Frustrated Manitobans wait, worry as outage puts commerce on hold

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This article was published 07/07/2022 (805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A nationwide Rogers Communications service outage Friday was making life difficult for anxious Manitobans who rely on the company’s wireless technology.

The problem, which the telecommunications giant acknowledged on its website, assuring customers “our teams are fully engaged to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” affected incoming and outgoing cellphone calls, texting, debit and credit card processing and access to cash at ATMS. Myriad government services were also hobbled.

Both the Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba RCMP posted notices on their social media accounts advising people requiring emergency service to call 911 via a landline or cell on a network other than Rogers.

It was proving to be a difficult day for small-business owner Michael Bumsted, who operates Whodunit Bookshop on Lilac Street.

“The inability for people to use digital payment services is quite serious for us and if it’s going to continue, we might not be able to open for the rest of the weekend,” he said, adding several customers were unable to make purchases Friday morning.

“It’s incredibly inconvenient, particularly in a pandemic world where a lot of people don’t have cash. The fact that one telecom service can shut down a huge percentage of Canada’s banking is ridiculous.

“These are the slings and arrows of running a small business. It’s unfortunately not something we have any control over. I hope that people are patient with us and other small businesses who have no control over this problem.”

The situation was getting stale in a hurry at Oma’s Bakeshop in East Kildonan.

“Our debit machine is down. It’s accepting some credit cards, but debit is out of the question,” said owner Quinn McMurray. “We have a bank close to us but its ATM is also down, so people aren’t able to take cash out to come buy anything.”

A driver for SkipTheDishes, who asked to remain anonymous, said the outage made his day almost unbearable and forced him to rely on Wi-Fi provided by customers and restaurants.

“I can’t do my job without (cell service). Look how it shuts down the world when it doesn’t work.”

The driver said he doesn’t get paid if he can’t go online to complete his orders. He tried to remove himself from the work roster, but had been sent a new order while offline, so he had to find a way to complete it.

ATMs installed at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which kicked off Thursday at Birds Hill Park, weren’t functioning. Volunteers were currently trying to tap into a different network to get the machines running again.

bryce.hunt@freepress.mb.ca