Bell says most Canadians already have the information they need to choose the right internet plan—and new government rules could make things worse, not better.
Speaking at a CRTC hearing today, June 11, Bell’s legal and network executives said consumers aren’t struggling to compare internet services, so the Commission shouldn’t roll out strict new requirements like U.S.-style broadband labels.
Bell cited a CRTC report showing that 87% of Canadians don’t report any issues understanding or finding internet plan details.
“There’s no widespread problem here,” said Mark Graham, Bell’s Senior VP of Legal and Regulatory. “We already show accurate info, and most confusion comes from lack of access to good service—not the way it’s advertised.”
Bell said that detailed testing methods or overly specific disclosure formats would be expensive, confusing, and slow to implement. Instead, the company is asking for a flexible approach focused on peak-period speed reporting and basic metrics like download/upload speed and network type.
They also warned the CRTC against applying new rules only to large providers while leaving out satellite and fixed wireless services, like those from SpaceX’s Starlink or smaller ISPs—arguing that this would be “ineffective and unfair.”
Bell also questioned the value of oversubscription ratios and said its own customers are already getting the speeds they pay for, especially on fibre.
Finally, Bell urged the CRTC to focus on expanding fibre infrastructure, rather than creating rules that could slow down investment and favour network resellers over builders.
Again, internet providers always advertise theoretical download speeds but they aren’t exactly the average speeds you’ll get over wireless. It would be nice to see average download speed ranges by location and not just “up to 1Gbps”, for example.
Earlier today, Telus also presented at the CRTC hearing, arguing like Bell, that US-style internet labels won’t work in Canada.
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If the corporations are complaining, the government is doing something right. I’d like to see laws in place that require them to supply their advertised speeds & marginally more no matter the traffic or time of day so that the customer gets their full speed. Eg: 150mbps would give 150 or more so that the rated 150 is the minimum speed on the receiving end. By right of net neutrality we should all be served unlimited data for no extra cost too, if they really want to get into it.🤨
Would like to see that. Wouldn’t it be quite difficult though to know whether the ISP was the problem rather than the server the user is connecting to?
Bell says most Canadians already have the information
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If Bell "says" anything, they are lying…er more aptly correctly put – subverting the truth.
Just like a certain orange thing, when Bell is complaining, you know something right is being done for a change.
Bell is a corporation rotten to the core. If they are complaining and saying we as consumers "don't need" something, it proves how much we do need it.
This article is confusing. It only describes Bell's complaints without really describing what they are complaining against. What exactly has CRTC suggested? What are those American style standards that we should move toward or away from?