“For the average consumer, this affects every one of us,” says Ahmed, a Rogers customer who outlined in his submission to the CRTC concerns that he was misled about price.
Over the course of the week, the CRTC is set to hear from 31 presenters. They range from telco customers such as Ahmed — scheduled to speak on Day 1 — to advocacy groups, researchers and the country’s three largest telecom service providers (Bell, Rogers and Telus).
Ahmed, 37, says that as a gay Muslim and social media activist, he has received death threats and has had to resort to worshipping online to protect his safety. He says the internet is not a luxury like cable TV, it’s crucial.
“For people on the margins, like the elderly, disabled or immigrants, we use it as a lifeline,” says Ahmed.
Telcos are allowed to raise internet, cable and home phone rates during a contract as long as they provide advance notice, but Ahmed says it’s unethical.
After filing a complaint with Rogers’ office of the president and the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), Rogers credited his bill.
At the hearing, Ahmed says he will urge the CRTC to require all telcos to offer fixed prices for internet contracts.
It’s all fodder for the Liberal minister responsible for telecommunications, Navdeep Bains, who is calling for the creation of a mandatory code of conduct to protect telecom consumers.
“We want to make sure there’s a clear code of conduct to protect consumers when it comes to wireless, internet and cable when they deal with their service provider,” Bains told Go Public.
The Wireless Code, created five years ago, makes it mandatory for cellphone prices to remain fixed during the duration of a contract, but price protections don’t exist for internet and cable services.
“We want to move forward in a manner that re-establishes that people trust and feel confident about their dealings with telecommunication providers,” said Bains.
One of Canada’s most vocal consumer advocacy groups, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, is also urging the creation of a code of conduct, which it called a sales practices code.
“The code would generally say, ‘We don’t want to have misleading sales, overly aggressive sales, or ones that are unsuitable for the customer,'” says PIAC executive director John Lawford.
Lawford says a sales practices code would go a long way toward restoring people’s trust in the telco industry.
Later this week, a dozen telecom service providers will participate in the CRTC’s public hearing.
are the result of deliberate “misleading” by telecom companies.
“It is not the CCTS’s role to investigate intent, nor would our current process allow it,” the submission states.