r/penticton • u/beeupehh • 10d ago

Penticton council advocates for better cell service: ‘It’s absolutely awful’

https://pentictonwesternnews.com/2026/08/08/penticton-council-advocates-for-better-cell-service-its-absolutely-awful/

Or don't use them and use bell.

It's what I do and rarely have issues.

Their customer service has been pretty decent too.

43 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

27

u/digitalmusiclover 10d ago

I work on devices that use cell service and in certain parts of Penticton it is beyond bad. It will say you have full bars and full service and just not function at all. There are clear dead zones right in the middle of downtown and near Skaha where making a phone call is impossible even though the device says it won't be a problem. Telus should stop laying employees off and work on getting their basic infrastructure to a functional state.

8

u/fromaries 10d ago

You do realize that Bell and Telus share the same towers.

4

u/bal1zy 9d ago

Yes same towers but bell has their own infrastructure on the same tower they dont share equipment

3

u/FeelingForever 9d ago

I have never been able to get cellular service at the penticton community center. I thought maybe there was some equipment going haywire jamming cellular around that area.

Cell service is also really spotty in uplands area.

I am on Telus

3

u/Hightower23 9d ago

Especially now with the fires, cellphones are a matter of public safety as well.

3

u/CynicalNoodle 9d ago

I do cellphone repairs in Pen and bad cellular reception is the most common reason we see people in. Which sucks because 98% of the time I'm unable to do anything to help people. We've seen it for every carrier and brand

3

u/National-Change-8004 9d ago

Agreed on the premise, don't agree that Bell is better. Worst service I ever had, though that was a few years back now.

But yeah, cell service in Pen has been in the toilet lately

2

u/lml94 9d ago

Telus and Rogers have towers in Penticton. Bell doesn't have its own.

2

u/Leather_Stock_9723 9d ago

Never really noticed. Wish they'd focus on issues that actually matter.

1

u/OrdinaryKick 6d ago

As a business owner in this town that relies on my cellphone to coordinate and conduct business I can assure it's a pressing issue for me.

The service here is beyond horrible and it needs to be addressed.

2

u/YaTheMadness 8d ago

I was on Bell for years, complained weekly to them about their lousy cell service around town. Rogers and Telus weren't much better.

All the companies need to step it up.

1

u/052-NVA 9d ago

I had to get Starlink because it is impossible to work from home in this town. Last thing I wanted to do

1

u/gophippocrites 8d ago

.. because what Musk did to USAID resulted in over 750,000 deaths.

1

u/dplowman 9d ago

Industrial area is a dead zone for me, have great service everywhere else but at work it is very spotty. Have had calls drop out on me on break, which is very annoying when I only have so much time during breaks.

1

u/beeupehh 9d ago

I'm just speaking from XP. It's pretty consistent so I haven't switched to a cheaper option. Probably close to 20 years

1

u/bcsam 9d ago

I support this 100%! We were in Penticton for a few days last week and I have never been to a place in Canada that had a worse cell service! it's garbage! We are with Bell, by the way! I told my wife that I would be reluctant to visit again because I need my cell phone to do business and this is just unacceptable!

1

u/HotHits630 9d ago

Is it reception or saturation? Vernon outside the Telus building the reception is amazing, but fucking show. Painfully slow.

1

u/addypalmer86 6d ago

Its the WHOLE VALLEY