Living and working without a phone for most of us, it's been difficult, and for some, just plain excruciating. We got a taste of what it was like a month ago on the 15th of March when the phone service was cut for three hours, from 6:00 am to 9:00 am.
But today it was much different, it went form before dawn, and now, into night there is still no phone service, no faxes, and no internet available anywhere across the country. The phone shutdown has far reaching effect on businesses particularly those in the tourism and travel sector that cannot communicate with their international partners or swipe credit cards. And while that is one small area, for most businesses, it seemed like they made a new discovery just about every minute, slowly realizing how much they rely on the phones, internet and fax to handle everyday elementary transactions. 7NEWS hit the Alberts this morning and found how no phones equaled no business for some.
Businessman #1: Well you can't get anything done; absolutely nothing. You can't communicate with nobody and you can't call nowhere. I just wonder about the people for emergency.
KS: Is it affecting your business?
Businessman #1: Not so bad but I am kind of worried about the emergency people like the police, the fire service, and all those people.
Oswald Twist: I can't make any call at all. I have some important business that I need to transact and I can't get around so it's definitely affecting me.
Clemente Wade: I haven't been in office so that it isn't bothering me yet but I'm going there now so I'll tell you after that.
KS: What affect is it having on Catholic schools?
Clemente Wade: Well I think it will affect everybody because we are so used to picking up the phone and doing business that it will affect the schools, definitely.
KS: Do you support the cause?
Clemente Wade: Well you wouldn't want it but everybody has their agenda these days so it's a definite inconvenience.
Businesswoman #1: I own a business at 77 North Front Street and obviously we can't get calls and we can't receive calls.
KS: How is it affecting your business?
Businesswoman #1: I won't lie, I am taking it easy but the company is suffering because we can't get any business today, we can't get customers and we can't get to our suppliers.
KS: Do you support the cause?
Businesswoman #1: I need my phone but I also support the workers.
And that support from business operators was shared by the regular Belizeans who woke up to no telecom. All of the people we spoke with admitted they were affected and it was a terrible inconvenience but voiced support for the cause.
Woman #1: I can't call anybody and we don't have no internet, no cellphones, no payphones, nothing is working and I tried to buy a phonecard and nobody would sell me one because I don't know how long we're not going to be having phone service.
KS: You support the cause?
Woman #1: Yes. It would be better than no water and no light.
Woman #2: For a working mother I find it inconvenient. For a citizen I am with them 100%. I support them.
Man #1: One has to make sacrifices. I support their action and I will continue to support their action.
Tourist #1: We encountered the fact that your power lines, your telephone lines, are down and we cannot use the credit card and we cannot spend as much money as you'd like us to spend here.
Tourist #2: I am from PG, lived there a long time ago and now I am visiting from the States and it's disappointing. I don't know exactly what's going on.
KS: How is it affecting your vacation?
Tourist #2: Can't make calls, can't do any transactions, and right now I deh with what left inna mi pocket which isn't much so I guess I have to wait it out a little bit.
While today's national shutdown cost the country possibly millions of dollars in lost revenue and business turnover, the most unfortunate consequence of the shutdown was the effect it had on emergency services. But in an emergency, like a national phone shutdown, those emergency agencies proved to be responsive. For its part the police department deployed more officers to patrol and maintained contact over their radio network which was the only national communication network that was working and in fact was used to keep the Prime Minister abreast of the situation as he toured Punta Gorda.
And while the police had their radios, it wasn't so easy for the fire and ambulance service, which can't exactly patrol for medical emergencies or fires. Dispatcher at BERT, Barbara Martinez said they had to rely on radio communication from the KHMH or walk ins.
Barbara Martinez, BERT Dispatcher
"We usually receive emergency calls and transfers from the hospitals. But right now we haven't received any calls. The last time when this happened with BTL we had people that came to the office so we can go out and do the transfers or the emergency runs. Right now Karl Heusner has a radio and then we communicate with Karl Heusner. A short while ago we got a call using a radio from KHMH requesting for us to a transfer."
Keith Swift,
So if someone needs an ambulance, what would they need to do?
Barbara Martinez,
"They would need to come here. For right now they'd need to come here and then we send our ambulance."
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
"It is affecting us and it will continue to affect us in a terrible way in the sense that when there's a fire people cannot call us, they'll have to come to us. What we have done so far is we have prepared a text and sent it off to the radio stations for them to announce that if there's a fire then they need to contact us by going to either of the fire stations, either the one on south side or the one on the north side of the city."