Approaching the community of Inwood in Manitoba is like entering a “dead zone” of cell phone coverage. “I always say, we live in the Bermuda Triangle of cell service,” said Cheryl Stark, resident, and area business owner.
According to CBC News, residents must rely on older forms of technologies – flip phones and signal boosters – just to obtain a signal. And smartphones? Forget it. With no service, they can’t pick up any bars. Residents with any of the three main carriers – Bell MTS, Telus, and Rogers – are all affected.
But Inwood and other rural communities might get help from the $750 million fund the Canadian Television-Radio Telecommunications (CRTC) is setting up to improve broadband service in remote areas over the next five years, reported CBC News.
John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa recommends that residents in Inwood complain to the CRTC, which sets out minimum service requirements for telecommunications. “Everyone should be able to have the same level of telecom service in Canada. That’s a goal the CRTC has set and they did put a service quality level on broadband internet but they didn’t really put one for cell phone service. That was probably a mistake,” he said.
August 22, 2017
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