The phones were out for some hours again today. This is common here, and despite the fact that we’ve had telephones in Coalmont for over a hundred years many people accept that in this day and age, we get second rate service. However, not everyone is happy with this. Bob Sterne sends us the following letter:

Once again, the phone lines to Coalmont are down, there is no dial tone at all…. This has happened twice already this winter that I am aware of…. On Jan. 3rd the Coalmont Hotel caught fire, which is adjacent to our property, and if the phone lines had been out, we likely would have lost our house….

The phone line to Coalmont isn’t buried, it isn’t strung on poles, it is lying on the side of the road, along the bank, tied to trees and rocks, for a distance of about a kilometer…. Is this what you consider to be a proper installation, because I think the TV Stations and Newspapers I am CCing on this email might well disagree….

There is no cell service in this area, Telus provide our only way to reach the 911 Emergency Services…. Does somebody have to die before Telus get their act together?…

This is indeed a serious matter, but what is particularly interesting is that Telus appears to be hiding the fact that they are unable, or unwilling, to provide an acceptable and safe level of service here. On the Telus “Home services outages” web page, Coalmont or related areas, are not listed. Why is that? Not under “Current outages” during our blackouts, nor under “Resolved outages” afterwards.

Is Telus trying to hide the facts from the CRTC? In the past when the whole town has been disconnected, a representative has had the gall to say that “only a few subscribers were effected”. It appears that they only count those that actually call to complain. Most people don’t, because . . . umm . . . their phones don’t work.   §