This morning, I experienced something deeply troubling—and dangerous—from a major Canadian wireless provider. While placing a routine call to a number in Welland, Ontario from a Rogers Wireless phone, the call failed to reach the intended recipient. Instead, what I heard was over 25 seconds of someone else’s live phone call. Even more disturbing: the conversation I overheard included private medical details of an individual who had no connection to my call.

This was not a one-off fluke.

Reports of the same issue have surfaced on social media. The @NiagaraFalls X (formerly Twitter) account posted a similar incident, confirming that others in the region have experienced unexpected audio leaks during calls:

https://x.com/NiagaraFalls/status/1948780098422804505

There is also a growing thread on Reddit with Rogers customers reporting similar experiences: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rogers/comments/1m91g6t/calls_to_landline_from_mobile_picking_up_random/

We often talk about privacy in abstract terms—metadata collection, location tracking, etc.—but this is different. This is raw, live audio from one person’s call being played to someone entirely unrelated. This isn’t just a glitch; it’s a severe breach of privacy and a violation of trust in our public telephone infrastructure.

What Happened?

While the full technical root cause is not yet known, what is clear is this:

  • Calls from Rogers Wireless devices intended for Niagara Region numbers were not routed correctly.
  • In multiple cases, instead of getting a ringtone or voicemail, callers heard part of an unrelated, active phone conversation.
  • In at least one case, that leaked audio contained confidential medical information.

This type of incident raises enormous questions about telecom routing integrity, data handling, and the security of Canada’s PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).

Why This Matters

The telephone network is built on the foundational principle of privacy and trust. We assume when we dial a number, our call goes to that party—and only that party. If phone calls are being randomly bridged to other people’s live conversations, this exposes a systemic failure in call routing, possibly involving inter-carrier handoffs, SIP trunking errors, or misconfigured switches.

For individuals, this could mean:

  • Medical or financial information exposed
  • Legal or business conversations overheard
  • Accidental eavesdropping on emotionally sensitive discussions

What Needs to Happen

I am calling on the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) to urgently investigate:

  1. What caused these misrouted calls?
  2. Which carriers and interconnects were involved?
  3. How long did the issue last?
  4. How many people may have been affected?
  5. What safeguards are in place—or missing—that allowed this to happen?

Consumers deserve answers. And they deserve assurance that this won’t happen again.

Speak Up

If you’ve experienced similar issues—particularly if you’ve overheard unrelated conversations while placing a call—please report it to your carrier and the CRTC. The more visibility this issue gets, the faster action can be taken.

This isn’t just a Rogers issue or a Welland issue. It’s a Canadian telecom infrastructure issue, and it needs to be taken seriously.