IT HAS NOW BEEN over two weeks since the start of Rogers Communications’ nationwide network outage, which impacted the company’s phone, Internet and cable subscribers – some, for days.
Rogers’ president and CEO Tony Staffieri has issued an apology and attributed the outage to “a network system failure following a maintenance update in our core network”, the company submitted a detailed report to the CRTC about what happened, and a House of Commons standing committee spent the day yesterday hearing from witnesses about the outage – what went wrong, why and what needs to be done…
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BELL CANADA’S PRESIDENT and CEO Mirko Bibic (above) posted an explanation of how Bell configures its networks on LinkedIn late Monday night.
The post followed the appearance of Rogers Communications executives at the House of Commons standing committee on industry and technology earlier in the day, during which they explained the cause of Rogers’ nationwide network outage on July 8.
“As more details emerge regarding the root cause of Rogers’ network outage, it’s important for us to outline to Canadians how Bell’s networks are configured differently,” Bibic wrote in his post.
“Bell’s wireless and wireline networks use different network infrastructures so…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – The House of Commons INDU committee heard from a series of witnesses today about the July 8 Rogers Communications outage that impacted Canadians across the country, including those trying to access emergency services.
Both meetings the committee decided to hold before the end of July were held today back-to-back.
First among the witnesses there were older white men in suits including François-Philippe Champagne, minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. While the soon fired Rogers CTO, Jorge Fernandes was in Portugal, the minister was in Japan when he heard in the middle of the night…
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Includes physically separating wireless and Internet services
TORONTO — In a letter to customers published Sunday on Rogers Communications’ website, company president and CEO Tony Staffieri outlined the steps the telecom is taking “to learn from” its nationwide network outage earlier this month “and deliver the reliable network you should expect from Rogers.”
Calling it the company’s “Enhanced Reliability Plan”, Staffieri said Rogers is making changes and investments to ensure a network outage like this doesn’t happen again, as part of a personal commitment he pledged in a previous letter posted to the Rogers website shortly after the…
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Bell, Telus offered to help, but Rogers determined it was not possible
OTTAWA – There were no other measures Rogers Communications could have taken to restore 911 services any quicker than it did during the July 8th network outage, the company has told the CRTC in a response to a demand for a detailed report on what happened that day and why.
In a heavily redacted document made public by the CRTC last Friday, Rogers explained it explored the possibility of shutting down its RAN (radio access network), because if customers were unable to connect to it, they would…
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OTTAWA – The Competition Bureau is seeking to have the Competition Tribunal add more time to the pre-hearing process and hearing on the merger of Rogers Communications and Shaw Communications due to Quebecor subsidiary Videotron’s request to participate in it.
The Commissioner of Competition filed a motion today seeking the changes, which would see oral examinations for discovery start on Sept. 19, 2022, instead of Aug. 15, 2022, as currently scheduled.
The commissioner, Matthew Boswell, is further requesting the tribunal include an additional week for oral examinations and another additional week for the hearing. He is requesting the tribunal modify other…
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TORONTO – Jorge Fernandes is no longer Rogers Communications’ chief technology and information officer.
While no official announcement has been made, the company’s leadership page on its website indicates Ron McKenzie (above) was made the company’s chief technology and information officer in July 2022. A Rogers spokesperson confirmed the change happened yesterday.
“Rogers can confirm Jorge Fernandes will be stepping step down from his role as Chief Technology and Information Officer,” reads a statement from the spokesperson. “Effective immediately, Ron McKenzie becomes Chief Technology and Information Officer.”
The change comes nearly two weeks after Rogers networks went down across the country.
Fernandes…
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By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (INDU) adopted a motion this afternoon by Liberal member of parliament Han Dong to conduct a study and hold two special meetings before month’s end to investigate the Rogers Communications Inc. outage that left an estimated 10 million wireless and 2.25 million retail internet subscribers across Canada without service.
“The public is owed some answers,” said Dong, who represents the Ontario riding of Don Valley North.
His motion calls on the committee to review the causes of these widespread disruptions; the impact the service outage…
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TORONTO – Rogers’ network is now fully operational following the nationwide outage last Friday, according to a letter posted on the company’s website from its president and CEO Tony Staffieri.
“Our network outage last Friday was unacceptable,” the letter says. “Simply put, we failed on our promise to be Canada’s most reliable network.”
After confirming Rogers’ network is back up, Staffieri said company’s customer service representatives have also caught up on a backlog of issues.
He further made a personal commitment that the company “will make every change and investment needed to help ensure that it will not happen again,”…
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TORONTO – Rogers Communications will compensate customers impacted by its nationwide outage with the equivalent of five days service, which has increased from a previously announced two days of service.
“We have been listening to our customers and Canadians from across the country who have told us how significant the impacts of the outage were for them,” a Rogers spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Cartt.ca.
“We know that we need to earn back their trust, and as a first step, we will be crediting our customers with the equivalent of five days service. We will continue to work around the clock…
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