How to Lower Your Internet Bill in Canada
The average Canadian household pays $85 to $110 per month for internet. That is among the most expensive in the developed world. The good news? Most people can save $15 to $40 a month with a single phone call. Here is exactly how.
Let’s be honest: internet in Canada is expensive. The CRTC’s own data confirms it, and international comparisons consistently rank us among the priciest countries for broadband. But the reason most Canadians overpay is not because cheap plans don’t exist. It is because the system is designed to make you forget to ask for a better deal.
Promotional pricing expires silently, loyalty discounts vanish without warning, and equipment rental fees quietly inflate your bill. The January 2026 CCTS annual report confirmed the problem is getting worse: billing complaints hit a five year high, with incorrect charges and missing credits topping the list of issues for the third straight year.
This guide walks you through every strategy for reducing your internet bill, from a 10 minute phone call to a full provider switch. We will also cover your legal rights under the CRTC Internet Code, so you know exactly what your provider can and cannot do.
💰 How Much Could You Save?
Enter what you are currently paying and we will show you what you could realistically save with different strategies.
🔍 Step 1: Audit Your Current Bill
Before you pick up the phone or start comparing providers, you need to know exactly what you are paying for. Pull up your most recent internet bill (online account or paper statement) and work through this checklist. You might be surprised at what you find.
💡 Quick win: If your audit reveals an expired promotional rate and equipment rental, those two items alone could be adding $30 to $45 per month to your bill. That is $360 to $540 per year you can likely reduce with a single phone call.
📞 Step 2: How to Negotiate With Your ISP
Here is the thing most people don’t realize: ISPs expect you to call and negotiate. They have entire departments dedicated to it, called retention teams. Their job is to keep you from leaving, and they have discount codes that frontline agents simply cannot access. The key is getting transferred to them.
Before You Call
A little preparation makes a big difference. Spend 10 minutes on this before you dial:
- Know what competitors are charging. Check the websites of two or three ISPs that serve your address. Note their current promotional prices for a plan similar to yours. Screenshot them if you can.
- Know your own account history. How long have you been a customer? Do you pay on time? Have you experienced outages or speed issues? These are all leverage points.
- Decide on your target. A realistic goal is $10 to $30 off your monthly bill, or a return to your original promotional rate. Do not expect them to match a competitor’s brand new customer promo exactly, but getting close is realistic.
- Set aside 20 to 30 minutes. Hold times can be long, and you may need to be transferred once or twice. Be patient and stay calm throughout the call.
During the Call
The single most effective approach is to call to cancel your service. This is not a bluff, it is a strategy. When you say you want to cancel, you get routed to the retention department where the real deals live. Here is how the conversation typically flows:
- Call customer service and say you want to cancel. You will likely be transferred to a retention specialist. This is exactly where you want to be.
- Be friendly but clear. Explain that you’ve been reviewing your bill, you have found better offers elsewhere, and you are seriously considering switching. Mention the specific competitor and their price.
- Let them make the first offer. The retention agent will almost always offer you something: a discount, a free speed upgrade, or a credit. Listen to the full offer before responding.
- Counter if the offer is not enough. If their first offer doesn’t meet your target, say something like “I appreciate that, but [competitor] is offering [X] per month. Can you get closer to that?” Most agents have room to improve their first offer.
- Ask about loyalty credits specifically. Some ISPs have loyalty programs or credits that are only applied when requested. Ask: “Are there any loyalty credits or long-term customer discounts available on my account?”
- Get confirmation in writing. Before ending the call, ask for the new price, the duration of the discount, and a confirmation number. Check your online account within 24 hours to verify the changes appear.
⚠️ Important: Do not be rude. Retention agents deal with angry callers all day. Being polite, patient, and clear about what you want dramatically increases your odds of getting a good deal. Think of it as a friendly negotiation, not a confrontation.
What If They Say No?
It happens. If the first agent cannot or will not help, you have a few options. You can politely end the call and try again another day with a different agent, as offers genuinely vary from person to person. You can ask to speak with a supervisor, who may have more authority. Or, if you truly have a competitive offer on the table, you can follow through and actually switch providers. Sometimes the best negotiation is a genuine willingness to walk away.
📝 Step 3: Build Your Negotiation Script
Select your situation below and we will generate a ready to use phone script tailored to your scenario.
