'It's problematic': some P.E.I. residents, visitors experience poor cell service
CBC
P.E.I.'s growing population is having an effect on cell service in the province.
Lately, some Islanders say they've noticed reception isn't as good as it once was.
It's not hard to find people in Charlottetown experiencing problems with not only calls, but internet and mobile applications as well.
"I don't know what's going on," said Brennan Moore. "I just got a new phone; still one bar."
The issues aren't isolated to any one cellular provider or area of the province.
Lack of service is even making it challenging to do work in some communities.
Leia Bulosan-Burns, who works at an office in Montague, said she often doesn't have any service on her cellphone.
"I don't have an office phone," said Bulosan-Burns. "I'm having to run around the building trying to get reception to use my work cellphone."
Calls from her child's daycare have gone unanswered because she doesn't have service, Bulosan-Burns said.
"I think it's problematic."
It's affecting Taylor Backman's job too, as he tries to work remotely while on vacation from Kelowna, B.C.
A few days into his trip, he said the difference in cell service is "quite noticeable."
"It just completely drops off and you won't get it back for at least like 10, 15 minutes, half-hour," said Backman. "It's very spotty."
Other visitors said service is worse on the Island than it is back home.
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.