TRELAWNY, Jamaica— Residents of Troy and its environs in Trelawny say they have been experiencing a disruption in mobile service provided by telecommunications giant FLOW, since May.

“Since May after a heavy shower of rain we have been without service in the community,” said Colin Gager, mayor of Falmouth, who is a Troy resident.

“We can neither make nor receive any calls, and several persons have reported the matter to FLOW offices in Christiana and Mandeville, [ both in Manchester],but to no avail.”

Retired teacher Pauline McKenzie said the absence of the service has left her depressed.

“People sometimes speak about depression and depression comes in many forms. We are now accustomed to using the cell phones as our quick fix instead of travelling back and forth especially in COVID time. We have no service for more than two months now. It is very depressing. Yuh feel backward. Yuh feel like you’re left out of everything. I can’t get to read the Observer, I can’t get to read mi Gleaner. I like to keep up with the International news and I can’t get to see any of that…..mi not getting nothing!” lamented McKenzie.

Another disgruntled customer, Linton Campbell, said he too is badly inconvenienced by the disruption of service.

“I have to go to Warsop to get service but mi can’t let mi yaad fi go Warsop every time. Mi haffi tek taxi fi go mek phone call inna dem modern time. That is what we had to do back in the days,” said Campbell.

The residents say they have tried to contact FLOW but were advised that they would have to make a submission via WhatsApp which they say is impossible since they have no service.

Efforts to reach FLOW were unsuccessful.

Onome Sido