Here's How The Rogers Outage Really Messed Things Up For Montreal
How did the Rogers outage affect you?
Rogers phone with network outage. Right: City of Montreal skyline.
The Rogers network outage had a nationwide impact as countless Canadians were left without phone or internet services, along with disruptions involving payment transactions and emergency services, to name a few.
The telecommunications and media company first acknowledged the outage early morning on July 8 — updating the public regarding their network being down throughout the day.
It wasn't until nearly 10 p.m. Friday that Rogers announced its services had been restored. The return of Rogers was followed by an official statement and apology from the president and CEO, Tony Staffieri.
While Rogers has restored its services to a "vast majority" of its customers, Montrealers are still up in arms over its effects on lives and city services. So, here's how the outage really f*cked things up here in the 514.
Municipal Services Were Down
\u201cLes centres d\u2019appels d'Espace Pour La Vie, de la Cour Municipale et du Bureau du Taxi sont \u00e9galement affect\u00e9s temporairement.\n\nContacts :\nEspace pour la vie : https://t.co/U06WVRYrGi\nCour Municipale : cour-municipale@montreal.ca\nBureau du taxi : bureaudutaxi@ville.montreal.qc.ca\u201d— Ville de Montr\u00e9al (@Ville de Montr\u00e9al) 1657284699
Municipal services across the city of Montreal were seriously affected by the Rogers outage. The number to contact the city, 311, was down all day. Espace Pour La Vie call centres and taxi offices were also down.
"Due to the Rogers outage, our 311 phone system is not accessible," the city of Montreal tweeted out. "The call centres for Espace Pour La Vie, the municipal courts and taxi offices are also temporarily affected."
At 10:30 Saturday morning, the city announced that Montreal's 311 system and other services were restored, along with any Interac issues experienced across the city.
Ride-Sharing Was A No-Go
\u201c@miguelbanet Hi there! There's currently a Canada-wide Rogers outage, which affects the connexion to the cars. We hope they'll be able to resolve this quickly and we'll update you soon. Very sorry for the inconvenience.\u201d— miguelbanet (@miguelbanet) 1657284652
Many Montrealers rely on ride-share services, including Communauto, which was also affected by the Rogers outage. One Communauto customer reached out to the company saying, "Your system in Montreal is broken. The map shows no available cars."
Communauto was quick to respond, stating that the Rogers outage "affects the connection to the cars. We hope they'll be able to resolve this quickly and we'll update you soon. Very sorry for the inconvenience."
No Interac
\u201c**Mise \u00e0 jour**\nLes paiements par Interac sont maintenant fonctionnels. \nMerci de votre patience! \n#SQDC\u201d— La_SQDC (@La_SQDC) 1657375190
Many Montrealers were unable to use their debit cards as many banking services and card machines across Montreal were also down for Interac transactions.
The SQDC was among the several Montreal stores to accept only cash or credit. Thankfully, as of 10 a.m. Saturday, the SQDC announced that Interac payments were functioning again.
The city also tweeted that Interac payments across all of Montreal are back up and running.
Print Out Those Tickets
\u201cIMPORTANT - MODES DE PAIEMENT \ud83d\udea8En raison de la panne sur le r\u00e9seau de Rogers, les services de cartes de d\u00e9bit sont interrompus. T\u00e9l\u00e9chargez ou imprimez vos billets avant de vous rendre au parc. SEULES LES CARTES DE CR\u00c9DIT PEUVENT \u00caTRE UTILIS\u00c9ES PR\u00c9SENTEMENT.\u201d— La Ronde (@La Ronde) 1657291491
Suddenly, the outage transported us back to the 90s when we had to print everything out! Countless venues and parks across Montreal required ticket holders to pre-download or print them out due to the Rogers outage, La Ronde being one of them.
The amusement park tweeted that those visiting must download or print out their tickets before arriving at La Ronde. Additionally, only credit cards were accepted.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
