The federal government’s Budget 2024 announced on Tuesday afternoon plans to make it easier to switch plans when it comes to cellphone, internet and home phone.
Changes are set to amend the Telecommunications Act to simplify the process for Canadians to renew or switch plans from telecoms. This plan is a direct response to the high fees and barriers faced by consumers when dealing with telecom companies.
Among these are cancellation fees which can be a huge barrier to switching plans. Also, customers often endure long waits to connect with customer service, further complicating the process, say the feds.
The expiration of promo periods, leading to unexpected hikes in monthly bills, is another challenge consumers face, often without being fully aware of their alternatives. A variety of “junk fees,” including charges for travelling abroad, changing phone numbers, or late payments, also can increase the cost of telecom services.
Budget 2024 also highlighted “Additional Cell Phone Fees Are Too High and Add Up”, pointing out the following fees from Rogers, Telus and Bell:
The federal government say it has exceeded its goal of reducing cellphone plans by 25%, pointing to December 2023 data from StatsCan, where the latter reported a 50 percent decrease in cellphone plan costs since December 2018. Has your cellphone bill gone down in price since then?
The following amendments proposed for the Telecommunications Act is as follows:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will be tasked with implementing these changes, including conducting consultations on the specific requirements.
Do you think these proposed changes will make life easier when it comes to switching cellphone plans? The practice has been made so difficult that most people don’t bother switching, when cheaper plans are out there from flanker brands. The best time to get a new cellphone plan is during Black Friday, when limited time deals debut.
As for Budget 2024 itself overall? Here’s what the Canadian Taxpayers Federation had to say about it:
BREAKING: Feds table brutal budget.
Interest charges cost taxpayers more than $1 billion every week.
Debt doubles under Trudeau govt.
$40 billion deficit, no plan to balance the budget.
Trudeau’s only plan is to take as much money from taxpayers as he can get away with. pic.twitter.com/nAMVGMOrzJ
— Franco Terrazzano (@franco_nomics) April 16, 2024
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Good changes! This hopefully will end the daily roaming charges when outside of Canada. Those charges are completely ridiculous!
Would be nice to see a credible linked tweet, instead of some nonsense from the “Canadian Taxpayers Federation“.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is the only organization ACTUALLY fighting for you.
That’s the most credible source for government reporting I can think of, an organization that wants to support taxpayers.
No it’s not. It’s a right leaning mouthpiece for the reduction of government spending, regardless. Nothing else.
They can advocate for lower taxes all they want. They would probably implement a 0% tax rate if they had the ability to.
The reality is taxes are necessary. There are numerous countries with higher income tax rates and comparable quality of living. I don’t have a problem paying taxes, but I do have a problem with a lack of accountability, and we need to ensure we are getting value for our money.
In 2016, I was on a Koodo plan with only 3GB for $55. In 2017, they introduced a 10GB plan for $60. Telecom prices have come down substantially.
So did computer prices and power…it’s called technological evolution Jag-meat. In 2017 10G links were the bomb, today towers are connected via 40 or 100G links.. data is cheap.
Oh…and I DO have a problem paying taxes when my money funds fat and dumb bureaucrats’ salaries and bonuses. You should have a problem too…unless you are one of them.
No they haven’t. If you don’t switch plan you still pay the same 55$ for 3GB. Until it happens where your plan drops in price without any action on your part, you’re deluding yourself.
You get your info on Twitter? That explains a lot.
They missed the most absurd fees of all, the ridiculous activation fees! Which have increased astronomically in the last few years and frequently continue to do so.
Dude, I got a $50 activation fee for my APPLE WATCH.
Pathetic. Greedy. Disgusting.
Ted Rogers is rolling in his grave
Yeah! It’s not like it’s all going to the reps in any form of commission or anything like that. They get a fraction of that per sale. A pretty small fraction.
I used to work for one of the carriers and know this to be true.
It’s just gouging at this point.
Considering how incompetent they are… they probably don’t even know that fee exists.
You have to give it to the Lieberals…no one in the right mind can lie in your face like they do. “We exceed our goal to reduce fees” – skip the part where Kanukistan is still number 3 in the world as far as mobile plans prices go.
Get rid of the “Connection Charge” aka Activation Fee. That’s the most egregious one. Setting up a new account costs the carriers absolutely nothing.
Number change should also be free. Used to be $20 in 2014, or you could change your number online for free (which is what I did in 2014). Why is it $50 now?
It is true that they didn’t highlight the activation fees, but they do fall under the category of “extra fees charged for switching providers” so I’d expect that to be covered as well, and they should be held accountable if it’s not.