Holyrood mayor ready to drop the phone on cell phone companies

By Mark Squibb/August 12, 2022

Holyrood Mayor Gary Goobie took a few minutes at last week’s meeting to touch upon an old problem that he says is growing worse — poor cell phone reception.

“I said it before and I’m going to say it again and I’ll say it again, and I’m going to say it again,” said Goobie. “I’m not going to let up on this issue until it gets resolved. Period.”

Goobie extolled on the poor service for about five minutes, every other word punctuated by the pounding of his fist on the desk.

He described a number of times his personal calls have dropped because of poor cell reception — including a call to his next-door neighbour who was close enough that Goobie could hear him speaking into the phone.

“I literally got to tip-toe around the house until someone says, ‘Okay, stop!’ Now boys, there’s something wrong with this picture,” said Goobie. “They could send men to the moon, many, many years ago, but still we can’t seem to get decent cell phone coverage.”

Goobie said it’s not a problem unique to Holyrood, and that he’s spoken to folks in Conception Centre and CBS who experience the same issue.

“All we’re asking is for the company to invest in the proper infrastructure to provide reliable service to the customers who are paying for a service that they should have,” said Goobie. “There should be cell towers put up at the highest peak. And I’m sure that these companies are not in dire financial straits.”

He said the companies’ lack of action is unacceptable, and that residents deserve better.

“In this day and age, with all the technology and all the advancements in technology and everything else, and I know that I’m ranting here, but I tell you, I’m not letting up,” said Goobie. “Excuses are no longer acceptable.”

Goobie said the bottom line is that the Town will attempt to coordinate a face-to-face meeting with the service providers to air their complaints, and offer any assistance in mitigating the problem.

Councillor Laura Crawley added that residents should report dropped calls to their service providers.

“They have to log those (dropped) calls,” said Crawley. “So, it’s really on the cell phone owner to let the provider know every single time they’re dropping calls, because otherwise, they don’t know.”

Her and Goobie agreed that if residents flood the companies with complaints, the companies may begin to pay attention.

The issue is not a new one to the council chambers, having come up a number of times over the last couple of years. In fact, back in September of 2020, council voted to send a letter to Bell Mobility regarding concerns over poor, and sometimes non-existent, cell phone service.

Bell sent a letter in response explaining the concern would be submitted to Bell’s Community Partner Liaison, who oversees partner funding projects, and the Network Planning Team, who will, according to the letter, “consider Holyrood in Bell’s regular program of network improvement and expansion.”