The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that interventions submitted to the CRTC by this week's deadline reveal two different futures for the rules best known for eliminating three-year contracts. The Post's Emily Jackson writes that one vision has the CRTC easing up on regulations to give the big telcos more freedom and one that introduces new rules to give consumers more protection -- especially when it comes to data usage.
The code, launched in December, 2013, effectively killed the much-disliked three-year contracts by axing cancellation fees after 24 months and put a cap on charges for data overage and roaming at $50 and $100 per billing cycle. Conflicting parties generally agreed that the commission should clarify the rules when it comes to data notifications and data caps. One of the top consumer complaints is poor notification when data limits are exceeded on shared plans.
Wireless providers, however, advocated for only minor tweaks to the code. BCE and Rogers stressed the importance of not making rules too onerous. Bell suggested modifying the code to notify the account holder by e-mail when device users on a shared plan exceed data caps -- a boon to parents who suffer from overage charges.
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