Bell outage continues to affect B.C. police departments, taxes 911 operators
Posted February 2, 2020 3:01 pm.
Last Updated February 3, 2020 5:23 am.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Service disruption for Bell customers is affecting local police departments and taxing the province’s 911 operators.
“Right now we can receive 911 calls from Bell customers but our concern is if–for whatever reason–that call becomes disconnected we have no way of calling them back and connecting with them because of the outage that is happening province-wide,” says Jasmine Bradley with E-Comm 911.
Bradley says people making 911 calls should use a cell phone with service from another provider, or a landline.
She also urges people to be patient while some non-emergency numbers at local police departments are out of service. Metro Vancouver Transit Police, Burnaby RCMP and Delta Police all reported issues with their phone lines Sunday.
“One of our concerns with the outage is that callers are phoning 911 to report non-emergency calls,” she explains. “We just really want to make sure that people understand we can’t take non-emergency reports over the 911 line. These lifelines need to be kept for real emergencies where first responders are required to help people right away.”
People who need to make non-emergency reports are encouraged to either postpone or to try using a landline.
#Bell BC network outage ongoing.Calls to 911 from all carriers & landlines working. Calls to non- emerg lines impacted in some areas. Pls do not call 911 unless emergency. Follow @Bell_Support for updates. Reminder: If you call 911 by mistake, don’t hang up. Stay on line. #911BC
— E-Comm 9-1-1 (@EComm911_info) February 2, 2020
Bell posted a statement to Twitter Sunday saying the outage–which began Saturday afternoon–was called by a landslide near Boston Bar which knocked out a third-party fibre line.
1/2 Damage to a third-party’s fibre line near North Bend yesterday afternoon has impacted calling for some Bell Mobility and Virgin Mobile customers in BC. Mobile data, text messaging and calls to 911 are not affected. However, some customers may be experiencing disruptions…
— Bell Support (@Bell_Support) February 2, 2020
2/2 with making or receiving calls from landline numbers or customers of other wireless providers. Our crews continue to work with other carriers to restore full services as soon as possible.
— Bell Support (@Bell_Support) February 2, 2020
Lower Mainland municipalities including Delta, Abbotsford, New Westminster and Port Coquitlam reported problems making and receiving calls on city phones Saturday
The City of Vancouver reported similar issues Sunday.
Major disruption to cell phone services are causing phone issues at city facilities and services. If you are trying to get in touch : try using VanConnect app, or try another cellphone service or landline to call 311. Another update this afternoon.
— City of Vancouver (@CityofVancouver) February 2, 2020
There is not estimate from Bell for when service will resume.