UPDATE: Emergency response affected by Telus outage in Peace region

UPDATE August 16th 2024: The outage is now over in all affected communities.

CHETWYND, B.C. — Telus experienced a phone service outage that affected multiple communities in the Peace region this week.

According to the announcement, the outage began at 10:50 p.m. on August 14th, affecting Chetwynd and Hudson’s Hope.

Home phone, mobile data, text and voice services, and 911 calls over both landline and mobile were all unavailable in Hudson’s Hope.

In Chetwynd, Telus internet, Optik TV, and PIK TV services were also unavailable, but residents were able to call 911 with their mobile phones through “fallback coverage” provided by another company in the area.

E-Comm 911, the agency that provides 911 coverage for much of BC, said the outage also impacted Moberly Lake, but Telus had no information on what services were unavailable there. 

The outage has since ended and cell service is now available again for Telus customers in the area.

According to Telus, the cause of the outages is currently unknown but suspected to be “cable damage.”

In the event of an emergency, BC Emergency Communications urges residents to try calling 911 in case service has been restored.

If it hasn’t, the agency says to ask a friend for help and travel to the nearest emergency department, fire hall, or police department.