Interac, Internet outage disrupts morning routine in St. John’s – New Brunswick | Globalnews.ca

Friday Morning Bustle Around Uptown Saint John was hampered by widespread technical issues – leaving some without internet and most without the ability to pay for their much-needed morning coffee.

Feather slingshot coffee And Studio on Princess Street, manager Micah Hiltz, says about a third of her customer base typically pays via debit – Friday mornings are one of their busiest times.

Interac services were implicated in a nationwide rogers outageWhich means the popular payment option was not possible – not only at the catapults but also at the parking meters, garages and checkouts everywhere.

“Something we have, they’ll scramble for cash or put it on a credit card,” Hiltz says.

“You need coffee to spend a day like this.”

Hiltz says that as soon as he arrived at the cafe for the day, staff alerted him about the outage, after a customer told him about a wider issue at the game.

He says he still won’t let any customer go without their caffeine fix.

“We say, ‘Okay, you can have us next time you’re in.’ Like, we’re pretty relaxed like that,” Hiltz says.

Regular people stopping by the catapults didn’t have to go without wifi, the shop didn’t have internet rogers connection.

Hiltz says that’s good news for people working remotely from one of their tables — and perhaps even for patrons at other stores where Rogers WiFi is relied upon.

Outages are a major stumbling block in the era of remote work.

Away from the catapult, St. John’s resident Caitlin Dean spent Friday morning struggling to enter her office – with no substitute for physically clocking in.

“I tested positive for covid Tuesday morning,” she says.

“I tried to work from home for a few days, but I was very sick. Today was going to be my catchup day.”

With Rogers Internet at home, Dean says she did what she could to rely solely on her mobile data.

Many people with Rogers Cellular plans were left without that option.

Dean says she appreciates a sensible employer and low stakes around her project’s deadline.

The Emergency Management Organization of New Brunswick says 911 services throughout the province have not been affected by the outage.

However, individual police stations have shared that their front-desk lines are down.

Bathurst police said in a post on social media that residents who need immediate help should dial 911 – even if they have a Rogers phone.