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Though Canadians are surfing the internet more than ever, the price of these services is hurting them according to new research from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). High costs are pushing 20% of internet users to cut down their internet usage, though online activity has witnessed a sharp increase over the past half-decade.
The EKOS-commission survey found that roughly 33% of Canadians are satisfied with the cost of their home Internet connection and around the same amount are not happy with the speed and reliability of the experience. Respondents also flagged the lack of capacity as Canadian Internet providers are among the few in the OECD to resort to enforcing data caps.
OpenMedia campaigns director Josh Tabish said: “Broadband access is already viewed as an essential service by most Canadians. The fact that only one in three are satisfied with the cost and quality of this service is unfortunate, but not unsurprising since our incumbent Internet providers dominate more than 90% of the market. Study after study confirms we’re paying some of the highest prices in the world for middle of the road service.”
Tabish added: “We’ve made this very clear in our submissions to the CRTC on behalf of Canadians. OECD data confirms we rank 30th out of 34 countries on broadband affordability. When it comes to speed, the higher speed services in other countries are unavailable here. Why? As our Internet service market is essentially an oligopoly with insufficient choice.”
Another report from the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) revealed over 4500 telecom complaints from August 2015 to January 2016 along with 120 confirmed breaches of the Wireless Code. The top 3 issues were misleading information about terms of service, along with incorrect charges and inadequate service. Bell along with its subsidiary Virgin accounted for 42.4% of all complaints received by the CCTS.
