Telecoms end overage fees suspension

Major Canadian telecoms have ended one of their major relief measures for Canadians who suddenly shifted to working from home due to COVID-19, with the usage of home internet customers on capped data plans again being tracked as of July 1. Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc., Quebecor Inc. all confirmed to The Wire Report that additional usage fees would apply as of Wednesday. The companies all extended the overage suspension until June 30 in April, after initially announcing it as the virus hit Canada in mid-March. Other internet service providers that had previously extended the overage fees suspensions until June 30 -- TekSavvy Solutions Inc., Bell-owned Northwestel, and Ontario-based Execulink Telecom -- also resumed tracking usage as of July 1. Telus Corp. spokesperson Richard Gilhooley did not explicitly answer whether the company had ceased the suspension of overage fees, but said in an email that Telus had taken steps to ensure an easy transition to unlimited for the minority of customers who were still on capped plans, so they could "continue to work, learn and play at home without having to worry about overages." Xplornet Communications Inc. and Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink, who had both extended the fee suspension until June 30, did not respond by deadline, but all references to the relief measure no longer featured on their websites. An Execulink statement circulated to customers said the decision was made as “the province begins to reopen and many start to move back into the workforce.” Asked what had prompted the resumption of overage fees, a Rogers spokesperson said in an email that the company is “committed to supporting our customers and all Canadians as we get through the next phase of COVID-19 together. That includes a series of initiatives first announced in March, and then extended until June 30 to support our customers.” Public Interest Advocacy Centre general counsel John Lawford said it was “not fair” for telecoms to resume charging overage fees while the majority of Canadians continued to work and learn from home, and questioned whether it would lead to workers asking their employers to pay overage fees charged as a result of working from home, or the cost of upgrading their internet plan. Lawford said overage fees should remain suspended until at least the end of September, and again urged the CRTC to lead an industry-wide response to the pandemic. “I would expect the calculations the companies made was ‘no one will notice, it was Canada Day and by the time this becomes an issue for people it will be one to two months down the road when they get their first overage bill, we’ve got a free month to bill them,” Lawford said. Lawford said most references to flexible payment plans and disconnection freezes had also vanished from telecom websites, which he said raised a question of whether companies would be “aggressive” in disconnecting customers who had racked up big overage bills and were unable to pay. “Even if they aren’t disconnecting, arrears and interest charges will probably go up,” Lawford said. “It’s a little disaster waiting to happen. How we can stop it and who’s going to have the wherewithal to get political motion or CRTC action on this, I don’t know.” Cogeco Inc. was the first Canadian telecom to resume charging overage fees on May 1, while Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. followed suit on June 9. Distributel Communications Ltd. had also been set to resume charging overage fees as of June 15, but announced in May that it had instead eliminated overage fees entirely, with CEO Matt Stein saying customers’ needs had changed “for the long term.” -- With reporting by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Telecoms end overage fees suspension

News | July 2, 2020

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Telecoms end overage fees suspension

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