Emergency Updates

Bell is ready to mitigate the effects of wildfires and hurricanes on its network

With wildfires already active in parts of the country, and hurricane season just around the corner, Bell is activating its strategies to help customers stay connected during extreme weather events.

Bell has put a number of plans in place to prevent outages due to extreme weather events, and when these events occur, to mitigate the impacts to customers.

In any extreme weather event, the safety of the community and first responders is of the utmost importance, and continued access to Internet and mobility services plays a big role in the well-being of the people affected by and those responding to these events. The safety of our team members who repair and restore the network in any weather condition is likewise critical to ensure the continued well-being of our team members on the front lines.

Bell’s approach to mitigating the impacts of severe weather includes:

• A year-round daily network review to ensure network stability
• Preparing our wireless cell sites, data centre and central offices to maximize battery life
• Ensuring our generators and trucks are topped up with fuel and we have access to enough fuel during and immediately after a severe weather event
• Prioritizing generators in places that support key wireless sites, high-density fibre routes and public safety communications
• Readiness to deploy crews from other regions to support affected areas if needed
• Providing technicians with refresher training on how to work safely in hazardous conditions
• Providing technicians with refresher training on how to work safely in hazardous conditions
• Working collaboratively with other network providers
• Setting up a 24/7 Corporate Emergency Operations Centre as soon as we foresee impacts on our customers

In addition, we’ve been steadily transitioning from our copper network to fibre networks, which are more resilient to extreme weather conditions, reducing the frequency and length of weather-related outages.

Here are some useful tips to be prepared during the next storm:

• Keep your devices fully charged and have a backup battery charged and ready in case of power outages.
• Turn off Wi-Fi and location-based services when you don’t need them and keep your devices dry and cool. Stay informed through local radio and television stations and apps such as the CTV News app
• Stay up-to-date about outages at Bell.ca/our-network and @Bell_Support, @Bell_Aliant or @Bell_MTSHelps on X
• During a large-scale emergency, mobile networks can become congested with an influx of mobile voice calls and data traffic. To help reduce network congestion:
  • Only use your mobile phone to make emergency calls.
  • Use text messages or email to connect with others as these services don't use as much network capacity.
  • Keep phone calls as short as possible.
  • Refrain from using mobile wireless networks for data-intensive uses, like streaming video.
• During a power outage, your modem and TV receivers will not work. As power is restored, you may need to turn your devices off and on again to reboot service.
• Visit getprepared.gc.ca to learn more on how to prepare and stay safe during an emergency.

Here are other useful tips to keep your business connected:

• Document the contact information for Bell Service Desk, Account Executive and any Bell escalation contacts and keep with your emergency kit.
• Ensure critical network devices are connected to a UPS battery backup or local generator with enough capacity to maintain service based on your business’s operational requirements.
• Consider purchasing a 5G/LTE service as a backup for data and Internet servicesX

For additional information on Bell’s preparedness visit bell.ca/our-network

Other resources:

Preparing for Severe Weather Events and Other Emergencies.pdf (canadatelecoms.ca)

Article: A network Canadian businesses can count on | Business Resources | Bell Canada