Improving telecommunications service reliability: Responses to online survey
Download the English PDF version (PDF 474 KB) – Survey participation: 19
Download the French PDF version (PDF 85 KB) – Survey participation: 1
The data presented in this report is auto-generated by Granicus, a public engagement software contracted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The data contained on this page covers 20 submissions made to an online survey (1 participation to the French survey and 19 to the English survey). The survey was made available on the CRTC Conversations website from September 4, 2025, to December 3, 2025. The HTML report below combined the French survey participation and the English survey participation.
Survey questions
- General public: We’d like to hear from you about your experiences with service outages. What could have been done to prevent the outage? How did your telecommunications service provider (TSP) respond?
- Service providers: We’d like to hear from you about your experiences with service outages. If you are a provider, what could have helped your network to be more resilient? If you are a provider, how could TSPs support one another better to ensure service continuity?
- Which of these principles should the CRTC consider in its service reliability regulatory policy? You are invited to consider ranking them from most to least important.
- How can each of these principles improve service reliability?
- What additional measures should telecommunications service providers (TSPs) put in place to improve 9-1-1 and public alerting services?
- What information can TSPs provide to help Canadians during an emergency such as a power outage or natural disaster?
- Should your provider be required to inform you about emergency preparedness measures?
- If you said yes to question 7, what forms of communication would be most useful?
- If you use accessibility services like a TTY teletypewriter or Internet Protocol relay, what could your provider do to make these services more reliable?
- How could we make sure that our policy looks after the safety and security of Canadians in all regions, including remote, rural and Indigenous communities?
- How can the CRTC work collaboratively with rural, remote and Indigenous communities to improve service reliability?
- Should any measures that we identify as part of this consultation apply equally to all TSPs?
- What specific compliance measures should the CRTC consider to help ensure TSPs implement requirements?
- Should any compliance measures apply equally to all TSPs?
- Is there anything else you would like to add?
- What are the first 3 digits of your postal code?
Survey results
1. General public: We’d like to hear from you about your experiences with service outages. What could have been done to prevent the outage? How did your telecommunications service provider (TSP) respond?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 1 | I don't recall experiencing a service outage for many years. |
| Participant 2 | Nationalizing the infrastructure. More stringent cybersecurity measures |
| Participant 3 | Third Party internet providers are given low priority for outages. Appointments are 2-3 days later, but if a first party customer, appointments to fix are usually next day. I recently had an outage that was caused by a technician breaking my internet cable. I called Bell a couple minutes after it broke. Instead of having the technician that was already working on someone else’s internet, I had to wait until the next day. |
| Participant 4 | Any outages should be reported immedeatly on their website or if possible via sms/email notice. They dont respond at all with issues to give updates. Knowing the information is majority of the battle. |
| Participant 5 | Backup systems/redundancy features. Keep all equipment in good working condition. Frequent inspections instead of repairs at point of failure. |
| Participant 6 | I get downtime for at least 24hour period at least a handful of times a year with rogers cable internet. They dont want to spend money to upgrade or maintain lines. The respond with saying sorry. |
| Participant 7 | Very limited and inconsequential interuptions and mostly beyond providers' control |
| Participant 8 | Since abandoning cablevision for streaming there are periodic network disconnections. TV screen goes dark, no sound. 3 to 6 seconds later it reconnects on its own. Did not happen with cable. Shaw/Rogers. Have not told Shaw. 2. Poor customer service at times. 3. Aljazeera channel. Initially years ago, picture filled part of tv screen (SD), then one day full screen (HD) for quite some time, then suddenly back to SD. Shaw said it was broadcaster issue, signal they were sending. Not true. |
| Participant 9 | We have areas of our city that have extremely poor cell coverage with several spots that have 3G service. The carrier, Telus, has said they are aware of the problem and that there were plans for a new tower but that has been delayed. This doesn't help increase the existing coverage areas and their own coverage map lists my area as 5G, which it most definitely is not. If we get off of our home wifi we loose cell connection, which we use because there is little coverage in my area. |
| Participant 10 | Awful service with Telus between Bradford and Barrie. South Barrie doesn’t have enough cell towers and when there are power outages, I can’t use my phone because the service is so poor. |
| Participant 11 | There was a planned ahead of time service outage. I understand that the cell phone towers needed to be reset turned off or whatever. The problem was is that my husband who is with the rogers network had service back within an hour. I was left without service and stuck on SOS for hours. It wasn’t until I filed a complaint along with many others that Telus got around to fixing anything. While I understand service outages do happen I question why the Telus service was done for significant longer than Rogers? I have some health challenges that I need to make sure I have a phone available that works at all times in case of an emergency. Thank goodness my husband was able to be home with me most of the day but I was quite anxious that my phone was on SOS and was stressing about not having network availability on Monday when my husband had to go to work. It’s fine to have service outages and even be off the network for a planned amount of time but 12 hours of not having cellphone network availability is unacceptable. |
