'Exceptional' influx of tourists in Gasp overloads cellphone network

An "exceptional" surge of tourists to the Gasp is being blamed for an overloaded cellphone network that is preventing locals and visitors alike from making calls or sending texts.

"We can't make any calls and we have to try five to six times to get a line," saidFlixCaron,general manager of the town of Perc.

"Basically [tourists] can't believe that we don't have a proper network."

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In Chandler, about a 30-minute drivefrom Perc, people noticed a similar problem during the town's100th anniversary festivitieslast month.

Resident Debbie Tremblay says she wasn't able to make phone calls, which worried her given she lives alone.

Sheonly has a cell phone, no land lineand isher elderly mother's care giver.

"My mother is in a home and I take care of her. If they would have called me ...I couldn't call them back. They couldn't reach me." she said.

Tremblay says the problems ceased in Chandler after the town'sanniversary festivities, but persists in Perc where she works.

Low dollar draws visitors

Telus saystheir network is seeing six times more traffic aroundPercthan usual because of "an exceptional number of tourists."

That aligns with what Caronhas witnessed. Heestimates this has been Perc'sbest tourist season in 10 to 15 years. The low Canadian dollar and low cost of gas are part of the reason for the spike in tourism, he said.

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A spokesperson for Telus said the company changedthe configuration of its network to so-called "events mode," which prioritizescalls and 911 service.

The company also said network capacity will be increased so more users will be able to make callsat the same time. Withina few months the network in the whole peninsula will be updated to LTE technology.

In the meantime,Telus offered a number of tips about how to increasecell phone efficiency when networks are overloaded:

• Use Wifi when you can
• Use Wifi to make calls using apps such as "Extend" or "Skype"
• Redirect calls to residential lines
• Turn off applications such as mailin "settings" when not using them
• Turn off 3G so only LTE signal is used