Bell Aliant phone problems fixed

Bell Aliant issued a statement Thursdayapologizing for the widespread phone problems plaguing the province.

"Bell Aliants network operates with a built in redundancy or a backup system that limits the potential for service impacts.This morning a fibre cut in northern New Brunswick necessitated us switching to our backup system. The redundancy system worked intermittently," said the release.

The company said it was investigating the exact cause of disruption during the switchover.

"Bell Aliant apologizes to customers for any inconvenience."

The problems were being reported across the province with many people saying they were having trouble using the internet, cell phones and landlines. Also, there were reports of people having difficulty with debit or credit-card transactions.

"There's been some issues with purchases we've been trying to make, but that's alright, we've resolved [them]by going into the bank and getting cash out," said Saint John residentMegan Stewart."So go old school, [I'm] not of the younger generation so I'm used to going without a cell phone so we'll just carry on the way we used to."

There had been reports of problems in areas including Saint John, Moncton, Fredericton, and Florenceville-Bristol.

The City of Saint John had issued astatement asking citizens not to call 911 unless it was an actual emergency and that police, fire and ambulance were being place strategically around the city.

"If you experience an emergency and a 911 call does not work, please go to your local community police station, fire station or find one of the police cars, fire trucks or ambulances deployed around the city," the statement said.

The phone problems were also a concern for emergency services in the province.

Gerry Morris, the district fire chief in Saint John, said his staffwas monitoring the phone problems.

"We just received word there could be an impact with outgoing calls on the phone service and that Aliant's working on it. And we've been receiving calls, so everything seems to be goingOK in terms of emergency calls coming," Morris said.