Sarnia officials seeking answers about spotty cell coverage

There are areas in Sarnia, including in the heart of residential zones in the city’s north, that are essentially dead zones when it comes to cellular reception, Sarnia’s information technology manager says.

The city has been in talks with Bell, which provides service to city hall, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for three years, trying to get answers amid dropped calls interfering with city officials working remotely, like by law officers using city ​​systems, or bus drivers trying to take payment, said John Silvestri.

There’s been back and forth discussion with Bell and the CRTC, but things are moving slowly, he said.

“Unfortunately these issues are not usually dealt with immediately,” he said. “And just given the scope of the infrastructure you’re dealing with, it’s not something that anybody could turn around or fix tomorrow.

“We’re hoping with attention on it, we’ll get it to happen sooner rather than later.”

Why cell coverage is poor — whether it’s a lack of infrastructure, or some byproduct of Sarnia’s proximity to the United States — isn’t clear, he said.

It’s also not clear if anything has changed recently to make things worse, or if coverage has always been this poor — or if other communities in the region have similar struggles, he said.

“We try not to rely on (cellular) for critical services for the city, but it’s one of those things that’s becoming more and more relied upon” generally, he said.

“Just for everyday use.”

Indeed, many people don’t have land lines anymore and rely on cell coverage at home, said Coun. Adam Kilner, who said he’s been trying to gather support for the issue to move faster with the CRTC and Bell.

Plans are to approach local provincial and federal government representatives to move the issue forward, he said.

With spotty service, it impacts things like businesses that do home calls, he said.

“They can’t input data when they’re in these dead zones,” he said. “It affects productivity.”

While there are concerns about the potential for weak cell coverage to also jeopardize law enforcement or emergency medical response times, it hasn’t reached a danger point yet, Silvestri said.

“It hasn’t reached the point yet with businesses coming to us saying ‘We have to have a solution to this,’” he said. “It’s been more the background complaints that kind of regularly come and we try to help them out where we can.”

Sarnia meanwhile has looked into options to boost signals in certain problematic locations, and doubled up on providers last election, using Bell and Rogers to try to ensure coverage, he said.

Hopes are recent political attention — council in July voted to request Bell Rogers and Telus resolve the matter in six months, that complaints be forwarded to the CRTC, and that staff prepare has been postponed on the issue — help gain traction, he said.

“What’s been puzzling to us is you notice it in areas of town you just wouldn’t expect it,” he said.

“There are particular intersections in the north end of Sarnia that are in the heart of our residential area that seem to have issues, and that’s just a bit surprising.”

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