Hundreds without internet, phone service as power returns to most of P.E.I.

It's been three weeks since post-tropical storm Fiona hit P.E.I., and while power is back to most of the Island, many businesses and homes are still without telephone or internet services.

Leon Zhang runs Mobile Ink P.E.I. — a business that refills printer ink cartridges.

He said as of Friday afternoon, he still doesn't have phone or internet service. He said going this long without has hurt his business, as he takes most orders by phone and has to call for delivery service.

On top of that, Zhang said he's only been able to do cash transactions for the last three weeks.

"I have no idea when I'm going to go back to normal," Zhang said. "I hope I can get a schedule [for] when I'm going to get it back … I know they're working on it, we just have to be patient." 

Zhang is one of hundreds on P.E.I. without internet or phone service.

Both Bell and Eastlink said they've brought extra crews to speed up repairs, but the damage is extensive.

Bell Aliant's Geoff Moore told CBC News "restoration is our top priority," and said the company has four times the workforce moving to restore service to customers. Moore said they can restore about 120 customers per day with the crews available.

"We're throwing every resource we can find toward making sure we get our customers back in service as fast as possible," he said, adding that crews working on P.E.I. are from across the Maritimes, Ontario and Quebec.

"Our pace of restoration is accelerating, and it's accelerating on a daily basis."

The company couldn't give a date for when everyone could be back online. Moore said there is a "post-mortem" underway at Bell Aliant to see how to better prepare for major storms.

"We believed we had built a response plan in terms of resourcing and what not based on what we thought was worst cast, but worst case was kind of worse than we thought," he said. 

'It definitely impacted my anxiety'

Kelsey Handren lives in Charlottetown and didn't have internet for 15 days. She doesn't have a landline and had her cell phone service disrupted, as most did after the storm.

"It definitely impacted my anxiety," she said. "Not being able to contact anyone or call anyone especially the day of the storm. You live alone, there's no one to talk to, you're scared."

Like Zhang, Handren is a customer of Eastlink. She said people shouldn't be going weeks at a time without phone and internet.

In an emailed statement to CBC News, Eastlink said: "Our on-the-ground crews and support teams continue to repair damage to downed fibre lines in areas where we have been able to gain access after power has been restored … we expect this work will take another few days.

"Our most recent update this morning indicates just over 100 customers remain affected, most of whom are located in the harder hit greater Charlottetown area along with a few smaller remaining impacts in eastern P.E.I. These numbers continue to improve as power restores and our repair work can be completed."