation? It would be interesting to see. Encouraging people in Charlotte County to report their situation might be a good way of bringing pressure to bear on Bell.
Sincerely,
Mary
