The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has implemented new rules to make it easier for people to switch or cancel their phone plans.
Essentially, these new rules from the CRTC will ensure that customers can change or cancel their internet and cellphone plans through an app, online, or by email. However, the rules don’t come into effect until April 26, 2027.
As mentioned in previous reports, these new rules result from a public consultation focusing on how service providers could offer Canadians more ways to change their internet and mobile plans.
The public consultation also led to the introduction of new notification rules centred around the ending of promotions or plans, and roaming charges.
It is worth pointing out, though, that while many providers already offer online and app tools that allow customers to change plans, cancelling plans isn’t the easiest process. Currently, the easiest way to cancel your phone service is to move to a new provider, which will handle the cancellation for you as part of porting your number from your old provider. Otherwise, most providers require customers to call in to cancel, a process that has grown increasingly frustrating as carriers lay off and outsource customer service roles.
The CRTC says these new rules are the third and final decision addressing the recent changes to the Telecommunications Act. In the coming months, the commission says it will continue to make it easier for consumers to shop for internet services by simplifying how plans are presented. The CRTC also says it will review its consumer protection codes in a future public consultation, with the goal of simplifying and consolidating them into a single code.
Update April 24, 2026, at 1:03 p.m. ET: Added additional details about when the rules come into effect.
