OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

July 2, 2019
Bob D’Eith
MLA for Maple Ridge-Mission
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Re: Cell Phone Billing Transparency Public Consultation
Dear Mr. D’Eith,
I am writing to you on behalf of OpenMedia, a community-based non-profit organization that
works to keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance-free. We work toward informed
and participatory digital policy by engaging hundreds of thousands of people in protecting our
online rights. Our community is comprised of nearly 235,000 people throughout Canada.
OpenMedia and our community members have been advocating for more affordable access to
cell phone services for the past decade, have been active participants at the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), and are participating in
legislative processes like the current review of Canada’s Broadcasting and Telecommunications
Acts.1 Our organization believes in public education and empowering individuals to take action
on digital issues that impact their daily lives.
We commend the British Columbia government for initiating this important conversation on cell
phone billing transparency, and consulting directly with residents on their lived experiences with
their cell phone providers. We are pleased to participate in this process and hope that our input
serves as a valuable resource for the provincial government to improve consumer protections
for those living throughout British Columbia.
Below we will outline our key considerations that we believe are areas of concern the
government should address in this consultation and any subsequent recommendations,
advocacy, or legislation.
Cell phone contracts and billing
The lack of clarity in cell phone contracts and monthly cell phone bills is an issue that continues
to negatively impact cell phone customers. This, in combination with misleading and aggressive
sales practices, often results in frustration as customers experience prices that are unfair,
unpredictable or higher than what they expected when initially signing up for cell phone
1

OpenMedia Submission to the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel:
OpenMedia:
https://openmedia.org/sites/openmedia.org/files/openmedia_btlr_submission_jan_11_2019_2.pdf
OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

services. “Bill shock”2 is a common occurrence throughout Canada, and can put customers in a
difficult position where they owe hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars3 to their cell phone
provider for charges they were not made aware of before billing – and were therefore unable to
plan for.
For this reason, we recommend that the B.C. government introduce provincial legislation that
forces all cell phone providers to:
1. E​nsure all contracts and bills are written in plain language that can be easily understood
by all users.
2. Clearly inform the customer of the exact fees, including additional fees, they will incur
when purchasing or making changes to a plan.
3. Limit fixed-term contract length to a maximum of 2 years.
4. Clearly separate the cost of the plan from the cost of the device in cell phone bills.
5. Eliminate cancellation fees for fixed-term contracts as long as the full cost of the device
has been paid off.
The first three of these recommendations are already included in the federal Wireless Code of
Conduct.4 However, the code’s weak enforcement mechanisms and loopholes are often failing
to deliver these protections to wireless consumers in practice. This is why we are asking the
B.C. government to implement these regulations at the provincial level in combination with
strong enforcement mechanisms to ensure Big Telecom can’t find any workarounds.
Additionally, in the event that a future federal government repeals or makes significant changes
to the Wireless Code, it is extremely important for these fundamental consumer protections to
continue to exist at the provincial level.
Provinces like Quebec,5 Manitoba,6 and Newfoundland and Labrador,7 have already passed
provincial level legislation to protect wireless service customers over the past decade, bringing
greater protections to the people in these provinces. ​Ontario and Nova Scotia also had similar
legislation, but these laws have since been repealed. Nova Scotia repealed them after the
2

'I was in shock': Why Canadians are still struggling with runaway cellphone charges: CBC:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cellphone-bill-shock-crtc-wireless-code-1.3988211
3
A $5,000 Bell bill? Parents struggle with runaway wireless charges: CBC:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/parents-wireless-charges-phone-1.5077272
4
The Wireless Code, simplified: Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission:
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/mobile/codesimpl.htm
5
Bill 60: An Act to amend the Consumer Protection Act and other legislative provisions: National
Assembly of Quebec:
http://www2.publicationsduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/dynamicSearch/telecharge.php?type=5&file=2009C51A.P
DF
6
Fairer Cellphone Rules for Manitobans: Government of Manitoba:
https://www.gov.mb.ca/justice/cp/cpo/info/cellphonelaws.html
7
Distance Service Contracts: Government of Newfoundland and Labrador:
https://www.servicenl.gov.nl.ca/consumer/consumer_affairs/distance_service_contracts.html
OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

