“Sorry. You’ve reached the wrong municipality.”

That’s the gist of the message some Mississauga residents — and their city councillor — have recently received when placing calls to the 311 municipal government services information/reporting line.

Instead of being put through to the City of Mississauga, a number of northwest Mississauga residents have been connected to 311 services in Halton Region, the municipality located just to the west of that part of the city.

Mississauga Ward 10 Coun. Sue McFadden, who represents residents in the area, raised the matter at last week’s city council meeting. She said she’s heard complaints from residents, and her own attempt to reach 311 Mississauga also wound up connecting with the Halton information and services line.

McFadden said the issue has reared its head before, but she thought it was resolved.

“We had it kind of under control, it seems, for a little while but it seems” to be an issue again, the councillor told senior city staff and her council colleagues.

Frustrated callers

McFadden said residents were particularly frustrated when they couldn’t access Mississauga 311 services/information during a recent snowstorm.

She asked city IT staff to see if there’s something that can be done “to ensure our residents in Mississauga are being directed to the appropriate 311.”

The 311 phone number is a non-emergency line used to access municipal government services for information or to report local issues to the municipality. It’s in wide use across both Canada and the U.S.

A City of Mississauga spokesperson told INsauga.com occasional misrouted 311 calls are “not a city systems issue,” but a widespread “telecommunications issue” that more often happens near borders between municipalities.

“This is primarily due to how phone networks route calls, especially near municipal boundaries,” the spokesperson said. “Calls are sometimes directed based on the cell tower, IP address or service provider configuration rather than the caller’s physical location. This is outside of the City of Mississauga’s direct control.”

Issue affects multiple phone technologies

The glitch affects multiple phone technologies — cellphones, Wi-Fi calls and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) — and happens in many municipalities, the spokesperson added, noting the issue “is managed through cooperation between cities rather than something residents or the city can fully control. We, at times, also get calls from other municipalities and to ensure seamless service, the caller is transferred — and vice versa.”

Geography is a key factor, meaning west Mississauga, east Mississauga and the Malton area in the north end — given proximity to Halton, Toronto and Brampton, respectively — “are more likely to experience this issue because phones may connect to infrastructure located in neighbouring municipalities.”

The city official noted misrouted calls to 311 can happen “from time to time” as the municipal information number “is not a phone number that’s affixed to just the City of Mississauga, and is tied to the way modern telecommunications systems handle 311 calls.”

The spokesperson added the issue mostly affects cellphones and that “traditional landlines are generally less affected as they are tied to a fixed physical address.”

To access Mississauga’s 311 line from outside city limits, people can call 905‑615‑4311.


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