Bell expects full restoration of services in Oshawa by May 13th [Update]

Update 05/09/2024 at 3:34pm ET: Bell provided MobileSyrup with additional details about the Oshawa outage and restoration efforts. The company reiterated that the fibre line was cut by a construction company not affiliated with Bell and despite prevention methods undertaken by Bell, such as providing a locate to map out where and how deep cables are. Bell says it’s investigating how its preventative measures were overlooked after being implemented.

Bell said at the height of the outage, it impacted approximately 4,000-5,000 customers in southern Oshawa. The company says it has fully restored cell towers, getting wireless service back online for about 3,000 customers. It’s working to restore the 700 remaining fibre customers today and expects to gradually restore service to roughly 1,700 customers on copper services over the weekend, with a goal to complete restoration by end-of-day on Monday.

The company also said the restoration was “a complicated process” due to significant damage and a “complex point of impact close to the road.” To complete restoration, Bell said it needed to reconnect approximately 3,600 individual fibres. The cables are roughly 15 feet deep and held in ducts that must be rebuilt with safety barriers to protect team members.

Update 05/08/2024 at 2:56pm ET: Bell confirmed to MobileSyrup that it was working to address the fibre cut and restore service. The company said services would begin coming back online this evening but estimated it would take until the evening of Monday, May 13th, for total restoration. You can read the full statement below:

“On Monday we experienced a major fibre cut when a third-party construction company penetrated through our underground structures despite proper prevention methods provided by Bell. The damage is significant and as the point of impact is close to the road, it’s a complicated process to repair the damaged conduits and pass new cables through. Our teams started repair efforts on Monday morning and have continued around the clock to restore services as quickly as possible. We estimate that the majority of customers will begin to see services restored starting this evening with full restoration by Monday evening. We thank our customers for their continued patience.”

The original story continues below.

Some Bell customers in the Oshawa, Ontario region are days into a service outage with few updates on a resolution.

Bell first tweeted about a “service interruption” on May 6th and noted that a fibre line cut by a third party caused the problem. The issue impacts internet, telephone, IPTV and mobility services in Oshawa.

The current Oshawa Internet, Telephone, IPTV and Mobility service interruption is due to a fibre cut by a third party. We are working to restore service as quickly as possible. Thank you for your continued patience.

— Bell (@Bell) May 6, 2024

On the 7th, Bell tweeted that its teams were “on-site and working around the clock to restore service as quickly as possible.” Then Bell tweeted again on the 8th that it’s still working on restoring services. Bell said there was “substantial damage” caused by the fibre cut but claimed to be “making progress” and that some customers should see services “restored as early as this evening.”

We thank our customers for their patience as we continue to work around the clock to fully restore services impacted by substantial damage caused by the third party fibre cut. We are making progress, some customers should begin to see services restored as early as this evening.

— Bell (@Bell) May 8, 2024

Replies to Bell’s tweets are full of frustrated customers, many of whom highlight a lack of clarity about what’s going on. One person even said they received an email from Bell saying the problem was resolved but that they were still experiencing connection issues.

Source: Bell Via: iPhone in Canada