Here's how the massive Rogers outage is affecting Waterloo region

A massive Rogers outage has impacted the entire country, including in Waterloo region.

While Rogers said Saturday that the 'vast majority' of service for customers had been restored, many woke up Friday to find they were unable to call, text or use the internet. 

Many retailers and businesses were also facing trouble accepting debit and credit payments.

Here’s a look at how the outage impacted or is impacting services in Waterloo region:

MUNICIPALITIES

The City of Kitchener says debit and credit payments were not available for any city services.

Debit, credit and ATM services were also down at the Kitchener Market.

The Region of Waterloo says it was experiencing technical difficulties impacting its online services.

The City of Waterloo says city Hall was open but only accepting cash payments. Waterloo public library branches were also open, but Wi-Fi and computers were not available.

The City of Cambridge was also dealing with technical issues with its online services, tweeting that debit and credit payments are currently unavailable.

HOSPITALS

Several local hospitals were reporting that communication issues throughout Friday were contributing to longer wait time for patients.

Cambridge Memorial Hospital says it had no inbound or outbound phone service.

Grand River Hospital says it was not impacted by the outage, except some virtual care services.

However in some cases, patient discharge was being delayed as staff were unable to contact family members, long-term care facilities and patient transport companies, the hospital says.

“These challenges will impact wait times [and] access to care as the flow of patients out of hospital slows,” Grand River Hospital said in a tweet.

St. Mary’s General Hospital says it was experiencing communications issues but is able to receive calls though its main line at 519-744-3311.

BUSINESS AND RETAIL

The outage left many stores in the region unable to accept debit or credit card payments.

Some shoppers say the outage is nuisance.

“I’m actually on my way to get medication, so that’s not a good thing,” one told CTV News. “I don’t have cash. I don’t know, I’m going to go home and find some cash somewhere.”

“I was lucky I got cash out for my sons birthday present for today, so I have enough money to buy food for today for supper, but I’m hoping tomorrow its going to be up, because I rely on that,” and said.

Kylee Rose, a barista at Serrinia Café at the Kitchener Market says about 25 per cent of their customers walked away on Friday because they didn’t have cash and the café’s debit and credit machine wasn’t working.

It’s a similar story across town in Waterloo.

“Our phone lines are down, our internet is down and all of our programs and system run off of the internet,” said Sarah McQueen, co-owner of Recharge & Play Wellness Café.

EMERGENCY SERVICES

Waterloo regional police say those having issues connecting with 9-1-1 should call from a landline or cell phone with a different provider.

Guelph police took to Twitter to remind people to only call 9-1-1 if there is an emergency and not to use it to ask about the network outage.