It shouldn’t be this hard to call your carrier

The last few years in Canadian telecom have seen lots of growth. Growing wait times, increasing barriers to customer service, and a rising tide of frustration among Canadians stuck with a broken system.

I spend a lot of time monitoring the telecom industry, and I see it everywhere from my inbox to my social feeds and beyond. Canadians constantly reach out to me about problems they have with their telecoms.

Every day, there are new social media posts from people who are pissed off by the lack of customer service. Here are four I found just today (1, 2, 3, 4) and there are many more. Hell, even professional basketball players can’t escape it!

There’s constant media coverage of the problems facing Canadians — just this week, the Toronto Star detailed a case where some customers battled with Rogers for four days to cancel their service because they were moving.

And while Canadians struggle to get hold of customer service reps — often being told calls can’t be taken due to high call volumes — the carriers continue to cut staff. Rogers gutted customer service roles in July, Bell cut jobs in June, and Telus offered buyouts to hundreds of employees in January.

It’s not just frustrated customers making noise. The data shows rising complaints. The Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS) shared a mid-year report in April detailing a spike in telecom complaints between Aug. 1 2025, and Jan. 31, 2026. Rogers and Fido saw the largest spikes, with wireless complaints accounting for over half of all complaints in that time period.

Further, The Star cited CCTS data highlighting a 65 per cent increase in cancellation complaints across Canada between 2022 and 2025.

Part of it is the industry’s insistence on having customers call to cancel, which the telecoms claim is essential for security and anti-fraud purposes. However, it’s clear to anyone who’s tried to call a Canadian carrier that the system also serves as a way to discourage cancellations by throwing up constant barriers. Who has time to waste spending hours and hours on hold and arguing with service reps?

But while things suck now — and are likely to get worse — there is a dim light at the end of the tunnel. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has new rules coming in April 2027 that will force telcos to give customers alternate ways to modify or cancel internet and wireless services beyond phone calls. It’s not a click-to-cancel rule, but it will hopefully ease some of the burden by allowing Canadians to easily make modifications to their services without having to spend hours on hold.

Of course, the carriers haven’t shown a willingness to comply with new CRTC rules, so we’ll see what happens come 2027.

What to do when you have a problem

In the meantime, the best thing Canadians can do for their time (and sanity) is avoid having to call at all.

Some issues can be resolved without needing to place a call. Most carriers offer online tools for modifying services, such as changing wireless plans or add-ons. These tools are far from perfect, but it’s often worth starting there before subjecting yourself to a four-hour hold.

In a similar vein, some carriers offer chat services that can help resolve issues without a call. However, I’ve found these chat services are increasingly reliant on AI bots, which make them far less effective for actually resolving problems.

In many cases, the best option is to simply switch providers. New service providers can cancel services on behalf of customers when they switch. (For example, if you port your number to another carrier, the new carrier will cancel your old service on your behalf.)

Unfortunately, that option won’t work for everyone. (It might not be a great idea to cancel while you’re under contract, since it could land you with hefty cancellation fees.) Still, it can save a lot of time and headaches. That’s how I’ve handled my wireless services for years now, and it’s been great. If my carrier raises my bill, I don’t call in — I find a better deal and take my business elsewhere.

Finally, there’s the CCTS. If you have an issue and you can’t resolve it with your carrier, you can file a complaint with the CCTS. You can learn more about the process and how it works on the CCTS website. There are some limitations, but over the years I’ve seen many success stories from people who were able to get their problems resolved through the CCTS.