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

MONTRÉAL, May 15, 2024 /CNW/ - 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.

According to a Nanos survey commissioned by the Canadian Telecoms Association in March 2024¹, more than one in three Canadians (39%) report having experienced disruptions in service due to severe weather or natural disasters in the past year. 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.

"The resiliency of our telecommunications networks is of vital importance during extreme weather-related events. We understand that our customers rely on us in these situations to stay informed and to stay in touch with loved ones. Our teams have put into place the right people, plans and resources to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather events this upcoming season.

Our plans were put into action in Yukon, Northern BC and Flin Flon, Manitoba this past week alone when wildfires damaged our infrastructure. Because we were well prepared, we were able to quickly restore services where it was safe to do so."
     -     Stephen Howe, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Bell

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
• Communicating with applicable provincial Emergency Management Offices (EMOs), Premiers' offices, key federal ministers, and other local partners to ensure effective coordination and support
•  Working collaboratively with other network providers
• Setting up a 24/7 Corporate Emergency Operations Center 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. Help reduce network congestion by:
  • only using your mobile phone to make emergency calls
  • using SMS/text or email to connect with others as these services use less network capacity
  • keeping 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.

Is your business ready to recover quickly in case of an emergency?
Severe weather events can be a threat to your business continuity and data. In addition to properly preparing our network, Bell offers services to businesses such as cloud storage, backup and disaster recovery solutions to provide a reliable defense for businesses data ? enabling data security, availability and resiliency in the face of a disaster or disruption. You can learn more here.

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 services

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

About Bell
Bell is Canada's largest communications company,² providing advanced broadband Internet, wireless, TV, media and business communication services. Founded in Montréal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca or BCE.ca.

Through Bell for Better, we are investing to create a better today and a better tomorrow by supporting the social and economic prosperity of our communities. This includes the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and workplace leadership initiatives throughout the country. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk.

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SOURCE Bell Canada