| Participant 12 | A number of high-profile network outages in recent years (albeit, not all for telecommunications providers, sometimes for specific websites or software) have been a result of poorly timed and implemented updates on the service provider's side, cybersecurity breaches, and other human-driven outage causes. These could be prevented by having more 'siloed' structural designs, where network sections can communicate and connect with each other when things are working well but be quickly disconnected when there is a breach or issue in one section; similarly, prevention could include rolling out updates in 'segmented' stages, rather than to affect all users all at once. My personal telecommunications service provider (Teksavvy) is very good from a customer service perspective on responding to outages, including proactively following up with me by phone when they believe that an outage has been restored to confirm that I do, in fact, have service again. In terms of improving response times for restoring service after outages amongst all service providers, it would be valuable assess and improve the resiliency of physical infrastructure (e.g., in a given area, is it better to locate telecommunications wires above or under ground)? as well as to have 'backup' physical infrastructure (given that it is backup, possibly with lesser quality / capacity and/or shared amongst multiple service providers) for restoring basic, limited services (e.g., public calling emergency departments, government use, etc.) |
| Participant 13 | My cellphone used to work fine for voice calls and now it doesn't. Calls breakup and I can't be heard and I can't hear them. I opened a ticket wirth Rogers and they say there's no problem. They feel it's something in my home, but I haven't added or changed anything. I'm using the same cellular booster as I was when it was working. Now I can't use my cell for voice calls. I'm not happy with their response and feel brushed off. I live in a rural area and have a 5G phone. |
| Participant 14 | Forcer les fournisseurs d’avoir un plan B |
| Participant 15 | While buried cable isn't immune to incidents, fibre on elevated telephone poles is susceptible to wildfire damage. Better protection of critical infrastructure is particularly important for users outside of metropolitan areas such as the BC interior and north. |
| Participant 16 | Keep infrastructure and technology up to date. My community is very remote (Old Crow, Yukon) and it takes a lot of time to get repairs done due to access. Response times are slow as there aren't staff in-community to fix issues when they arise |
| Participant 17 | I lost home landline, internet, TV, wifi - everything three times in November in Oliver, BC I could not reach Telus as the first outage was after 8 PM and their technical services were closed. Internet was down so I could not reach anyone on line either but found out that wouldn't have helped either because Telus no longer has 24/7 technical support. They may closed but their hours are not based on PST so we get the short end of the stick and during prime time doesn't help. The second two outages were on the Sunday. Without landline, my 86 year old mother was without access to 911 if she would have needed it. Not all elderly have cell phones to get the emergency access to another provider available through cell phones. The data on my cell phone was down as well so I had nothing and didn't know about the emergency access to Rogers if I would have needed 911. More education on this service and also more communication from Telus would have been helpful. The second Sunday outage was for "maintenance" because I did receive a text that it would happen but by the time I received the text my internet was already down. No notice.... |
| Participant 18 | Yukon cellular coverage is mainly provided through Bell Mobility. During outages or issues, they often point to the fiberoptic infrastructure operated by NWTel (who until recently was owned by Bell) or state they are investigating the issue. There have been several network issues with the cellular network (intermiittently, one party can't hear the other but the other party has no issues) that had multiple complaints but little resolution. Improved netwrok infrastructure and coordination with other stakeholders (power or fiber connections) can mitigate the frequency and duration of outages. Increaseing the number of cellular sites would both increase the range of 4G & 5G service and increase the population based that can receive cell phone alerts issued by the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System. |
| Participant 19 | the provider could have buried the fibre better. too shallow and not enough marking tape. as usual: "we are looking into the issue" |
2. Service providers: We’d like to hear from you about your experiences with service outages. If you are a provider, what could have helped your network to be more resilient? If you are a provider, how could TSPs support one another better to ensure service continuity?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 4 | Force all 3 big carriers (Rogers, telus, Bell) to share their network with each other |
| Participant 5 | Collaborative networks. If one goes down, customers can switch to others. |
| Participant 16 | N/A not a provider |
3. Which of these principles should the CRTC consider in its service reliability regulatory policy? You are invited to consider ranking them from most to least important.
