Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press CRTC chair Ian Scott appearing front of the Senate transport committee in Ottawa, Tues. Oct. 30, 2018.

Canada’s telecom regulator has unveiled a new set of rules for the country’s major internet providers, in an effort to reduce “bill shock” from unexpected overage fees and clamp down on misleading sales tactics. But critics say the CRTC’s new rules could prove to be ineffective, because they lack strong-enough penalties for internet providers who violate the code. Starting in January of next year, major internet service providers (ISPs) will have to abide by a code that requires them to provide “easy-to-understand” contracts, as well as a “critical information summary” that they must give potential customers when making an offer of internet service. Watch: Canadians’ top complaints about telecoms. Story continues below.

The rules will apply only to the 10 largest ISPs in the country, who together control 87 per cent of the market. They are: Bell Canada

Rogers Communications

TELUS

Cogeco

SaskTel

Videotron

Eastlink

Shaw Telecom

Xplornet

Northwestel ISPs will also have to alert customers when their usage reaches 75 per cent, 90 per cent and 100 per cent of their monthly usage limit. CRTC chair Ian Scott cast the new rules as accompaniment to earlier codes of conduct for wireless and TV providers. In public consultations, Scott said he heard from members of the public about “unclear agreements, unanticipated price increases and inconsistencies between offers and (customers’) bills. ... “With the new Internet Code, we are closing the gap and providing Canadians with protections for the Internet, wireless and TV services in their bundle.”

The rules come amid growing dissatisfaction among Canadians with internet services. The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS), which handles complaints about internet service, recorded a 56-per-cent increase in complaints about internet services in the second half of 2018. The most common complaints were “incorrect charge,” “non-disclosure of terms/misleading information about terms,” and “intermittent/inadequate quality of service.” In a report issued in January, the CRTC found that “misleading or aggressive retail sales practices” are widespread in Canada’s internet services market. “They occur to an unacceptable degree; they are harming Canadian consumers, in particular vulnerable Canadians; and they are a serious concern for the CRTC,” the report stated.

What we need are penalties strong enough to scare Big Telecom into behaving better. Laura Tribe, OpenMedia