Author of the article: Josh Aldrich Tara Deshab It’s a busy day at Stampede Park on the first day of the Calgary Stampede on Friday, July 8, 2022. Azin Ghaffari/Postmedia

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A nationwide network outage by Rogers Communications Inc. it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Calgary businesses.

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Friday is the first official day of the Calgary Stampede, a time when local restaurants and businesses should enjoy a much-needed injection of customers, unhindered by a massive telecommunications outage. “This is a nightmare,” said Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce. “There is a lot of uncertainty about what and how you can pay for things you need to consume. And from Stampede’s perspective, this is the worst time imaginable.” He was aware of the disruption before heading to the Stampede today and stopped at a bank machine for the first time in six months. He said many others were not so lucky and were left unable to park or even pay tickets by tapping credit and debit cards, a method relied on throughout the pandemic. A notice on the Toronto-based telco’s website Friday afternoon said the outage affects both wireless and home service customers and also affects phone and chat support. The company said it was “making progress” in restoring service, but gave no explanation for the outage, its expected duration or the number of customers affected. “We know how much you rely on our networks. Today we disappointed you. We are working to fix this as quickly as we can,” Rogers posted around 2 p.m Many vendors at the Stampede rely on being able to wirelessly connect to the Rogers network to process payments, and it took a while to figure out exactly what was going on.

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Due to the outage of the Rogers network across Canada, some payment methods may be affected. For the best Stampede experience, come prepared with cash or credit. — Calgary Stampede (@calgarystampede) July 8, 2022
Rachelle Austin, who co-owns Barbecue Steak on a Bun with her husband, said everything was broken when they arrived in the morning. At one point, they moved to cash only, but then discovered their debit service wasn’t working. Customers, however, took it in stride. “If they haven’t heard it from us, it’s very likely that they’ve heard it from other vendors or from the news. So they were pretty good,” he said. Challenges spilled out of the Stampede grounds. Ernie Chu, president of the Hospitality Association of Alberta and co-owner of the Trolley 5 restaurant, said they are full of customers and struggling to move people through the checkout process and have called it back about 25 years. “We get manual credit card receipts,” he said. “We have an emergency kit, not sure if other restaurants do.”

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Patty Nowlin, co-owner of Sunnyside Market in Kensington, said they were dealing with the chaos all day. While they were able to process credit card charges, many of their customers are debit only. The issue was compounded when some of the local ATMs were down as they could not connect to the network. Eventually they found one nearby that worked, but it still caused problems as customers filled their cold storage while sprinting to the machine. He said it also provided moments of encouragement as some cash-strapped customers paid for those surprised by the issue at checkout. “People were really panicking because not many people carry cash now,” he said.

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This further affected Sunnyside Market as they had to run to the bank to top up their spread so they could make change due to running out of cash. Nowlin said many clients commented that this should give regulators pause about the Rogers and Shaw merger, noting the importance of competition in the market. Yedlin wouldn’t go that far, but said it underscores the need to “have credibility in our networks.” Calgary Police Service, Alberta RCMP and Alberta Health Services said Rogers customers were able to access 911 for emergency services despite the network being down. In a statement, AHS said it has instructed staff to use alternative methods to contact staff and physicians if affected by the outage, including landlines, email, alternate phone numbers and pagers.

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Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement that the government is closely monitoring the situation and has been in contact with Rogers. “We have expressed how important it is that this matter is resolved as soon as possible and that the company provides prompt and clear communication directly to those affected.” He said the government will use all the tools at its disposal to ensure Canadians stay connected and that the company meets the high standards Canadians deserve, but did not specify what those tools might be. Calgary MP Michelle Remble Garner called on the federal government for a stronger response, as telecommunications is tightly regulated by the federal government through the CRTC. “Today’s shutdown highlights potential additional risks from Canada’s current approach to regulation,” he said in an emailed statement. — With files from Brodie Thomas of Postmedia and The Canadian Press. [email protected] [email protected]

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