Telus is allegedly planning to introduce a new, non-waivable $15 “SIM purchase” fee for both physical SIM cards and digital eSIMs starting June 11, 2026, according to documents seen by iPhone in Canada. The move appears to arrive just ahead of upcoming CRTC changes, set to kick in this Friday.
The document details how the $15 charge will be applied to the customer’s first bill for all new activations across all retail and dealer channels, as well as for all online bring-your-own-device orders and standalone product purchases. The internal memo explicitly instructs employees that the fee is not an admin charge but a mandatory product purchase that cannot be waived or credited under any circumstance.
In the document’s internal FAQ section, the carrier addresses why this should not be considered a hidden connection fee, alleging that the previous $80 connection charge has been eliminated and bundled these costs in. The company justifies charging the $15 fee for digital eSIMs by claiming that digital activations still involve backend infrastructure, secure provisioning, and technical profile management despite the lack of a physical plastic card.
As for shipping a physical SIM card to you, that will cost $10, so the total will be $25 for customers. The Telus website already mentions a $15 SIM card fee, but this document claims new activations will always have to pay a SIM card or eSIM fee, and it cannot be waived. In the past, you could get free SIM cards and eSIMs from dealers, as part of promotions.
The document notes that the new fee structure will be implemented as a mandatory billing tile within the company’s internal system on June 11, with no escalation process available for employee overrides.
Ahead of this Friday’s CRTC ruling that will axe connection fees, Bell and Virgin Plus last month debuted a new $40 device handling charge.
We’ve reached out to Telus for comment, and will update this story accordingly.
Update June 9, 2026: A Telus spokesperson emailed iPhone in Canada the following statement on Tuesday regarding this new SIM card charge, saying, “A SIM Card or an eSIM has always been a physical or digital product for purchase, rather than an administrative fee. The sale of a SIM product is not new. Customers have always been able to purchase a SIM card or eSIM on its own or as part of a plan, and our approach remains unchanged. We will comply with the CRTC’s decision and will remove the Connection Fee by the effective date.”
Update 2 June 9, 2026: This story has been updated to clarify that the $15 SIM/eSIM charge applies to all online bring-your-own-device orders and standalone product purchases, consistent with the company’s existing policies.
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❗️🤬Telus🤬Bell🤬Rogers❗️
When my current telus mobile plan expires
I Will Definitely Be LEAVING FOREVER
&
changing over to Freedom Mobile as soon as many of family, friends & random people
I’ve talked with concerning
These Big 3 Monopolistic🤬CORPORATE🤬🧛🏻♂️
THAT TAKE
a Perverse Pleasure
🤬THEIR LOYAL CUSTOMERS Their💰🐄Around
x penalizing them instead of Rewarding Them With is What Customer Service Was Founded On For Loyalty.!
You know freedom mobile is owned by Rodgers right and as a sub devision of Rogers you’ll be subject to the same fees and penalties. Koodo and public are owned by Telus virgin is bell, i hate to rain on your parade but there’s no getting away as soon as a company get big enough one of the big 3 buys them out
You know people who are delulu like that think Freedom is owned by Rogers also believe Trump is Jesus, right?
Priceless
Hate to rain on your parade Freedom formerly known as wind has never been owned by Rogers, Telus or Bell, they are their own company.
Please stop spreading misinformation. I Wouldn’t be surprised if Rogers/Bell/Telus pays you to give out incorrect information to confuse the consumer.
FREEDOM IS ITS OWN COMPANY.
Wind was owned by Globalalive.
It was rebranded as Freedom when Shaw purchased it.
When Rogers bought Shaw, Freedom’s owner was changed to Quebecor/Videotron.
Freedom has never been its own company.
It is currently owned by Quebecor/Videotron.
Actually rogers did own freedom mobile when they bought out shaw, but eventually they sold them. So technically he was right and you’re WRONG
Uhm Freedom/Wind was a part of shaw which Roger’s bought out but weren’t allowed to have Freedom for it would create a monopoly in favor of Roger’s so the Freedom part was sold to Videotron in Quebec….so please stop spreading your half truths
Wind was owned by Globalalive.
It was rebranded as Freedom when Shaw purchased it.
When Rogers bought Shaw, Freedom’s owner was changed to Quebecor/Videotron.
Rogers owns Fido & Chatr, they do not own Freedom.
You know freedom is owned by Quebeccore …..
Freedom is not owned by rogers.. smoke another one lol
Freedom Mobile owned by Québecor, not by Rogers.
