Goobie vowing to get satisfaction from Ma Bell

By Craig Westcott / June 9, 2023

Holyrood Mayor Gary Goobie is banging down the phone again over continuing problems with Bell Mobility’s coverage in his town.

“I think this is the third time, maybe the fourth, (raising the issue),” said Goobie. “But I tell you over the past month I have heard from many residents – I’ve received e-mails, text messages, phone calls, people whom I’ve spoken to on the street and all of them saying the same thing: the cell phone coverage seems to be getting worse.”

Goobie said the Town was advised by Bell Aliant some time ago that it was going to undertake maintenance and other work on its infrastructure in the area in the hope that it would improve the service.

“They also made the argument last fall that some of the contributing factors to the problem was the boosters at the RV parks as well as the boats traversing in and out Holyrood harbour,” Goobie added. “Obviously, that doesn’t hold much water, pardon the pun. I don’t think that had very much to do with it at all. I’m also hearing, and I’m sure all of you folks have as well, that this seems to be more widespread than we think. I’ve heard from people down in Conception Bay South and people over in Conception Harbour and Colliers… They’re saying the same thing, the cell phone coverage is absolutely terrible. And I’m at a point now, honestly, and I’m not exaggerating, but I’m running out of space in my own house and on my own property outside where I can use the phone. I’m literally down now to a little spot. And that’s it.”

Goobie said he was on an important phone call recently and the signal dropped three times.

The quality of service in the area is actually going the opposite way of what was expected after Bell said it would conduct maintenance, Goobie argued, and seems like it’s getting worse. Three people have written him about the issue, he added, including a former Bell employee, who offered his own theory on why the service is bad.

“I’m not going to get into any specifics tonight because I don’t think it’s appropriate to do so, and we’ve got to have some validity to it – but I’ve heard a couple of different reasons as to why this is happening,” said the mayor. “Anyway, we’re going to remain steadfast, supposing we keep this on the table every meeting between now and the end of this term until we get some satisfaction. Customers are paying the biggest kind of money for these packages, they’re not receiving the service, and it seems like it’s later in the afternoon when the service really deteriorates. So here we are paying for a product and you’re not getting the service. And to me, and to us and to everybody else that is not good enough.”

Pursuant to that, council’s communications committee is formally taking on the issue of pressing for better cellular service instead of leaving it to the mayor alone.

Goobie said the next step will be to talk with the Bell officials who addressed the issue last time.

“And if we feel that we’re not getting the satisfaction and they’re not prepared to do the work that’s required, then I think that we really need to step it up and take it to a whole new level,” Goobie said. “The CRTC is the governing body over cell phones and everything else. We won’t go that far yet, but we’re going to keep the pressure on, because it’s something that we rightfully deserve.”

The mayor noted that recently Bell made improvements to the communications tower used by the Holyrood Fire Department for emergency communications, restoring contact in some dead zones that had been a worry for emergency responders.

“So why can’t the same thing happen with the cell phones?” Goobie asked. “Personally, I think that they’re not willing to put in the necessary investment to do what has to be done. I think they know what’s going on. But I can tell you one thing: if this was in Halifax, or this was in New Brunswick, or in Toronto, this problem would not be tolerated, it would be fixed in a heartbeat. But because we’re living in a province with a smaller population, are we getting the same service? Now that’s only my personal take. But not to belabor it, we’re going to keep this alive. And if I’ve got to bring this up again and again and again between now and the end of this term, we’re going to do it, but we’re going to get satisfaction.”