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 2 | Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Aim to always have service available |
| Participant 3 | Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages |
| Participant 4 | Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity |
| Participant 5 | Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Aim to always have service available |
| Participant 6 | Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Aim to always have service available, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service |
| Participant 7 | Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity |
| Participant 8 | Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity |
| Participant 9 | Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages |
| Participant 10 | Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions |
| Participant 11 | Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Aim to always have service available |
| Participant 12 | Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Aim to always have service available, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers |
| Participant 13 | Aim to always have service available, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully |
| Participant 14 | Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity |
| Participant 15 | Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Aim to always have service available, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully |
| Participant 16 | Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Aim to always have service available, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity |
| Participant 17 | Aim to always have service available, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers |
| Participant 18 | Aim to always have service available, Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers |
| Participant 19 | Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions, Aim to always have service available, Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages, Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity , Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully, Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service, Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers |
| Participant 20 | Se soutenir mutuellement dans les situations difficiles pour assurer un service sans interruption, Nouer des relations étroites et fiables avec les fournisseurs, Établir un réseau fiable grâce auquel le personnel peut communiquer en vue de mettre fin aux interruptions, Être prêt à résoudre les problèmes et à rétablir le service rapidement, Créer des processus rigoureux visant à exploiter le réseau de manière prudente, Établir des réseaux solides capables de supporter les perturbations et de s’en remettre, Avoir l’objectif d’offrir un service sans interruption |
4. How can each of these principles improve service reliability?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 2 | '## 1. **Aim to always have service available** - **Impact**: This sets a high standard for uptime and availability, encouraging proactive monitoring, redundancy, and preventive maintenance. - **Benefit**: Minimizes downtime and ensures users can rely on the service at all times. --- ### 2. **Build strong networks that can handle and recover from disruptions** - **Impact**: Designing networks with fault tolerance, failover mechanisms, and disaster recovery capabilities. - **Benefit**: Reduces the impact of outages and speeds up recovery, maintaining trust and continuity. --- ### 3. **Create solid processes for how to operate the network carefully** - **Impact**: Establishes clear operational procedures, change management protocols, and documentation. - **Benefit**: Prevents human error, ensures consistency, and enables smoother troubleshooting. --- ### 4. **Prepare to quickly fix problems and restore service** - **Impact**: Involves having skilled teams, diagnostic tools, and escalation paths ready. - **Benefit**: Shortens mean time to repair (MTTR), reducing service disruption and customer frustration. --- ### 5. **Set up a reliable network for their workers to communicate to resolve outages** - **Impact**: Ensures internal communication tools (e.g., secure messaging, VoIP, collaboration platforms) are robust. - **Benefit**: Enables fast coordination during incidents, leading to quicker resolution. --- ### 6. **Build strong, dependable relationships with vendors and suppliers** - **Impact**: Facilitates access to replacement parts, technical support, and priority service. - **Benefit**: Enhances supply chain reliability and speeds up recovery during hardware or software failures. --- ### 7. **Support each other in times of need to ensure service continuity** - **Impact**: Encourages a culture of teamwork, cross-training, and mutual aid across departments or organizations. - **Benefit**: Strengthens resilience during crises, ensuring that service can be maintained even under pressure. |
| Participant 3 | Proactively email when outages are discovered. |
| Participant 4 | n/a |
| Participant 6 | They need to invest instead of price gouge customers |
| Participant 8 | Hire staff needed to do the job and train them well. |
| Participant 9 | Allow overlapping coverage and the use of other networks. Cut the red tape and time it takes to install new towers to increase coverage. |
| Participant 11 | I just honestly think there needs to be a working relationship among all the service providers so that if the service outage happens that everybody has access to network availability so that emergencies can be handled in an effective and safe manner |
| Participant 12 | The biggest factor in reliability is not that outages never occur (which seems unrealistic) but that outages are infrequent, short, and generally non-disruptive -- and that, critically, service is available when people truly need it not as a convenience but as an essential (i.e., emergencies). My priorities ranked 1-3 focus on having strong measures in place to restore service when there are outages. My priorities ranked 4-5 focus on outage prevention as an ideal goal (but are ranked lower than measure to restore service in recognition that this is an ideal). My priorities ranked 6-7 focus on measures that are important insofar as they support higher-ranked priorities, namely to conceptualize reliable service provision as a public good that all actors should work towards collaboratively. |