Wireless code came into place, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently scrapped the Ontario
Wireless Services Agreements Act with the passage of the unpopular Bill 66.
The existing pieces of legislation in other provinces to protect cell phone users can be used as a
useful point of reference for what additional customer protections the B.C. government could
provide to its constituents.
Business practices
Misleading sales practices in Canada have been well documented and sparked widespread
public outcry to the extent that it eventually forced the government to demand the CRTC
investigate8 these practices in detail. The results of the investigation9 were unsurprising, with the
CRTC finding that misleading and aggressive sales practices “occur to an unacceptable
degree”.
Forty percent of people who responded to the CRTC’s online survey reported having
experienced sales practices by telecommunications companies in Canada that they consider to
be aggressive or misleading. The leading cause of consumer frustration was the mismatch
between what consumers think they will get and what they actually receive.
This clearly highlights the need for cell phone providers to drastically improve their advertising
and sales standards to communicate their offerings to the customer in a clear and transparent
manner. This would ensure that the customer clearly understands what they are signing up for
and exactly how much it will cost them over the contract period.
Therefore, we recommend the B.C. government introduce provincial legislation that forces cell
phone providers to:
1. Advertise the full cost of a plan, including all extra fees the customer will have to
pay.
2. Clearly outline any restrictions or limitations related to a cell phone plan.
3. Clearly outline the length of a special or promotional price and the full price the
customer will have to pay once the special or promotional price ends.
Additionally, we recommend that the B.C. government force cell phone companies to clearly
define and restrict the use of advertising keywords, such as ‘unlimited’ or ‘5G’ to avoid
misleading customers about the actual nature of the service.

8

Ottawa orders CRTC to investigate reports of 'aggressive' telecom sales practices: CBC:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/crtc-telecom-sales-practices-investigation-1.4706260
9
CRTC acknowledges Big Telecom’s sales practices are problematic, but without any commitment for
next steps: OpenMedia:
https://openmedia.org/en/crtc-acknowledges-big-telecoms-sales-practices-are-problematic-without-any-co
mmitment-next-steps
OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

For instance, Bell and Rogers recently introduced more generous data plans advertised as
‘unlimited’ and ‘infinite’, respectively. However, this advertising wording is misleading as the
plans are not unlimited in reality. The data speeds are significantly throttled once a user
exceeds their data cap, significantly limiting what the user is able to do with their device. A truly
unlimited plan would not, in any way, have a data cap.
In the case of Rogers, once users go over their cap, they’ll be bumped from the 4G LTE to the
3G network, and throttled in speed down to 256 kbps.10 For comparison, the average speed11 on
Rogers’ 4G LTE network is 42mbps. This means users would be bumped to 0.5% of the
average speed they received before they hit their data cap. Thus, the quality of service after
users hit their data cap is simply incomparable.
These plans offering large buckets of data would be more accurately described as “no data
overage” plans, as in the case of Telus’ equivalent plan.12 Cell phone providers should be liable
for clearly disclosing exactly what speed customers will be throttled to once they have gone over
their data cap.
Similarly, AT&T in the United States rolled out a network confusingly labelled ‘5G Evolution’13 —
even though it wasn’t actually 5G — to market its newest 4G towers.14 This resulted Sprint suing
AT&T for false advertising.15
This kind of situation, where cell phone providers take advantage of the ‘5G’ connectivity hype
to overcharge and mislead customers with regards to the technology that they are actually using
could easily take place here. A solid preventative framework here will avoid misleading
advertising that could harm customers in the interest of Big Telecom’s profits.
Create strong enforcement mechanisms
As mentioned above, one of the most problematic aspects of the Wireless Code is its lack of
strong enforcement mechanisms and penalties to hold cell phone providers accountable.
Despite there being a federal complaints mechanism in place through the Commision for
Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS), a vast majority of customers remain
unaware of it, and it requires individuals to each file individually even to counter systemic
company-wide issues. Additionally, this tends to be a slow and difficult process, which requires
10

