A new report by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) found that Canadians are not switching wireless or internet providers as often as they once did.
“Participants were more likely to make comparisons to the cost of cell phone service in other countries, and perceived the cost to be much higher in Canada than in other countries,” the report said. “As a result, this led to a perception by some that cell phone service costs are too high overall—that is, it isn’t only about ‘value for money’, it’s that the cost is too high in Canada.”
In addition to cost, Canadians’ top concerns were cell phone connectivity, billing, and customer service.
Canadians had similar concerns when it came to internet providers, citing four main reasons for low satisfaction: internet service performance, cost, billing, and customer service, the report said. About four out of five survey respondents gave internet service performance as the main reason for dissatisfaction.
“Issues included connection speed slowdowns or outages, connection speed is lower than advertised, connection speed is too slow for how the Internet is used in the household, connectivity is better in some parts of the house than others,” the report authors wrote.
One challenge that Canadians face when switching internet or mobile service providers is finding information on alternatives.
“Barriers or difficulties in getting information add friction to the search process, and increase the difficulty and time required for this process,” CRTC said. “The perceived level of difficulty and time can discourage some people from switching.”
Canadians also have difficulty understanding and comparing plans offered by different providers, the report found.
“Some participants said they did not initially understand that ‘unlimited data’ plans typically come with a speed cap.”
Another theme was a lack of competition in the Canadian telecommunications industry.
“A significant barrier to switching was not being able to identify an alternative provider that would be any better than their current provider in terms of service reliability,” the authors wrote.
“Some participants suggested the CRTC needs to do more to increase competition in the Internet and cell phone sectors.”
The report, released in September 2023, was created from information gathered from 19 focus groups by the Sage Research Corporation, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. It cost the CRTC $128,622.
CRTC’s research comes after a 2022 Privy Council poll that found Canadians wanted more from their internet service providers.
“It was strongly believed that high speed internet was a necessity for Canadians to be able to work, study and communicate effectively and needed to be viewed as a basic right going forward,” report authors wrote.
“Very few felt the internet in their area was fairly priced with many expressing the view that Canadians in general often paid far more for these services relative to those living in other jurisdictions.”
In May 2023, the CRTC announced a policy that it said would increase competitiveness in Canada.
The CRTC said it was setting the “final rules” for a 2021 policy to let regional cellphone providers compete as mobile virtual network operators across the country, sharing the networks of larger cellphone companies.
“With access to larger networks, regional competitors will be able to offer cellphone services in parts of Canada that they do not currently serve,” said the CRTC.
