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Morson W.I. urges action on cell service

Open Letter to the Editor directed to Geoff Gillon, Rainy River Future Development Corporation

Dear Geoff,
On behalf of the Morson Women’s Institute, we respectfully request assistance in finding a solution to the poor cell and internet service from Tbaytel. We are concerned that our area will be overlooked. We have heard the recent announcement of funding to improve the bandwidth and cell towers in the Rainy River District. Our community is at the end of Highway 621 and not on the Highway 11 corridor.
In the early 2000’s our area was passed over for a cell tower until after many hours of collecting surveys, contacting businesses and consulting with residents, we could prove we had enough customers to warrant the service. The Morson Women’s Institute was one of several parties responsible for the successful implementation in November 2006. An open house was held to celebrate the project with dignitaries from the region in attendance.
Ken Boshcoff, M.P. Thunder Bay-Rainy River (in office at that time) submitted an article to our local newspaper, the Rainy River Record. The title under the photo of the dignitaries all holding cell phones was “Can you hear me now?”. Due to uncompleted incoming calls and dropped calls, businesses and residents are again having to say “Can you hear me now?” Tbaytel believes our area has a seasonal coverage issue, when it is not just a problem in summer months. Regardless, the service is poor when needed.
We have cell calls dropped along with incomplete calls. We have Internet pages that will not load or slow to load. Customers try to pay for services with a debit or credit card but the system is overloaded. Businesses that try to do payroll or pay bills online are not able to connect to the Internet.
Before 2006, our community had to prove we had enough people willing to pay for cell and internet service. Per Tbaytel, we now have too many people using the cell and data service causing the system to not work properly. Our seasonal and traveling guests are willing to pay for roaming service but the service must work. Our services continued to be poor in September when the high school students are in the town of Rainy River and majority of seasonal residents have left Morson. Why should our level of service not be as good as other areas of the Rainy River District?
–Kind regards,
Nancy Miller, Morson Women’s Institute
cc: Sarah Campbell, M.P.P. Kenora - Rainy River
John Rafferty, M.P. Thunder Bay - Rainy River
Lake of the Woods Township, Valerie Pizey, Mayor