Despite new cellular towers being installed across parts of southwestern Nova Scotia, many residents say they’re still dealing with dropped calls, weak signals, or no service at all—largely depending on which carrier they use. In this case, the new towers are only benefitting customers of Rogers.
The province recently announced that towers in East Kemptville, Middle Ohio, and North Range Corner are now active, as part of a broader effort to expand coverage in rural areas. These upgrades are tied to an ongoing $69 million provincial program aimed at improving cellular access through partnerships with telecom providers.
However, the improvements haven’t been felt equally. Not all carriers have agreements in place to use the new towers, meaning only customers with specific providers—like Rogers—are seeing the benefits.
Argyle MLA and Growth and Development Minister Colton LeBlanc admitted he switched his own phone service to Rogers because of the upgrades. “I see the change, but I understand that some folks don’t have the ability to switch at this time,” he said to the Tri-County Vanguard.
One major issue is that while the province funds tower construction, it doesn’t own the antennas or control which providers connect. That’s a federal jurisdiction. “We don’t own the antenna infrastructure, we don’t regulate the sector–that’s through the CRTC,” LeBlanc explained.
The province says 18 more sites are expected to be upgraded and added to Rogers’ 5G network this year. But for many residents in communities like Yarmouth County, Barrington Passage, and the Municipality of Clare, reliable service remains out of reach. Complaints on social media describe phones stuck in SOS mode and residents having to stand outside just to send a text. Well, at least these folks could try out the new free Starlink Direct to Cell beta, which is also run by Rogers right now.
As LeBlanc pointed out, “There’s some providers that have roaming agreements and others that don’t.”
While the province encourages providers to allow roaming on shared infrastructure, for now, residents in many rural communities are still waiting for better access—or considering switching to Rogers, if they can. But this just isn’t feasible for everyone to just jump ship to another provider especially if they are tied to bundle pricing or contracts.
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Cell coverage in NS and NB is much worse today than it was 3 years ago. There are so many places I can be on the trans Canada highway and have 0 coverage. I’m on Telus. For a trip recently I bought a Rogers travel sim and with 2 SIMs going there were lots of places I could be and have no service on either Rogers or Telus.