British ColumbiaResidents in parts of northern Vancouver Island were without landline and cellphone service Wednesday morning due to what telecom provider Telus says was damage to infrastructure caused by vandalism.Telus says service was down due to infrastructure damage caused by vandalismCBC News · Posted: Sep 03, 2025 1:52 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 hours agoResidents in parts of northern Vancouver Island have lost landline and cellphone service. Telus says its infrastructure was damaged by vandalism. (Martin Diotte/CBC)Poor internet connection? Read a low-bandwidth version of this story on cbc.ca/lite.Residents in parts of northern Vancouver Island were left without landline and cellphone service due to what telecom provider Telus says was damage to infrastructure caused by vandalism Wednesday morning.On the company’s online service status map, both Port McNeill and Port Hardy were shown without home phone, mobile, internet and 911 landline service due to what it says was “damage inflicted upon Telus infrastructure” for several hours before being restored.Carly Paice of Emergency Info B.C. said they were told by Telus that wires had been damaged, impacting service.Other communities on Vancouver Island, including Alert Bay, Campbell River and Port Alice, were also affected.RCMP were unable to provide any information about the vandalism when contacted by CBC News Wednesday morning.Emergency 911 service activatedPaice said some 911 calls were still able to get through during the outage due to a service called “emergency roaming,” which allows people using cellphones to make emergency calls using infrastructure from alternative service providers, though landlines were still not able to get through.She said in the event of a phone outage, people experiencing emergencies are always advised to try calling 911 from any phone available.People are also asked to get help from neighbours or, if possible, get to a nearby emergency provider such as a police, fire or ambulance station.With files from Yasmine Ghania and The Canadian Press
Vandalism blamed for loss of 911 service on northern Vancouver Island
