Fewer phones on the blink last weekend after telecoms improved storm defences since Fiona

Telecommunications in Nova Scotia during the past weekend's storm appear to have been much less widely affected than during post-tropical storm Fiona, which swept across Atlantic Canada on Sept. 24 and 25 last year. 

"I think we did very well," said Crissy Baillie, the senior director of field operations support for Eastlink. Baillie said there are some lines down and some structural damage, but Eastlink's "core network" didn't sustain any damage. 

"So that was a step in the right direction." 

Baillie said since Hurricane Fiona the company has added more fixed generators at its sites in Nova Scotia to keep cell towers running, and improved its "fuel management system."

"There was some challenges with Fiona getting fuel and getting it to where it needed to be," Baillie said. "So we improved that and we had even a backup to that with contractors that were enabled to be on call for additional fuelling."

Despite that, Baillie acknowledged there are still customers who were affected by Lee.

Rhonda Lantz, who lives in Oakland just outside Mahone Bay, N.S., said her home phone went out at the same time as her power on Saturday morning. It was restored on Thursday.

"I have a cellphone, so I can call 911," she said, but added she's concerned about her neighbours who may not have cellphones. 

All the telecom companies had representatives in the provincial command centre said John Lohr, the provincial minister for the Office of Emergency Management, on Thursday. 

"It was very clear that they were taking it very seriously, so I'm pleased," Lohr said. 

"They had made significant investments in generators and in hardening their own infrastructure. In some ways, Lee didn't really test that, but they have made significant progress." 

Following Fiona, all the major telecom companies filed documents with the CRTC describing what happened and how they fixed their networks. 

Bell described how its network locations have about eight to ten hours of battery backup, and after that the sites switch to generator power. 

"However, fuel [for the generators] is only capable of being pumped where there is power at gas stations and fuel depots," Bell wrote. "Replenishing generators with fuel was thus a challenge in locations where gas stations or diesel fuel depots were without power and where fuel could not be pumped."