Yellowknife (Oct 20/06) - An upgrade to cellphone service in the capital left some Bell customers in the lurch this weekend.

Depending on whom Yellowknifer spoke with, the service was down from a few hours to almost two days. Bell said the upgrades will allow capital residents to use gadgets like Blackberries.

Bell's upgrade for Yellowknife customers may have caused some cell phone disruptions, but the new system will allow owners of Blackberry multi-functional communications devices like internet surfing, file sharing and downloading. - Jason Unrau/NNSL photo

Jon Jaque of Cascom, a cell phone dealer in Yellowknife, said he often hears customer complaints when they have an issue with their cell phone service.

"When there's impacts on the network, we're a good weather station as customers come here to let us know," said Jaque adding that he directs them to either NMI Mobility or Bell Cellular. "Personally, I had no issues with the service on Saturday and no customers came in to complain."

Chris McNutt, manager of marketing and communications for NMI Mobility, said service was up and down from Wednesday, Oct. 11 to mid-Sunday.

"It was intermittent of various severity each time, it was up and down," said McNutt yesterday of the $7.5 million upgrade. "What I can say is there were isolated interruptions but it's fully operational now."

Cell user James Crouch first noticed the problem on Friday afternoon. A high school student, Crouch said he carries a mobile phone so his parents can keep tabs on his whereabouts.

"It made it hard when I had to get a hold of my parents," he said.

And those in the working world were also affected.

"I first realized it Thursday when I couldn't send a text message and I wasn't able to receive or make calls from then until Saturday morning," said Tara Kearsey, communications assistant to Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington.

"Both my work and cell phones were down so I had to stay in the office all Friday not to miss any calls. It's not very convenient when you're working in politics and have to be available at a moment's notice."

Though customers of Bell Cellular have been communicating on digital frequencies for four years, this latest upgrade will make phone features such as web browsers, and streaming radio useable.