Bell Aliant wants $5.5K to hook a Branch, N.L., family up to home phone and internet

A family in Branch, N.L., doesn't have access to 911 emergency services because they can't afford Bell Aliant's phone and internet connection fee.

Megan Mooney said she has no way to contact anyone when she's inside her home in a remote area of Branch, a community with a population of about 250.

"What if something happened to myself or my daughter,if there was an emergency?" said Mooney.

Theykind ofgot us between a rock and a hard spot because Bell is the only service provider.- Megan Mooney

She and her husband built their dream house in their hometownjust over a year ago.When the couple tried to hook up phone and internet services, they were shocked by the cost from Bell Aliant.

"They came out, they did the estimate and they sent me an email quoting me $5,500for Bell Aliant to come out and run wires on the poles for me to get a home phone and internet."

Estimated total of $14.5K for poles

Mooney said she already paid $9,000 for Newfoundland Power to install six poles near their home for power the same poles Bell Aliant would use to hook up phone and internet.

In Mooney's quote for those services, Bell Aliant lists apole infrastructure fee, even though Mooney has already paid Newfoundland Power for the poles.

A spokesperson for Bell Aliant said Newfoundland Power and Bell share the cost of the poles, and the $9,000 fee Mooney paid to Newfoundland Power was only a portion of the cost.

Bell Aliant wants to charge Mooney an additional $5,500 a cost she says she can't afford.

"They kind ofgot us between a rock and a hard spot because Bell is the only service provider here," said Mooney.

Mooney said she will have to do without the services, but is worried about not having access to a phone in case of an emergency, especially when her five-year-old daughter is at school.

"If something happened over at school, they can't contact me," she said.

"They'd probably haveto call my mother who would then have to get in her car, or my mother-in-law would have to come down here and say, 'Hey, something is going on at school.' There's no other way to reach me."