Telus to waive data, text overage fees for those affected by hurricane Dorian

At least one telecommunications company says it is prepared to waive any overage fees incurred by its customers in the aftermath of hurricane Dorian.

Telus says that in order to support its customers “during this challenging time,” it is “proactively waiving all domestic voice, text and data overage fees incurred between Saturday, Sept. 7 and Saturday, Sept. 14, 2019 for customers in affected areas.”

Steve Beisswanger, a spokesperson for Telus, says that means customers will have any charges incurred over and above their regular plan waived by the company.

READ MORE: Power outages affecting mobile connectivity in Atlantic Canada after hurricane Dorian

Power outages caused by Dorian have wreaked havoc on mobile connectivity in Atlantic Canada.

As the storm approached the coastline, it lashed the area with driving rain and gusts reaching almost 150 kilometres per hour — approaching the power of a Category 2 hurricane.

At one point, more than 500,000 electricity consumers in Atlantic Canada were without power, representing 80 per cent of the homes and businesses in Nova Scotia and 75 per cent in Prince Edward Island.

In New Brunswick, about 80,000 homes and businesses — 20 per cent of NB Power’s customers — were left in the dark at the height of the storm.

Those figures had shrunk considerably by Tuesday, but complaints have continued.

The complaints haven’t been limited to one telecommunications company, either, with angry customers complaining about poor service with Bell Aliant, Telus and Eastlink.

WATCH: Annapolis Valley dealing with Dorian aftermath

1:57 Annapolis Valley dealing with Dorian aftermath

All three companies have pointed to the extensive power outages as the cause and say they are working with Nova Scotia Power to get power restored to the affected sites as soon as possible.

Eastlink told Global News on Monday that it “will absolutely treat customers fairly as part of our ongoing commitment to our customers” in response to questions about the company implementing a data-forgiveness program.

Bell Aliant did not provide a response by publication.

On Tuesday, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told media that he has heard the complaints about poor cell service. He said anyone who has concerns should contact the Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission so it knows about the issue.

— With files from the Canadian Press