A stretch of Highway 72 from Sioux Lookout, Ont., to the Trans-Canada Highway.Willow Fiddler/The Globe and Mail
Across Canada, highways and rural roads are studded with cellular “dead zones” – thousands of kilometres without reliable mobile service.
Reporters Jill Mahoney and Irene Galea have been investigating how many of the country’s major roads and highways are disconnected. They found that coverage gaps span more than 30 per cent of major roads in some provinces, and in some cases, you can’t receive calls and texts for more than 100 kilometres.
Since publishing the story, many readers have reached out about cellular “dead zones” near them and how these coverage gaps affect them on a daily basis. From isolated drivers fearing mechanical breakdowns to rural residents who consistently struggle with connectivity, their stories showcase how widespread the problem of unreliable cell service is across the country.
Here, 10 Canadians share their frustrations and worries about coverage gaps in their local areas, in their own words.
These responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Sheila Reesor, Madoc, Ont.
We moved to Madoc, Ont., a few months ago and found ourselves shocked by the lack of cell service throughout this entire area (Hastings/Trent Hills and beyond). We’ve had to switch to WiFi calling at home because we can’t get reliable cell service, a risk because apparently EMS can’t track 911 calls if you’re on WiFi.
Beyond this, using any sort of navigation is impossible when driving between here and Peterborough along Highway 7, or south on Highway 50 to Campbellford, or the other direction toward Tweed because the connection keeps dropping. I guess we’ll just keep getting lost while we learn all the roads in this area.
It worries me that we won’t be able to call for help if something happens out on the road and we happen to find ourselves in one of many cellular dead spots.
Daryl Logan, Salt Spring Island, B.C.
On Salt Spring Island, B.C., there are literally more dead cell zones than those that work all over the island, including in the main villages. Virtually as soon as you exit the ferry from Victoria’s Swartz Bay at Fulford Harbour, you lose coverage. At the north end of the island where we live, my daughter drives her car to one particular corner where she can get cell service so as to use her cell phone.
Chris Hamilton, Innisfil, Ont.
My family and friends experience regular cell outages every summer at Big Bay Point in Innisfil, Ont. It’s incredibly frustrating and got so bad I had to install internet at our cottage to be able to contact the outside world. We are well within a residential area so it’s rather ridiculous. I’ve had deliveries go missing and lost many hours of work due to being unavailable.
We even had trouble one summer calling 911 when my mother was stung by a wasp. She’s deathly allergic and almost died. Thankfully, someone was able to get through to 911 and the fire department arrived fairly quickly to assist before EMTs arrived. I’ve made multiple complaints to the carriers (Rogers/Fido) but never had a solution or promise to improve service.
The cellphone dead zone highway stretch from Lake Louise, Alta., to Jasper.Clare Vander Meersch/The Globe and Mail
Gordon Shelley, McKellar, Ont.
I do not have cell coverage at my rural home in McKellar, Ont., or along my gravel road for three kilometres in either direction. My neighbours have the same lack of coverage. Until Starlink was available, a very static-filled Bell landline was the only option for my home.
On the road, there isn’t any option. Telus, Bell and Rogers have no plans to address the gap in spite of numerous efforts by my neighbours and me. Locals know to drive carefully through here but seasonal, recreational and most commercial vehicles often drive down the middle of the road, and way too fast. Someone will get hurt and help will be delayed without cell coverage.
Jatinder Bains, Calgary, Alta.
I am a trucker from Calgary. I have been driving Alberta to British Columbia and back delivering Walmart groceries. Most of B.C. has low or no network coverage. While going through, the main concern is vehicle breakdown or any important call to attend as we are on the road most of the time.
It becomes worse in winter, no updates regarding weather, no communication. It is a nightmare if someone has to stop in between these dead spots for the night. It feels like you don’t exist and have been cut off from the world.
Susan Service, North Saanich, B.C.
We regularly travel 500 kilometres between the lower mainland in Christina Lake and Nelson, B.C. along Highway 3. This is a main highway and the only route to many southern B.C. towns. Most of the areas between towns are dead zones and some are quite lengthy. The longest stretches are also mountain roads: Hope to Manning Park (approximately 65 km), Manning Park to Princeton (approximately 65 km), Greenwood to Grand Forks (approximately 35 km) and Christina Lake to Castlegar (approximately 75 km).
I get that they may be the most challenging for service but these high elevation, twisty stretches are where emergencies are most likely to occur. Except perhaps in perfect summer conditions, it is unusual to make the drive without seeing at least one car off the road on one of these stretches.
We always have an emergency kit with us, but that only goes so far. What if you go off the road in a spot or way that is not visible to others and are trapped and unable to call for help?
Karen Sanchuk, Erieau, Ont.
I live in Erieau, a small lakeside village 25 kilometres south of Chatham, Ont., on the shore of Lake Erie. We mostly have to use WhatsApp for phone calls because the cell service is so sketchy. It’s worse in the summer, perhaps due to tree coverage, but it sucks in the winter as well.
Even sending text messages or calling someone that doesn’t have WhatsApp, I often have to walk 30 to 50 metres outside my house to find a signal. Not a big deal but a bit frustrating. It’s not like we’re in the middle of nowhere!
Catharine Hortsing, Blaeberry Valley, B.C.
As a resident of the Blaeberry Valley, north of Golden, B.C., who regularly drives the Trans-Canada Highway both east and west, cell service is much spottier than your map indicates – and that’s using both my Bell service and my husband’s Telus.
I, like most residents of the Blaeberry Valley, have absolutely no cell service at home. Most of the 20-minute drive to the highway has no cell service. There is one spot on the route that occasionally provides one bar, but it’s only sometimes, and lately not at all.
Most people without Starlink (reluctantly, we send them money monthly) or a landline (which we also can’t get) drive to the highway for cell service. We are a community about five to 20 minutes off the Trans-Canada Highway, one hour west of Lake Louise and three hours west of Calgary. We aren’t that remote.
When our regional district discusses emergency preparedness, they exasperatingly recommend apps that require cell access or even internet for emergency information sharing. In the case of an emergency like wildfire, for example, our electricity is almost always threatened as it was last summer – so WiFi isn’t something we can rely on. How do we even start talking seriously about emergency communication if we have no way to communicate?
The highway towards Kluane from Whitehorse, Yukon.Taylor Roades/The Globe and Mail
Kendra Renaud, South Frontenac, Ont.
I travel a lot to see my family across Ontario, mainly the Kingston-Ottawa-Pembroke area, and there are way too many dead spots for signal.
It makes me nervous travelling with young children. Highway 41 from Pembroke to Napanee is unreliable. Highway 7 from Ottawa to Peterborough is so patchy and it’s such a dangerous highway. These are major travelling routes for so many people all year round.
Dave Law, Smithers, B.C.
I live around the halfway point of the Highway of Tears and a big chunk of this area is a dead zone. There are some pretty huge gaps, frequently more than 100 kilometres at a shot, with zero cell service. Step off the Yellowhead and basically none of the side roads have a lick of service.
But, to be honest, I grew up in the North and this doesn’t surprise or bother me much. Frankly, the level of indignation that so much of the country is unserviced in the original article has a strong stink of urban privilege. I’m far more worried about my inability to access basic health care, despite living in a decent-sized town, than I am the fact that we have highways without cell service. “Oh no, I forgot to download a playlist for the drive to Terrace” is a minor concern compared to “What do you mean the ER is closed for the weekend and the nearest one is two hours away?”
The cell service thing is definitely an issue, but we have far bigger concerns as a nation with regards to properly servicing rural areas.