Rogers Communications said around 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning it had restored wireless service for the vast majority of its customers, the day after a widespread outage left millions of Canadians without mobile and Internet service on Friday, in addition to causing problems with the police, courts, Service Canada, broadcasters and Interac technology, among others.
“As our services come back online and traffic volumes return to normal, some customers may experience a delay in resuming full service,” the telecom giant said in a tweet on Twitter.
Our technical teams are working hard to ensure that the remaining customers are online as quickly as possible.
This outage, which lasted a whole day and lasted until 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,” Tony Staffieri, president and CEO of Rogers, said in an open letter.
“On behalf of everyone at Rogers, Rogers for Business, Fido, Chatr and Cityfone, I sincerely apologize for this service disruption and the impact it is having on the people of a coast to coast. »
The CEO of Rogers Communications did not provide details on the cause of the outage which began in the early hours of Friday morning.
The company reiterated on Saturday morning that it will proactively credit all customers affected by the outage and will have more information to share about compensation soon.
“Once again, we sincerely apologize for the disruption this has caused our customers and will proactively credit all customers.
You don’t need to contact us to get the credit, as it will automatically be applied to your account,” the company tweeted.
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.
Reached by The Canadian Press, the Montreal Police Service indicated that checks have been carried out and that no problem has been 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 Details Form, which must be completed prior to arrival at the border, if unable to do so through ArriveCAN,” specified the agency.
Hard copies of the traveler’s proof of vaccinations, as well as their government-issued documents, were required.
Ontario particularly 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.
Customers in Toronto, Kitchener, Moncton, Ottawa and Mississauga had the highest number of website reports, with 45% reporting a total outage, 29% reporting mobile internet issues and 26% reporting problems. fixed Internet.
According to data from Downdetector, it appears the outage also affected independent networks, which often use Rogers’ signal.
Last year, the company suffered a massive outage caused by a software update that left customers without service.
“The outage is a good example of the lack of competition in telecommunications in Canada,” said the executive director of McMaster University’s master’s in public policy program, Vass Bednar, in an interview.
Canada’s telecommunications sector is dominated by three major carriers — Rogers, Bell and Telus — and their hold on the industry has long been a concern of industry experts, who have repeatedly called on regulators to increase competition for mobile and Internet services in Canada.
The Competition Bureau is currently opposing Rogers’ plan to buy Shaw Communications for $26 billion, despite the planned sale of its Freedom Mobile business to Quebecor.
Bednar said the fact that many services, ranging from 911 to public transit, were affected on Friday proves the need for increased competition.
“But unless people switch providers today or new public options suddenly appear, there’s not much more we can do right now, other than maybe heed the anger and frustration of people,” she added.
The federal government concerned
In a press release, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, said Friday that the government is monitoring the situation closely.
“We are aware of the outage at Rogers. My team is in contact with the company. We have expressed how important it is that this situation be resolved as soon as possible. We also stressed the importance of the company communicating quickly and clearly with affected customers,” the minister wrote.
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.