Some N.S. residents still without phone, internet services more than 3 weeks after Fiona

Some still without phone, internet after Fiona More than 3 weeks after Fiona, hundreds of Nova Scotians are still waiting for their telephone and internet services to be reconnected.

People living in Mill Lake, N.S., are frustrated they’ve been without phone and internet service since post-tropical storm Fiona hit more than three weeks ago.

“Anybody at any time can need someone at 9-1-1 and we don’t have that, we’re in big trouble,” said Sherry Conrad.

It’s a problem that was scheduled to be fixed as early as the end of the day Wednesday, but wasn’t when CTV News arrived to speak with customers.

“A lot of our neighbours here on the lake are elderly people, some of them into their 90s and they have no phone, no internet, no TV and their cell phones won’t work,” said Brian McNutt.

In some pockets around the lake, cell service is often spotty. Customers said it was worse initially following the storm.

“If I want to talk to anybody basically I have to get in my car and drive up the road and I can get cell service through one of my neighbours out on the main highway,” said Nancy Atwood.

“I’ve called numerous times. I’ve been told so many different stories. I’ve had four appointments for technicians even though I’ve told them don’t send the techs… you need to send the cable fellas,” said Susan Brown.

That’s because a line was burnt, requiring a line crew with a bucket truck to fix it. The customers said a Bell technician told them that but when they called to request a crew, they say the person on the other line was overseas and felt there was a communication breakdown. Workers were sent out but never to solve the actual problem.

“Why do they keep sending technicians? They’re wasting all this time,” said Brown.

On Wednesday, a day after Brian McNutt posted a public complaint on social media, line crews were sent to the area.

“I can’t stress enough restoration is our top priority. It has been since the storm hit,” said Geoff Moore, the director network operations for Bell Aliant.

Moore said as of Wednesday afternoon, about 1,400 customers in the worst hit areas of province have active incident tickets, meaning they’re waiting for service to be repaired.

He also said Bell Aliant is looking at what it can do better, adding communication is one of them.

Customers question why Bell doesn’t have an outage map like Nova Scotia Power.

“It’s something we’re taking back, we’re certainly looking at as a means to be able to communicate with our customers, status of the network, as well as when they would potentially be restored,” Moore said.