Cogeco to bring back overage fees as of May 1

Cogeco Inc. will again start charging overage fees to its home internet customers who exceed their data limits as of Friday, with the company instead focusing on other measures it considers to “be more essential” to its customers. It’s the first internet service provider to confirm its suspension of data overage charges will end. A Cogeco spokesperson told The Wire Report that its suspension of data overage charges — introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Mar. 20 — would end on Thursday as it prioritized other temporary measures. “We have decided to focus on maintaining other measures which we consider to be more essential to our customers at this stage,” the spokesperson said in an email. Those other measures include the suspension of late payment fees, an assurance no customers will be disconnected for non-payment, as well as a temporary suspension of a rate increase originally planned for May 1. More than 75 per cent of Cogeco’s home internet customers already have unlimited data plans, while the spokesperson said those with limited packages are being migrated to higher speed plans at no additional cost as part of its speed boost program. “We are making adjustments as the situation evolves as it is important to ensure the sustainability of our business operations and to provide the best quality service for our customers,” the spokesperson said. BCE Inc.’s Northwestel announced a series of relief measures after the CRTC in March approved its tariff application, which means the suspension of overage fees for its cable and fibre-to-the-premises customers until April 30, while customers in satellite-served communities had their monthly usage limits increase by either 50 or 100 per cent, depending on the particular community. Northwestel’s terrestrial DSL customers received an additional 100 GB of monthly data for both March and April. The CRTC again approved a tariff application from the company on April 24, to extend the waiving of overage fees for FTTP and cable customers, as well as the extra 100 GB of data for terrestrial DSL customers, until May 31. The company did not respond to numerous requests for comment from The Wire Report about the future of its measures. Northwestel is the only internet service provider whose rates are regulated. Most internet service providers who had announced the suspension of overage fees until April 30 have announced some form of further extension. Bell, Telus Corp., Rogers Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. all announced this month that they would not charge overages until at least June 30, while Teksavvy Solutions Inc. confirmed to The Wire Report it had extended the suspension until May 31, instead of April 30. Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp and Xplornet Communications Inc. both set end dates of May 31 when they announced the suspension of overage fees in March. Smaller Ontario telecoms Execulink Telecom and Distributel Communications Ltd.’s suspension of overage fees are scheduled to end on June 30 and June 15, respectively, while a spokesperson for Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink told The Wire Report that the suspension of overage fees remained in place until June 30. A number of providers, including Shaw Communications Inc., only offer unlimited home internet plans, so do not charge overage fees. OpenMedia executive director Laura Tribe said in a phone interview that the suspension of data overage charges was welcome, but waiving wireless overages was a better way to help Canadians, particularly in rural areas, who didn’t have enough data or bandwidth as part of their home internet packages and were forced to rely on their cellphones to work or attend school from home. No Canadian provider has yet announced the suspension of data overages for their wireless service. “Anyone who is in a rural area reliant on satellite, even the unlimited plans are being throttled, so you can use as much data as you want but it’s just not going to be at a functional speed, or you’re just paying overage fees because you don’t have an unlimited plan,” Tribe said. “But we’re also hearing from people who are on DSL connections in rural areas where the latency is so bad that it can’t handle things like video calls.” “We think that the greatest thing we can do for connectivity and keeping people connected right now is making sure that whatever devices people have, they have as much access to the internet as they need. And knowing that data fees are so punitive on cell phones we really think that that’s the greatest impact for people who are marginalised right now,” Tribe said. As well as suspending overage fees, telecoms have responded to the pandemic in various ways, including by suspending overseas roaming charges, switching to home installations, promising customers won’t be disconnected, closing retail stores and switching home internet customers to higher speeds. Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) general counsel John Lawford said in a phone interview that he hoped the pandemic had accelerated the demise of overage fees for home internet usage, dubbing them “clearly an artificial measure.” Lawford said he expected providers would shift towards only offering unlimited plans in the near future, but was disappointed the CRTC or ISED had not led an industry wide response to the pandemic, particularly around the phasing out of overage fees. “I would have wanted the CRTC to do a proceeding that would make them all do that, have a standard change in their offerings in light of the pandemic for as long as it lasts,” Lawford said. “Just like how we’ve got all the provinces deciding when they’re going to open up, we’re going to have all the telcos deciding when they’re going to remove measures and there’s going to be a lot of confusion and consumer anger.” Update: The piece has been updated to note that the CRTC approved a tariff notice from Northwestel to extend some of its measures until May 31. — With reporting by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Cogeco to bring back overage fees as of May 1

News | April 30, 2020

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