Sep 18, 2026
Picture this: a Canadian household signs up for a “blazing-fast” internet plan advertised at 500 Mbps, only to watch videos buffer every evening right after dinner — exactly when the whole family is streaming, gaming or on a video call. A few months later, the bill jumps, because the sign-up discount quietly expired.
Both problems trace back to the same source: Internet ads that technically aren’t false, but don’t tell the whole story.
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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is trying to fix that. Starting in March 2027, internet providers will have to advertise the speeds Canadians can typically expect during the busiest hours of the day, not just a theoretical maximum. They’ll also have to spell out what the bill will look like once a promotional discount runs out.
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For anyone shopping for, or renegotiating, an internet plan, here’s what’s changing, why it matters for your budget and what to check in the meantime.
What exactly is changing?
Under the new rules, providers must show typical speeds measured between 7 pm and 11 pm on weekdays, the hours when networks are busiest and speeds are most likely to slow down. That replaces the long-standing practice of advertising only “up to” speeds, a ceiling many households never actually hit during peak use.
Providers will also have to state, upfront, the price a customer will pay once an introductory promotion ends. The CRTC wants this information delivered through a standardized label, an idea it has compared to nutrition labels on food packaging — a consistent format that lets shoppers compare products at a glance.
Some providers pushed back during consultations, arguing the label would be costly to produce and redundant with information already available. Consumer advocates argued the opposite: That it would cut through marketing language and make comparison shopping easier.
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Why the “up to” number never told the full story
For years, “up to” speeds have functioned more like a marketing ceiling than a real-world promise. A plan billed as “up to 300 Mbps” might genuinely hit that number under ideal conditions, but slow considerably once dinner-hour demand — video calls, gaming, several devices streaming at once — kicks in. Because the old ads didn’t have to reflect that reality, households had almost no way to know, before signing up, whether a plan could actually handle a full evening of use.
Part of a bigger consumer-protection push
This isn’t an isolated change. It follows the CRTC’s ban on activation, cancellation and plan-modification fees, which took effect in June 2026, along with new rules giving customers self-serve tools to adjust their plans and requiring providers to flag when a discount is about to expire. Taken together, the regulator’s message is consistent: Canadians should be able to see the true cost and performance of a service before, and after, they sign a contract.
What this means for your wallet right now
The new label doesn’t take effect until March 2027, so for now, the burden of comparison shopping still falls on the consumer. A few habits can close that gap immediately:
- Ask directly what the post-promotion price will be, in writing, before signing up
- Ask for typical evening speeds, not just the advertised maximum, especially if several people in the household use the internet at once
- Set a personal reminder a month before any known promotional period ends, since providers aren’t yet required to warn you in every case
- Compare the total 12- or 24-month cost across providers, not just the splashy first-month price
What to do before you switch or renew
If a plan is coming up for renewal, this is a good moment to call the provider and ask two questions: What will I pay once any current discount ends, and what speed can I expect between 7 pm and 11 pm on weeknights? Providers aren’t obligated to answer in a standardized format yet, but asking now can prevent a surprise later, and it puts pressure on providers to get ahead of the March 2027 deadline.
The CRTC’s new rules won’t make internet plans cheaper on their own, but they should make the numbers real. Until the rules kick in, treat every “up to” speed and promotional price the way you’d treat a teaser rate on a credit card — useful as a guide, but not the number to budget around. Ask for specifics, get them in writing and revisit your plan every time a promotion is set to expire.
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Amy Tokic is an SEO content editor for Money.ca. She holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Windsor. Amy is an award-winning author and has been writing professionally for 15 years, publishing articles in the lifestyle and health sectors.
