Building the best network: How we are responding to recent service disruptions in our operating area
Network outages are not something we take lightly. This summer, we have heard the very real challenges experienced by Northerners who depend on our services to connect with family and friends, to keep up to date, and to conduct business in the North each and every day. Our customers are also our neighbours, families, and friends, so we understand our profound responsibility to address these issues and fulfill our goal of building the best network for all.
Following the recent service disruption experienced on Sunday, August 25th, our technicians conducted a thorough investigation to determine the cause and implement a response plan. In the interest of transparency, we want to share those details here along with some of the improvements being made to our network over the coming weeks and months ahead as well as how we are mitigating issues in the interim.
What happened on August 25th
A site that powers our fibre connections in the Yukon, located between Fort Nelson and Watson Lake, experienced a power failure during the night of Saturday, August 24th. At the time, this site was undergoing necessary power upgrades and while remote work was taking place, the primary power source failed, and the backup power could not keep the site online while technicians were being deployed for investigation. Since then, we have taken steps to bolster the site's redundant power supplies by installing additional batteries, and we are dedicating more resources to speed up the upgrade process, which is expected to be finished later this week.
The path to making network outages a thing of the past
Improving redundancy across the North is of the utmost importance for us. We are currently awaiting the completion of the Dempster Fibre Line later this year which will close the Canada North Fibre Loop. Once operational, this connection will provide our network with enhanced resiliency and allow traffic to be rerouted in the event of a fibre cut or natural disaster in much of the Yukon as well as Inuvik and the rest of the Beaufort Delta. If the Canada North Fibre Loop were already in place at the time, most internet customers likely wouldn't have noticed a thing during the power failure and subsequent equipment issue that caused Sunday's service disruption.
During the service disruption on Sunday, we prioritized local and long-distance calling on our network to ensure communities that remained connected could access emergency services by phone. This was made possible in part because of a backup connection through Alaska we set up earlier this year. It also allowed internet traffic to continue to flow in some communities, albeit slowly, so that some customers could still check their emails and social media accounts. This connection to Alaska bolsters our existing network redundancies today, including both microwave and satellite connections, along with two geographically diverse fibre routes to the rest of Canada.
Available service credits following an outage
Customers affected by the service disruption on Sunday can call our Customer Care Centre at 1-888-423-2333 to receive a credit for the day. Due to the regulations in place today, we are unable to offer credits beyond the duration of the outage at this time.
As we contend with the growing threat of wildfires and increased development activities in remote parts of our network, the importance of having these redundancies in place has never been greater. Many of these issues go unnoticed today due to the hard work of our teams, for instance the road washout north of Fort Nelson this summer where technicians recovered our fibre undamaged and without service disruption, or the wildfires that have burned through areas of our infrastructure without taking down services.
The completion of the Dempster Fibre Line and Canada North Fibre Loop will make a tremendous difference to our network's resiliency during these events.
Looking ahead
Our network is one of the largest in the world in terms of total area, while our population remains relatively small and primarily rural by comparison. This is what drives us to build the best network for Northerners, as we know first-hand the benefits internet access brings to communities, no matter how remote.
Towards that goal, building on our consistent record of price reductions and value improvements, we recently began offering our most affordable unlimited usage home internet plan yet, Unlimited Internet 50. And just last week, we launched Unlimited Internet 700, with even faster speeds planned for the near future.
We greatly appreciate the support of our customers and the communities we operate in as we take steps to prevent similar issues from happening in the future and continue to invest in our network. If you have any questions, we encourage you to reach out by phone at 1-888-423-2333. We also have an escalation form available on our website for customers to write in and share their experiences and concerns, which can be found at nwtel.ca/contact.
Our deepest thanks to our technicians. These issues can arise at any hour of the day or night, often in challenging conditions, and they work tirelessly to go above and beyond. It is due to their efforts that our network remained online in most communities and was able to be fully restored by the afternoon. We appreciate their commitment to supporting Northerners.