| Participant 13 | 1 - My cellular data speed can be variable, so I question their service availability. With my voice call disruptions, I don't feel I have 911 coverage which is unacceptable. 2 - Rogers hasn't taken any action at all to resolve my voice issues. 3 - I don't understand why my cellular data speed fluctuates when 5G service should be solid. Alss, 5G+ is connected to my phone in the nearest town, so why do I only get 5G here? I feel like I'm second class and my business is not appreciated. 4 - I believe remote locations share parts of the network and equipment with different service providers. I use Rogers and my friend uses Bell. Bell service is cinsistantly worse than Rogers. Why is that? 6 - Rural customers are getting poor service because operators are not using upgraded equipment in rural areas, hence 5G here instead of 5G+. & - Obviously something is wrong in our rural area, with my voice being unusable and Bell data being worse than Rogers. |
| Participant 14 | Developper ensemble un plan B |
| Participant 18 | If providers aim for continuity of service through mandated resillient design, and validated business continuity/emergency plans, these principles support each other through creating a system that anticipates emergencies and tests those plans. Similar to Transport Canada's mandate for airport operators to exercise emergency plans, regulator requirements help ensure compliance in emergency preparedness. |
| Participant 19 | If it is build properly there is considerably less chance it will fail; if it does it should be easy to repair. In a catastrophic failure the owner and users will need to support each other to ensure the population is not put at greater risk |
5. What additional measures should telecommunications service providers (TSPs) put in place to improve 9-1-1 and public alerting services?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 1 | 9-1-1 calls should be automatically routed through any mobile carrier. |
| Participant 2 | Profect it from cybersecurity incidents In cases of cellular service disruptions how do we call 911? Have a backup way for cellphone users to contact the service |
| Participant 3 | Get rid of amber alerts blaring at 3am |
| Participant 4 | share all cell towers |
| Participant 5 | Have a backup plan. |
| Participant 6 | None |
| Participant 7 | 9-1-1 calls should work across any available network [I think that is already the case]. |
| Participant 8 | Don't know |
| Participant 9 | Mandate satellite service which is starting to become available on cell phones. |
| Participant 11 | None that I’m aware of |
| Participant 12 | Where feasible, emergency services should operate on a different, more pared down but more resilient network (including physical infrastructure) that emphasizes durability for a basic set of core functions over comprehensiveness of services. Measures should also be in place to ensure that emergency services take 'priority' on shared networks. |
| Participant 13 | I can't use 911. |
| Participant 14 | Service devrait toujours disponible |
| Participant 15 | Priority of service for 9-1-1 calls placed to PSAP's; |
| Participant 16 | Have a way to ensure their technology (cell tower) is working properly. Right now, it is not working properly and phone calls often do not connect after 1-3 tries or not at all, which is a safety issue and is also very frustrating. There needs to be a way to test whether the service is functioning properly and also an effective and efficient response process to resolve issues when they arise |
| Participant 17 | If internet will be down there should be an alternate way for those without cell phones to be able to contact 911. Many elderly people do not own cell phones. Perhaps free access to an emergency call button for elderly (worn on neck or wrist). Not sure but it was concerning that the internet (so landlines) were down three times in a week with no alternative in place for emergencies. |
| Participant 18 | TSPs, should optimize coverage of LTE or better service to facilitate the delivery of wireless public alerts. |
| Participant 19 | for 911, a resilient and hardened network with geo diversity. better notification of a failure with lots of checks and balances. early warning orf possible failure points. Public alerting needs more granularity. A warning should be directed at the location and near by locations of the incident. Not an entire province or territory. response agencies need to be more involved and have the trigger quickly available 24/7/365. Clear governance - sops/sogs to help determine the response. |
6. What information can TSPs provide to help Canadians during an emergency such as a power outage or natural disaster?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 2 | '## 🛰️ **Real-Time Alerts and Emergency Communications** - **Wireless Public Alerts (WPAs)**: Providers distribute emergency alerts issued by government authorities (e.g., for extreme weather, evacuations) via mobile networks [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/). - **Alert Ready System**: Canadians can receive alerts on compatible devices, helping them respond quickly to threats [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/). --- ### 🔌 **Power Outage Preparedness** - Providers advise users to: - Charge devices in advance of storms. - Use backup power sources like power banks, car chargers, or UPS systems for modems and routers [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/). - Understand how their phone services (especially VoIP) depend on home power [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/). --- ### 📞 **Maintaining Connectivity During Disasters** - **Use of SMS and Email**: These consume less bandwidth and are more reliable than voice calls during network congestion [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/) [2](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/emergency-communications/en). - **Emergency 9-1-1 Access**: Mobile phones can connect to any available network for 9-1-1 calls, even without a SIM card [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/) [2](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/emergency-communications/en). - **Reducing Network Load**: Canadians are encouraged to limit non-essential calls and data use to keep networks available for emergency services [1](https://telecomprepare.ca/). --- ### 🧰 **Emergency Kits and Planning** - Providers recommend creating a **telecommunications emergency kit** with: - Chargers and backup power - Printed emergency contacts - Battery-powered radios - Copies of critical documents [2](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/emergency-communications/en) --- ### 🗂️ **Reporting and Transparency Requirements** - Under new CRTC rules: - Providers must **report major outages within 2 hours** to federal and local authorities [3](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/telecom-outages-crtc-rules-1.7625283). - A **detailed post-outage report** must be submitted within 30 days, explaining causes and mitigation steps [4](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/09/backgrounder-crtc-takes-action-to-help-protect-canadians-from-service-outages.html) [3](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/telecom-outages-crtc-rules-1.7625283). - These reports are made public to help Canadians understand outages and improve future resilience [4](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/09/backgrounder-crtc-takes-action-to-help-protect-canadians-from-service-outages.html). --- ### 🤝 **Collaboration and Infrastructure Resilience** - Providers work with: - **ISED Canada**, Public Safety Canada, and provincial emergency agencies to coordinate response efforts [4](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/09/backgrounder-crtc-takes-action-to-help-protect-canadians-from-service-outages.html) [2](https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/emergency-communications/en). - **Other telecom companies** to ensure roaming and mutual assistance during outages [3](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/telecom-outages-crtc-rules-1.7625283). --- ### 🧑🤝🧑 **Consumer Protections and Support** - The CRTC is exploring: - **Refunds or bill credits** for prolonged outages - **Improved communication** during service disruptions - **Special protections** for rural, remote, and vulnerable populations. |
| Participant 3 | better battery backup. |
| Participant 4 | notify of a power outage via email or sms, if not possible then post it on their main page of their website or have the ability to report it on their website |
| Participant 5 | Communication during outage. |
| Participant 6 | None |
| Participant 7 | Limited - using scarce available power for direct broadcasting to users is wasteful and potential dangerous. |
| Participant 8 | Don't know but it's doubtful they'll do anything that costs money unless they're forced to. |
| Participant 11 | I think if there is going to be a power outage to just be like how it is with some companies where they give you a time range of how long it should be and updates on what’s being done during a power outage and I don’t know how that would be done if a tower is down for a significant amount of time, but I just I don’t understand why there was no network availability for over 12 hours when my husband who is with the competing company of the service provider that I use was able to have service back within an hour when his service dropped |
| Participant 12 | More important than the kind of information provided is how the information is provided; information provided online while there is a network outage helps nobody. Strategies should be explored and developed on how to accommodate for this -- e.g., is there a way to provide information in advance that people will actually read (e.g., as 'heads up' notices when extreme weather events are anticipated in a certain area)? Is there a way to partner with local public services to provide information in hard-copy format to affected areas? Key information would include a map of where outages have occurred vs where services remain available; status updates on outage repairs; and, in extreme cases, a map of where essential services may be available (e.g., public phone lines, hospitals if people cannot reach emergency services, city hall, etc.) |
| Participant 13 | There should be a dedicated TV channel and radio frequency for such instances. |
| Participant 14 | Procédure pré-établi du plan B |
| Participant 15 | Emergency communications should normally originate from the responsible local, provincial or national authority. |
| Participant 17 | Provide a safe location to go to if they are vulnerable or elderly so they have access to emergency services if needed. |
| Participant 18 | As noted above, provision of LTE or better service allows authorities to share emergency information through the National Public Alerting System (AlertReady) which required LTE or higher service for Canadians to receive wireless public alerts. Scheduled outages should be communicated to customers through active means (broadcast media notifications or emails/phone calls directly to impacted customers) not passive (making a post to a social media page). NWTel regularly has planned poutages that impact customers ability to contact 911 and shares them through a secondary social media page (NWTel Support vs the main NWTel page). |
| Participant 19 | keep the public informed, bets time to restore the service. Build the service so there is less chance of failure, keep staff trained so they can repair the system |
7. Should your provider be required to inform you about emergency preparedness measures?
Figure 1
View data
- Yes: 3 (17%)
- No: 15 (83%)
8. If you said yes to question 7, what forms of communication would be most useful?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 2 | SMS, |
| Participant 3 | |
| Participant 5 | What to do, expected duration of outage. |
| Participant 6 | |
| Participant 8 | Email, alerts via texts, like amber alerts |
| Participant 9 | Information on their web site. Since they do need to maintain security about where components are located and exact capabilities, they need to keep some elements need to be held back. |
| Participant 10 | SMS |
| Participant 11 | I think text message email having it on their website |
| Participant 13 | eMail. |
| Participant 14 | Accessible au urgences |
| Participant 15 | Preparedness messages specific to telecom service availability or possible unavailability in certain emergency or disaster situations to prepared people for times when telco services are unavailable to them or to all including emergency services. Methods: with bill notifications; on websites; media. |
| Participant 17 | I am ok with email or text but elderly that don't subscribe to either of those would need paper mail out through Canada Post. |
| Participant 18 | Email updates defaulted to sending with user option to unsubscribe. Social & broadcast media releases and public engagement sessions (maybe during Emergency Preparedness week). |
| Participant 19 | a public service announcement indicating they are prepared and how and why. It becomes not just a required public announcement but an advertising point "the company has your back". Tell us what you are doing to keep the system operable. |
9. If you use accessibility services like a TTY teletypewriter or Internet Protocol relay, what could your provider do to make these services more reliable?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 4 | n/a |
| Participant 6 | None |
| Participant 7 | n/a |
| Participant 14 | Obligatoire de fournir un plan B |