Rogers Introduces Infinite Wireless Plans With No Overage Charges: Rogers:
https://about.rogers.com/2019/06/12/rogers-introduces-infinite-wireless-data-plans-no-overage-charges/
11
CANADA Mobile Network Experience Report February 2019: Opensignal:
https://www.opensignal.com/reports/2019/02/canada/mobile-network-experience
12
Cell phone plans in Toronto ON: Whislte Out:
https://www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones/Search?minutes=-1&sms=-1&data=10000&simonly=true&supplier=
Bell,Telus,Rogers&tab=postpaid&includefeatured=false&enforcemaximumresultlimits=false&address=Tor
onto%2bON
13
AT&T declares itself ‘world leader’ in 5G despite 0 consumer devices: Venture Beat:
https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/06/att-declares-itself-world-leader-in-5g-despite-0-consumer-devices/
14
AT&T plans to swap LTE logo with ‘5G E’ on some 4G Android phones: Venture Beat:
https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/21/att-plans-to-swap-lte-logo-with-5g-e-on-some-4g-android-phones/
15
AT&T settles 5G E false advertising lawsuit with Sprint: CNET:
https://www.cnet.com/news/at-t-settles-5g-e-false-advertising-lawsuit-with-sprint/
OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

customers to first demonstrate that they were not able to resolve the issue with the company
directly.
Strong enforcement mechanisms are essential to ensure Big Telecom abides by consumer
protection guidelines and that customers have an efficient means to voice their complaints
about their cell phone providers and resolve them.
We recommend that the B.C. government:
1. Integrate the protections found in the CRTC’s Wireless Code of Conduct into the
B.C. Consumer Protection Act, and build additional protections, to give people in
B.C. a robust consumer rights framework.
a. The federal Wireless Code of Conduct should be seen as a floor, not a
ceiling. By both adopting the full Wireless Code, and addressing existing
gaps to build in additional protections, the B.C. government can establish
a robust world-class consumer rights framework for all B.C. residents
accessing telecommunications services. British Columbia has the chance
to set a standard that other provinces can follow.
2. Create an accessible and reliable complaints mechanism for customers.
a. This could take the form of an informational agency or service that
informs customers of their rights and how to enforce them, and/or an
awareness campaign of the complaint processes available to customers
both through the CCTS and the B.C. government.
3. Establish significant fines and penalties for companies that violate customer
rights.
a. Currently, the highest penalty for an infraction under the Wireless Code is
a compensation for the customer up to $5,000.16 For companies worth
billions, this small amount is not nearly sufficient to deter Big Telecom
from predatory practices.
4. Establish a full private right of action, including class action lawsuits, for any
violation of B.C.’s consumer protections.
a. Passing strong consumer protections isn’t enough – any meaningful
protections must have teeth. The best way to do this is to empower
ordinary citizens to bring their own lawsuits against companies that violate
their rights.
b. The establishment of a full private right of action will build on the existing
federal protections, and provide an effective new avenue for B.C.
residents to seek recourse when their rights are violated. It will also
provide a critical adjunct to governmental enforcement, and will decrease
the province’s need for new enforcement resources.

Cost and value

16

Complaints process explained: CCTS:
https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/for-consumers/complaints/complaints-process-explained/
OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

It is no secret that people in Canada keep paying some of the highest prices in the world17
compared to their international counterparts. This is hurting our economy, worsening the
affordability crisis, and deepening Canada’s digital divide.
The exorbitant cost of data in Canada has users strictly monitoring and limiting their usage to
avoid costly overage fees. While the average user in Canada is using a meagre 2 GB of data
per month, in countries like Finland the average user is using an abundant 14 GB per month.18
Yet Canada’s major telecoms are pocketing19 roughly $40 per Gigabyte whereas companies in
Finland are only pocketing $1.51 per Gigabyte. That means our telecoms are making 23 times
as much per Gigabyte as the telecoms in Finland, and 70 times as much20 as the telecoms in
India. These numbers speak for themselves.
The cost of mobile services is so high in Canada that it is not uncommon for visitors and
residents from foreign countries to retain their mobile services from back home, as it is cheaper
to pay for roaming fees than to get a mobile plan in Canada. The lack of mobile affordability has
even sparked a black market21 for cell phone plans as people find themselves desperate to find
a better deal.
Another important point to take into consideration is that for a lot of lower income people, mobile
phones are the only means22 to connect to the Internet. That demands a far more generous data
allowance to meet their needs than higher income individuals who also have access to
significantly more data on a wireline home Internet connection.
We are aware that cell phone pricing and affordability cannot be sufficiently addressed by the
provincial government alone. However, we ask that the B.C. government use its leverage and
the results of this consultation to both do everything that is within its power, as well as strongly
pressure the federal government take action on issues within federal jurisdiction to ensure that
everyone in Canada has access to reliable and affordable mobile services.

