聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 First off, this column carries a First World problems warning.聽
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Secondly, it's being typed on an cellphone, one which, horror of horrors, has endured a summer of very poor cell coverage.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We're on our way to the family cabin at Sandy Lake, Man. It's about 20 minutes from Clear Lake, Riding Mountain National Park. Sandy Lake is a nice little hamlet, not some resort village in the boonies. It's well within what most people would consider civilization.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But in the 21st century context, it might as well be the moon.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Anyone who complains about SaskTel cellular service, shut up and cross the line into southern Manitoba. I'll show you what poor service is.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 As soon as you cross the border, it's like you enter the portion of the map labelled 鈥渢here be dragons.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Unless you are on Highway No. 1, cellular coverage in almost all of southwest Manitoba is atrocious to the point of almost nonexistent. I have heard this many times from people in Manitoba鈥檚 oilpatch, which is only found in this region.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Only near Virden and close proximity to Rivers do we get anything approaching the level of service I get in almost any pasture in southeast Saskatchewan. Trust me, covering the oilpatch, I spend a lot of time in pastures.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It doesn't matter if it's a small town or secondary highway; in southwest Manitoba your coverage is garbage.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 On the Main Street of Sandy Lake, I cannot make a call, or check email. At our cabin I have found that I can occasionally get three bars slanting on the left side of the barbecue, but not the right.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I was doing stories on Virden for Pipeline News, and staying in the camper we have as a bunkhouse at the cabin. The only way I could make calls is to slightly open an overhead cupboard, put the phone on speakerphone, and talk at it from a certain angle.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We had a contractor doing work on the cabin. I watched the foreman climb on top of the load on their semi, trying to get a call out. I鈥檓 not certain he was successful. Most of the locals don鈥檛 have semis conveniently available to climb on.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In nearby Erickson, it is also nearly impossible to make a cellphone call. We discovered the Co-op Building Centre there had good coverage, but why? It turns out they had to install a cellular booster in the building.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I finally found I could get four bars if I parked on the side of the road near a house on the top of a hill along the highway at Sandy Lake. That's how I phoned home once a day. I suspect they wondered why this Ford kept parking there, but I think they know they have the only real cell coverage around and put two and two bars together to get four.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 First World Problems, right?
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Sure, until you realize how intrinsic wireless communication is in everyday life in the 21st century. It's beyond just phone calls. It's email, social media, banking through your phone, even the basic functions of phones.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For instance, iPhones will often offload music to the cloud, making room for other items in its onboard memory. Works fine if you have coverage, but not worth a damn in southwest Manitoba.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In the oilpatch, wells will often have cellular-based telemetry to transmit 24/7 what is going on.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But how do they do that if they can鈥檛 rely on the cellular system? Someone told me the oil company had to set up its own radio system instead.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Many vehicles now offer built-in hotspots. I wonder how that works here? Using my iPhone as a hotspot, it turns into a cold spot the precise moment we cross the border.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I can work anywhere I have Internet. I don't need to be sitting at a desk. But doing so here has been difficult, to say the least.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I'm only a visitor. I've asked lots of locals, and they all have similar experiences. Essentially, cell coverage in Manitoba is awful unless you are on a major highway or in a major centre.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 It confirms my hypothesis that the rest of Manitoba might as well not exist outside the provincial centre of the universe, Winnipeg.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I have not struggled with cellular coverage this bad in rural Saskatchewan since the 1990s. Here, it's the norm.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The less-than-helpful guys at the Bell MTS store in the Brandon mall explained it will take several more years for things to improve.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I guess southwest Manitoba gets to join the 21st century 20 years late.聽