| Participant 17 | Do not use |
| Participant 19 | for the TTY make it work, and test it from end to end. There is not one that actually works here. For IP relay, set it up for text to 911. it is not in place and the price NWTel wants to charge per month for the service is outrageous! |
10. How could we make sure that our policy looks after the safety and security of Canadians in all regions, including remote, rural and Indigenous communities?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 2 | '## 🛰️ 1. **Targeted Infrastructure Funding** - **Broadband Fund Enhancements**: The CRTC’s Broadband Fund has supported connectivity in 270 underserved communities and along 630 km of major roads [1](https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2024/2024-328.htm). Recent policy updates aim to: - **Streamline funding applications** - **Reduce barriers for Indigenous applicants** - **Require community engagement and consent** - **Indigenous Stream**: A dedicated funding stream is being developed in collaboration with Indigenous groups to ensure culturally appropriate and community-led connectivity solutions [1](https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2024/2024-328.htm). --- ### 🛡️ 2. **Emergency Preparedness and Network Resiliency** - **Mandatory Outage Reporting**: Telecom providers must report major outages to federal, provincial, and Indigenous emergency authorities, especially when small or isolated communities are affected [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/09/backgrounder-crtc-takes-action-to-help-protect-canadians-from-service-outages.html). - **Public Alerting Systems**: Improvements to 9-1-1 and wireless alerting services are prioritized to ensure remote communities can access emergency help [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/09/backgrounder-crtc-takes-action-to-help-protect-canadians-from-service-outages.html). --- ### 📶 3. **Improving Access and Affordability** - **Universal Service Objective**: All Canadians should have access to 50/10 Mbps Internet and unlimited data, including mobile access on major roads [1](https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2024/2024-328.htm). - **Far North Subsidy**: A new monthly subsidy will help residents in the Far North afford Internet services, where prices are significantly higher than the national average [3](https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-9.htm). - **Wholesale Access**: Policies are being updated to allow more competition in remote areas, enabling smaller or Indigenous-owned ISPs to offer services [3](https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-9.htm). --- ### 🤝 4. **Reconciliation and Indigenous Engagement** - **Reconciliation Agreements**: Bell Canada and National Indigenous Connectivity Inc. (NICI) have partnered to expand broadband access in First Nations communities, with commitments to training and long-term infrastructure planning [4](https://www.bce.ca/news-and-media/releases/show/Bell-Canada-and-National-Indigenous-Connectivity-Inc-to-advance-broadband-and-wireless-access-for-rural-and-remote-First-Nations-Communities). - **CRTC Indigenous Relations Team**: A dedicated team ensures Indigenous voices are heard in telecom policy development and regulatory processes [3](https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2025/2025-9.htm). --- ### 📊 5. **Accountability and Transparency** - **Post-Outage Reports**: Providers must submit detailed reports within 30 days of major outages, which are published to inform the public and improve future responses [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/09/backgrounder-crtc-takes-action-to-help-protect-canadians-from-service-outages.html). - **Auditor General Oversight**: Federal audits have highlighted gaps in affordability and rollout delays, prompting recommendations for better data collection and income-based affordability metrics [5](https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_202303_02_e_44205.html). --- ### ✅ Summary of Actions to Ensure Safety and Security: | Area | Action | |------|--------| | **Infrastructure** | Dedicated funding for remote and Indigenous communities | | **Emergency Services** | Enhanced alerting and outage reporting | | **Affordability** | Subsidies and competitive access | | **Indigenous Inclusion** | Community-led planning and reconciliation initiatives | | **Transparency** | Public reporting and regulatory oversight | |
| Participant 4 | build more towers |
| Participant 5 | Better regulation on the telecom companies |
| Participant 6 | None |
| Participant 7 | impossible naivety |
| Participant 8 | Huge fines for noncompliance, possible cancelation of licences |
| Participant 9 | Enable portable cell towers that can deploy quickly to these communities. Satellite back bone would help eliminate the need for copper wire to be run. |
| Participant 10 | Providers should mandated to have enough cell towers to provide adequate coverage - and not just 3G service. All regions doesn’t mean only cities. |
| Participant 11 | I think it needs to come back to. It’s about relationship between client and producer. I live in a rural community and that’s how people get ahead here and I think we’ve lost that customer service component and I feel like I’m just a number for somebody to make more money in their pocket rather than caring about how the business or their network is run |
| Participant 12 | Incentivize service provision in underserved areas (e.g., tax breaks or credits for bringing services to areas that did not previously have them, for improving services or repairing infrastructure in areas where the government has identified a need); Promote competition (i.e., more variety in service providers, including service providers who actually own infrastructure) with a focus on underserved areas as the starting places for that competition |
| Participant 13 | Service providers should be required to offer the same level of service seamlessly between them, and the same level of service to ALL customers regardless of location. |
| Participant 14 | Service fourni par les mrc |
| Participant 15 | Infrastructure in MANY remote, rural and Indigenous communities is lacking. For example, the Northern area of BC is not served by a telco provider that is prepared for next gen 911 (Northwest Tel), unlike areas around Fort St John and to the south in the Peace River Regional District which are served by Telus, who are prepared for NG911. Cellular/LTE and fibre infrastructure is missing in many remote areas. 1km from where I live there is no fibre and people rely on LEO sats controlled by an unpredictable American billionaire. Canadians should be able to rely on home grown services for bedrock communications, across the country, if we are to be taking safety and security seriously. |