17

Media and Internet Concentration in Canada, 1984-2017: Canadian Media Concentration Research
Project:
http://www.cmcrp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Media-and-Internet-Concentration-in-Canada-1984%E
2%80%932017-01062019.pdf
18
Canada's Wireless Providers Make Most Revenue Per GB In The World: Study: Huffington Post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/01/29/wireless-prices-canada-world_a_23656279/
19
Canada's Wireless Providers Make Most Revenue Per GB In The World: Study: Huffington Post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/01/29/wireless-prices-canada-world_a_23656279/
20

Canada's Wireless Providers Make Most Revenue Per GB In The World: Study: Huffington Post:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/01/29/wireless-prices-canada-world_a_23656279/
21
Consumers turn to booming black market for cheap cellphone deals: CBC:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/black-market-cellphone-deals-1.3607245
22
Home Internet Is Becoming a Luxury for the Wealthy: OneZero:
https://onezero.medium.com/home-internet-is-becoming-a-luxury-for-the-wealthy-c7420b2b1548
OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

The timing for this attention on cell phone affordability is critical, as the CRTC is currently
reviewing the state of the wireless market in Canada, with an upcoming hearing in January of
2020. This review has great potential to open up the door to new providers known as Mobile
Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) that could inject much needed competition to the market.
MVNOs would lease unused spectrum from the national providers and resell services to
customers at a lower price. This is a common business model in other countries like the U.S.
and the U.K.
OpenMedia’s community involvement
As part of the government’s announcement of its plan to improve consumer protections for cell
phone users, OpenMedia launched an online petition highlighting the recommendations we
have made in this written submission and prompted our supporters to also take the
government’s official survey. Nearly 3,000 people in British Columbia endorsed our petition at
https://act.openmedia.org/bc-cell-plans​ calling on the government for improved customer
protections and transparency in the cell phone market. (See Appendix A for petition text and
exact number of signers.) We will be delivering this petition to you in person next week during
our stakeholder meeting.
Conclusion
Once again, we commend the B.C. government for its initiative to improve protections for cell
phone users. We believe that this effort can go a long way in making sure that British
Columbians are treated fairly by their cell phone providers and get the most value out of their
contracts.
We appreciate the opportunity to have our voices heard directly by your representatives and we
are looking forward to discussing the issue in more detail next week at our stakeholder meeting.
Please let us know if you have any questions that you would like us to address during that
meeting.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,

Marie Aspiazu
Campaigner and Communications Specialist, OpenMedia

OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136

 OpenMedia is a community-based organization that works to
keep the Internet open, affordable, and surveillance free.

Appendix A: Original petition text at ​https://act.openmedia.org/bc-cell-plans​ and
signatures number.
To the B.C. Government,
People in Canada pay some of the highest cell phone bills in the world and are often subject to
predatory contracts and misleading advertising. We call on the B.C. government to improve cell
phone customer protections by:
Increasing contract and billing transparency
●
●
●
●
●

Ensure cell phone contracts and bills are written in plain language that can be easily
understood by all users.
Clearly inform the customer of all the fees they will incur when purchasing or making
changes to a plan.
Separate the cost of the plan from the cost of the device in cell phone bills.
Eliminate cancellation fees for term contracts as long as the full cost of the device
has been paid off.
Limit contract length to a maximum of 2 years.

Improving advertising and sales standards
●
●
●
●

Advertise the full cost of a plan, including all extra fees.
Clearly outline any restrictions or limitations relating to a cell phone plan.
Clearly outline the length of a special or promotional price and the full price the
customer will have to pay once the promotional period ends.
Define the use of advertising keywords, such as ‘unlimited’ or ‘5G’ to prevent
misleading advertising.

Creating strong enforcement mechanisms
●
●
●

Create an accessible and reliable complaints mechanism for customers.
Establish significant fines and penalties for companies that violate customer rights.
Integrate consumer protections found in the CRTC’s Wireless Code of Conduct into
the B.C. Consumer Protection Act to give people in B.C. the ability to launch class
action lawsuits when companies violate customer rights.

Finally, we recognize that issues of cell phone affordability cannot be sufficiently addressed by
the provincial government alone. We urge the B.C. government to pressure the federal
government to take action to ensure everyone has access to affordable and reliable wireless
services.
2,972 Concerned Citizens

OpenMedia Engagement Network // P.O. Box 21674, 1424 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC, Canada V5L 5G3 // 1-844-891-5136