Videotron Ace…
Freedom is not owned by Rogers… Please look it up
Wrong, freedom is owned by Quebecor
Quebec Corp Inc owns Freedom. Mobile
It is owned by videotron, Rogers had to sell it to be allowed to buy shaw
Love seeing colorful comments from 50 year old emoji flakes and other flakes liking them!
Just like the no name flake making fun of them?
My telus contract expired and my plan now costs more than their base plans that offer more than mine does. To get a new upgraded phone with a plan, it would cost me $176 per month. They now limit which plans you can get with a phone and they already have an activation fee. It’s insane that they charge that much and then want to add more charges.
Midrange phones are amazing now and cost 400 bucks for a decent one. 30 dollars and I have 80gb and unlimited talk and text. Regular plan no promo nonsense. Fizz mobile. They use Videotron towers.
Love to live in your delulsional world. Oh wait, you’re referring to decade old used phones that are now considered midrange in 2026
Tell us you dont research anything without actually telling us…. 🧐
Go-to Europe. Literally even at the airport on landing, you can get free or $1 at most sim cards or esims from retailers. If you goto any supermarket or retail store, exactly the same.
Canada is just not competitive, in any way.
Go-to Europe. And stay there! But you cant because cost of living is even more expensive there overall than in Canada.
While I don’t like any of the big three or agree with their pricing, comparing Telecom in Europe to Canada is asinine. Canada is an enormous landmass that costs infinitely more money to operate a network on than most of Europe combined. Add that to our much smaller population and you have a much higher per capita cost of operating said network. Naturally that cost gets handed off to customers. The other big difference is device subsidy and the types of devices used to compare to Europe. Way too many people in Canada covet the flagship smartphone without understanding the cost of what they’re purchasing.
Go visit RFD and you will read about how the teleco shills defend this fee or others on at the opposite side say this cannot happen due to [their] idealistic delusional mindset. In any event, all the carriers will be following suit, the only one that may opt out or more than likely charge less is Freedom.
The government imposes changes that help cut costs for consumers and the ISPs invent another charge to offset the changes, calling them “handling fees” or some such nonsense. Everyone is so dependent on cell phones now that we will put up with the shell game because we are hooked. Time for a competitive alternative. I just don’t know if anyone could do it.
So if you are switching and bringing your own sim or eSIM is the fee waived?
And where would you get your own sim or Esim from? That’s not really how it works at all.
If it’s esim, you are by definition bringing your own if you brought your phone. Selling you a physical Sim for a fee was always extremely scummy behavior, but at least could be justified on the basis that it was a physical product. Charging a fee for an esim is exactly the thing that needs regulations were imposed to deal with!
The CRTC is forever juat playing whack a mole with the telecoms…I mean, thry are a private business so they can charge whatever customers will pay (just like airlines)
In the end, they will take their pound of flesh, CRTC be damned…
However really, these fees could juat be rolled into monthly plans so I am not sure why the telecom are being so stubborn…same with airlines…really, just add the $25 baggage fee into the cost of the ticket for Christ’s sake…
They are not adding these fees to be transparent, I think its to make a point to be honest. FU regulators….how do you like those apples :0)
No issues Canadians are stupids, while airlines charge them enormous amounts to travel domestic, in ontario car insurance is highest anothee scam, bank fees to maintain your own money. While these stupids canadians worry about the wireless one time fee in 2 years vs regular costs other industries have been putting on them. Become smart not cheap poor canadians
Or how about we just try to fight back against every company that tries to fuck the consumer? Why is that a bad thing?
All the big 3 are bandits, im with public and happy with the service and price I pay.
Then congratulations you’re with telus. They own public.
Their greed knows no bounds. It’s why I no longer use them
What a bunch of crooks!!
Well looks like I’ll be leaving Telus then
Just more gouging by a greedy corporation. You people should be ashamed of your selfs.
Another reason to call out greedy creeps. Just another woke progressive corporation screwing its customers
Greedy company. They are very corrupt and just want all your money. When I used to deal with them, you get the largest bill, then pay that and days later they are already billing you for next month. NEVER again.
Tells is very expired no unlibed dita very disappointed my last bill was120 dollers do not be fald like l was
Why do l have to pay for comsels
Telus is the worst one. Always starts the worst policies. Never starts something good. Remember how they capped video quality even when you have the speed and the bandwidth for it? And then their CEO had the audacity to defend the decision.
For years now, I only switched between Bell and Rogers and their subsidiaries. I don’t even consider Telus, Koodo or public anymore