| Participant 16 | Have regional liaisons to reach out to local and First Nation governments. |
| Participant 17 | Better communication from the providers especially when planned outages. |
| Participant 18 | Promote the minimum service type standards (LTE minimum). Old Crow Yukon has celular service but only HSPA+ so Canada's most Northwesterly community does not receive wireless public alerts. |
| Participant 19 | Look to the telecos that provide service to those last mile communities; some of the equipment that is being proposed is just not up to the task. That is why so many people are moving to Starlink and eventually Amazons new service. The proposed system Oneweb does not provide reasonable service for a reasonable price especially in the north. A bit more oversight from CRTC to ensure that the telcos are not just talking but actually doing something. Get out and inspect the TSps. Dont take their word at face value. |
11. How can the CRTC work collaboratively with rural, remote and Indigenous communities to improve service reliability?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 2 | ' ### 🛠️ 1. **Enhancing the Broadband Fund** - The **Broadband Fund** has already supported over 290 communities and built more than 5,500 km of fibre infrastructure [1](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/06/crtc-takes-action-to-help-bring-high-speed-internet-to-18-communities-across-canada.html). - The CRTC is **reviewing and improving** the fund to: - Make the application process **faster and easier** - Launch a **dedicated Indigenous Stream** to support culturally appropriate, community-led projects [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2023/03/crtc-to-improve-access-to-internet-and-mobile-services-across-canada.html) - Prioritize projects that **increase reliability** in rural and remote networks [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2023/03/crtc-to-improve-access-to-internet-and-mobile-services-across-canada.html) --- ### 🗣️ 2. **Inclusive Public Consultations** - The CRTC is conducting consultations to shape policies that improve network resiliency and reliability, with a focus on **engaging rural, remote, and Indigenous voices** [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2023/03/crtc-to-improve-access-to-internet-and-mobile-services-across-canada.html). - These consultations include: - **Accessible formats** (e.g., summaries in Indigenous languages) - Multiple ways to participate (online, mail, fax, phone) - Integration of feedback into public records and policy decisions [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2023/03/crtc-to-improve-access-to-internet-and-mobile-services-across-canada.html) --- ### 🤝 3. **Community Partnerships** - Projects funded by the CRTC often require **letters of support** from impacted communities, ensuring local buy-in and relevance [1](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/06/crtc-takes-action-to-help-bring-high-speed-internet-to-18-communities-across-canada.html). - The CRTC encourages partnerships with **local ISPs**, Indigenous organizations, and municipalities to co-design infrastructure solutions. --- ### 📊 4. **Data-Driven Equity** - The CRTC tracks access disparities: - **91.4%** of Canadian households have high-speed Internet - Only **62%** of rural households and **43.3%** of First Nations reserves do [2](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2023/03/crtc-to-improve-access-to-internet-and-mobile-services-across-canada.html) - This data informs targeted funding and policy interventions to close the digital divide. --- ### 🔄 5. **Continuous Improvement and Accountability** - The CRTC is committed to **ongoing review** of its programs and policies, including: - Adjusting funding criteria - Monitoring project outcomes - Publishing transparent updates and decisions [1](https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2025/06/crtc-takes-action-to-help-bring-high-speed-internet-to-18-communities-across-canada.html) --- ### ✅ Summary of Collaborative Actions | Strategy | Description | |----------|-------------| | **Funding Access** | Simplified applications and Indigenous-specific funding streams | | **Consultation** | Inclusive engagement with communities to shape policy | | **Partnerships** | Local collaboration with ISPs and community leaders | | **Equity Metrics** | Data-informed decisions to address service gaps | | **Transparency** | Public reporting and continuous program review | |
| Participant 4 | provide satellite spectrum access to cell phones to call/text/data |
| Participant 5 | Better communication |
| Participant 6 | Give better infrastructure funding and open up outside providers for more competition |
| Participant 7 | the issue is funding which is not the CRTC's mandate |
| Participant 8 | Crtc rep to have investigative powers to check up with these communities. Inspectors in a sense. Allow lots of competition |
| Participant 9 | Clear red tape and assist in speeding up approvals for remote towers. |
| Participant 11 | I think just having open communication in relationships I think we are struggling across the board and society with having business relationships that are there to serve the client rather than there to serve the business and how much money is going into their pocket |
| Participant 13 | The CRTC should have an opt-in eMail address to continue to reach out to these areas about how well service providers are meeting their commitments and obligations in these areas. |
| Participant 14 | Collaboration avec les mrc |
| Participant 15 | Demand sufficient funding from industry with government support where necessary. Set standards of service that meet the needs of all Canadians. |
| Participant 16 | Have regional liaisons to reach out to local and First Nation governments. |
| Participant 17 | More cell towers. I lose connection between Keremeos and Kalenden for at least 10 Km of the trip and then in and out. I drive this route daily and it concerns me that I may get stranded in an area without service. |
| Participant 18 | Engagement. Meet with community leaders to ensure priorities align while mandating TSPs build resilience into their infrastructure. Canada is big and prone to natural disasters, so 100% connectivity in rural Canada may not be an achievable short term goal, but it is a reasonable long term goal with interim goals that ensure resilience. |
| Participant 19 | Come out and visit the areas. Sitting in Ottawa does not mean you know what your talking about. Talking to a chief or a village mayor does not give you full picture. Fact finding is important. |
