Residents concerned over landline service

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This article was published 07/08/2018 (2659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Unreliable landline telephone service in a small community west of Winnipeg is a major safety concern, residents say.

There have been ongoing issues with the phone lines in St. Eustache since July 9, said Ken Beaudin, councillor for the community in Cartier, located about 50 kilometres west of Winnipeg. The rural municipality is home to fewer than 3,400 people.

The councillor said at least a dozen people have called him with complaints about intermittent landline service.

“It works sometimes. Every second day it doesn’t work,” Beaudin said about his landline, during a phone call on his cellphone from St. Eustache. “The phone rings, rings, rings and you answer it and nothing. It’s just beep, beep, beep.” The councillor said he’s worried about what might happen if service cuts out during an emergency. “You never know when you’ll need an ambulance.”

It’s certainly a concern when it comes to potential medical issues in St. Eustache, which is “a bit of an older community,” said Dale Fossay, the reeve of Cartier. Not all residents own cellphones, he added.

“In today’s world, we’re tied to our telephones; it’s certainly an essential service.”

Phil Beaudin, Ken Beaudin’s brother, said he’s concerned about his safety amid the phone problems. Having lived with Crohn’s disease for 40 years, he said he’s worried about a medical emergency arising; he doesn’t live in town and his closest neighbour is nearly two kilometres away.

“There are other people who are in the same position, people with heart problems. What are they supposed to do if they have an emergency?” Phil said.

Bell MTS spokeswoman Michelle Gazze said there was an issue with some network components on July 17, which caused service disruptions for about 20 customers in the area.

“Our technicians were able to restore most services by the following day while new components were being sourced,” she wrote in a statement Thursday, adding that some services such as Caller ID may not have been available. “We continue to work towards restoring full services as soon as possible. We would encourage customers still experiencing service issues to contact us so we can assist.”

The Beaudins said they feel their complaints have been ignored.

“What really bothers me is that nobody bothered to inform us of what’s happening, what the problem is, how long it’s going to take to fix it, why do we have service on and off, mostly off?” Phil said.

Some residents don’t want to pay their bills, Ken said. “I hope they fix it soon. I’m tired of people phoning me. I’m not the phone man, I’m the councillor,” he added.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @macintoshmaggie