Telecommunications giant Rogers announced Saturday that it has restored service to “the vast majority” of its customers in the country, nearly 24 hours after a widespread outage left millions of Canadians without mobile service and internet access.
Posted at 8:02
Updated at 8:35 a.m.
“We have now restored services to the vast majority of our customer base since our last updates. Our technical teams are working hard to ensure that services are restored as quickly as possible to customers still affected by outages, ”said the Ontario company in an update posted on its Twitter account at the start of the day. .
However, Rogers indicates that it is “possible that the full restoration of services takes some time”, in the context of several services coming back online simultaneously.
Apologizing to its customers, the group also announced that a credit will be offered to all its customers to compensate for the inconvenience of this breakdown. “You do not need to contact us to obtain the credit because it will be automatically applied to your account”, specifies the management.
The outage, which lasted all day and extended into the evening, also led to an official apology from the CEO of the Toronto-based telecommunications company. “We know that going a full day without connectivity has a real impact on our customers and all Canadians,” Rogers President and CEO Tony Staffieri said in an open letter, also apologizing. sincere”.
Both Rogers Communications and its CEO did not provide details on Saturday about the cause of the outage. It is therefore still unclear whether this is a cyberattack, or an internal technical issue.
With many people still working from home, the outage forced many Rogers customers to quickly find an alternative way to communicate and work. Marc R., a citizen who contacted The Press, worried Friday for his mother who has health problems and a telephone line at Rogers as her only means of communication. “She is alone at home. I can’t reach her and she can’t reach anyone. It must not be the only one and there must be many other problems associated with this outage, ”he explained.
Impacts across the country
Interac spokesman Bryan Bossin said Friday that the company’s debit and wire transfer services were unavailable across Canada. The outage therefore disrupted operations at several merchants, but also in the courts, transport networks, credit card providers and police forces. Many financial transactions also had to be postponed.
Among the most concerning disruptions were connection issues with some 911 emergency services, as several Canadians said they were having trouble getting the line. Both Toronto and Ottawa police have warned that connection issues could impact their 911 service.
“If your call fails, please try again or call from another landline or cell phone,” Ottawa police wrote on Twitter. The Thunder Bay police have even created a temporary 911 email address to allow people who are unable to use the telephone network to reach emergency services.
In Quebec, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) indicated that checks were carried out and that no problem was detected. On Twitter, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police also confirmed that its 911 lines were still functional in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Courts have also been affected. In Montreal, a hearing for fashion mogul Peter Nygard was pushed back a week due to the inability to use the videoconferencing system.
On Twitter, Service Canada wrote that “the power outage at Rogers affected some call centers and offices, including passport offices.” This situation will not make life any easier at passport offices, where many Canadians have had to queue for hours in recent weeks to obtain the precious document.
The Canada Border Services Agency had also warned that travelers might not be able to complete their submission using the ArriveCAN app. “For the duration of the outage, affected travelers should submit their information using the Traveler Contact Information Form, which must be completed prior to arrival at the border, if unable to do so through ArriveCAN. »
Ontario also very affected
In health, the Scarborough Health Network, which manages three hospitals in the Toronto area, asked all of its doctors who were to do teleconsultation on Friday to go to their place of work until the outage is over. settled. Downdetector, a website that monitors outages, says people started reporting issues with Rogers’ service around 4:30 a.m. Friday, and by 7 a.m., 20,000 issues had been logged.
In a press release, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, said Friday that the government is monitoring the situation closely. The Public Interest Advocacy Center has also asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch an investigation into the outage under the Telecommunications Act. The CRTC confirmed that it had received the application and was reviewing it.
With The Canadian Press