12. Should any measures that we identify as part of this consultation apply equally to all TSPs?
Figure 2
View data
- Yes: 17 (100%)
13. What specific compliance measures should the CRTC consider to help ensure TSPs implement requirements?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 1 | Any TSP failing to implement should be prevented from signing up new customers for an appropriate period of time. TSP's are always concerned about customer "churn", so even though customers may leave the carrier, prevent new signups for a specified period of time. |
| Participant 3 | Fines and public shaming |
| Participant 4 | sharing all towers with all carriers and satellite coverage addition to all carriers |
| Participant 5 | Fines, penalties and free service offering to customers. |
| Participant 6 | Fines |
| Participant 7 | fines, licence revocation |
| Participant 8 | Huge fines license loss |
| Participant 9 | Fines don't work. The TSPs pass those along to the customers. |
| Participant 12 | Fines, where funds from any fines levied then go towards efforts to address the issues that are not being met |
| Participant 13 | Customers should receive credits for outages and continuous credits for poor service until the service is reliable and up to date. |
| Participant 14 | Représentativité régionale |
| Participant 16 | fees |
| Participant 17 | Deadline date to show they have complied. |
| Participant 18 | I am unsure of the current regulatory measures available to the CRTC but presume fines and approval for new projects would be options. Fines should scale to the providers net profits so the big players have incentive to comply and fines aren't crippling for smaller providers. |
| Participant 19 | warning, fine, loss of license |
14. Should any compliance measures apply equally to all TSPs?
Figure 3
View data
- Yes: 1 (6%)
- No: 16 (94%)
15. Is there anything else you would like to add?
The survey was conducted online using usernames chosen by participants. These usernames have been removed from the results to protect participants' privacy. The responses are presented in their original format: No corrections or translations were made.
| Participant ID | Response |
|---|---|
| Participant 4 | no |
| Participant 8 | Small companies need to be given more leeway. Govt subsidy? Function of federal govt: ensure all Canadians have access to internet. A necessity. |
| Participant 11 | I just honestly am struggling with trying to understand why my phone was off for 12 hours without network availability I just I’m floored by that. I understand that there was a plan power outage but when it takes 12 hours to get service again and people have put on our community page that they have reported the outage hours ago and nothing‘s been done to fix it. I think is kind of ridiculous and what that person shared on the community pages that they needed more people to report it so that something was done about it is what she was told by somebody at Telus and I don’t think that’s right if there is a power outage and they’ve been alerted, they don’t need more complaints. They need to do their job and get their job done. |
| Participant 12 | Please consider efforts to promote security through the whole telecommunications supply chain -- i.e., not just Canadian-owned service providers, but Canadian companies that actually build the physical infrastructure, using Canadian-produced materials, etc. If not Canadian-owned all through the supply chain (which may not be realistic, may not promote competition, and/or may not have the best product/service options), then at least reviewing for variety throughout the full supply chain where no one country / provider has such a large role in a certain segment of the supply chain that their withdrawal would create a crisis |
| Participant 13 | I've been a Rogers customer for over 20 years and I don't feel that they take that into account when responding to my complaints about the poor cellular service I'm receiving, especially since it use to work great and now I can't use voice and be understood. |
| Participant 16 | The cell towers in my area are owned by a company that is not my service provider. This leaves little opportunity for me to make a service complaint that will be taken seriously, as my provider simply states that the service issue is not their responsibility. There needs to be a way to have all peoples' complaints taken into account |
| Participant 17 | I have used Telus since they were BC Tel. I have all my services through them. I have found recently that they are not as reliable as they were previously with internet outages and so many dead zones from Keremeos to Kaleden and between Oliver and Penticton. I need consistent access to my cell service for the purposes of my job especially if there is a catastrophic event in my municipality that needs attention and with the many dead zones I don't feel I can be totally connected at all times. |
| Participant 19 | Telco generally do a pretty good job, however, they lack some flexibility in their charging structure and always rely on the tariffs to overcharge. There may need to be an mechanism to review the charges the telcos have in some circumstances when the service is for the greater good but the charges are for the teleco's pocket. |
16. What are the first 3 digits of your postal code?
Responses to this question were taken out of the report due to a technical issue and to protect user privacy. This action was taken to ensure compliance with our privacy standards.
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