🔄 Step 4: Know When to Switch
Sometimes negotiation is not enough and switching providers is the smarter move. Here is when it makes sense to actually leave:
- A competitor offers fibre where you currently have cable or DSL. This is not just a price upgrade, it is a technology upgrade. If Bell, Telus, SaskTel, or a local fibre provider has rolled out fibre to your address, switching could improve both your speed and your price.
- Your ISP refuses to negotiate after multiple attempts. If retention won’t budge, take the competing offer. Loyalty only pays when it is reciprocated.
- A smaller ISP serves your area at a significantly lower price. Providers like TekSavvy, oxio, Start.ca, and Teksavvy run on the same physical network as the big three (they lease access through CRTC wholesale rules) but typically charge $10 to $25 less per month with no contracts.
- You are locked into a bundle you do not fully use. If you are paying for internet plus cable TV but only use Netflix and Disney+, dropping the bundle and going internet only (even at regular price) could save $30 to $60 per month.
💡 Switching is easier than you think. Under CRTC rules, you do not need to provide 30 days notice to cancel. Your new provider can handle the transfer on your behalf, so you don’t even need to call your old provider. And you cannot be charged cancellation fees if your contract term has ended. Read more in the Your Rights section below.
Stop Renting, Start Owning
One of the simplest ways to permanently reduce your bill is to buy your own modem and router instead of renting from your ISP. Most Canadians pay $10 to $15 per month to rent equipment that they could purchase outright for $100 to $200. That means the equipment pays for itself in roughly 8 to 14 months, and every month after that is pure savings.
Before buying, confirm with your ISP which modem models are compatible with their network. Most major ISPs publish a list of approved third party modems on their support pages. For Wi-Fi routers, any standalone router will work, but we recommend WiFi 6 or WiFi 6E models for modern households. Our WiFi 6 guide covers what to look for.
⚖️ Your Rights Under the CRTC Internet Code
The CRTC’s Internet Code has been in effect since January 2020 and applies to every major Canadian ISP, including Bell, Rogers, Telus, SaskTel, Cogeco, Eastlink, Vidéotron, and Northwestel. It gives you several important protections that most Canadians don’t know about. Knowing these rights gives you real power in any negotiation.
Key Rights You Should Know
- Maximum 24-month contracts. No ISP can lock you into a contract longer than two years. Early cancellation fees can only apply within that 24-month window and must be prorated, meaning they decrease every month.
- 90-day expiry notice. Your ISP must notify you at least 90 days before your contract ends, including what your new rate will be and a reminder that you can switch providers or cancel without penalty.
- 60-day notice for price changes. If your ISP wants to change a key contract term (like your monthly price), they must give you at least 60 days written notice before it takes effect.
- No 30-day cancellation notice required. You can cancel your service immediately. Your ISP must stop billing you as soon as the cancellation takes effect, and refund any prepaid days on a prorated basis.
- Clear, plain-language contracts. Your ISP must provide all contract terms in writing, in plain language. You can request a copy of your full contract at any time, free of charge.
- Pro-rated refunds on cancellation. If you cancel partway through a billing cycle, your ISP must refund the unused portion.
🔄 Coming in 2026: The CRTC is actively working on a major Consumer Protection Action Plan that will merge the Internet Code, Wireless Code, and other codes into a single unified set of rules. Upcoming changes include new protections against “bill shock” when promotions expire, barriers to switching being removed, standardized plan labels so you can easily compare ISPs, and new outage notification rules. Several of these decisions are expected in the first half of 2026.
🛡️ When to File a CCTS Complaint
If you have tried negotiating with your ISP and they are not honoring their commitments, the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS) is your next step. The CCTS is a free, independent organization that resolves disputes between Canadians and their telecom providers. It is not a government agency, but it has real teeth, and ISPs take CCTS complaints seriously because they are required to respond.
When to use the CCTS:
- Your ISP charged you incorrectly and refuses to fix it after you have contacted them directly.
- Your ISP changed your contract terms without proper notice.
- You were promised a specific price or promotion that was not honored.
- You were charged cancellation fees that you believe violate the Internet Code.
- Your ISP failed to deliver the speeds or service quality outlined in your agreement.
The process is straightforward: you file a complaint online at ccts-cprst.ca, the CCTS contacts your ISP on your behalf, and in most cases, the issue gets resolved within 30 days. According to the 2025 annual report, the CCTS resolved 86% of complaints that made it through their process.
⚠️ Good to know: Only 7% of people who filed a complaint said their ISP told them about the CCTS, which is down from 10% the previous year. ISPs are supposed to inform you about the CCTS when they cannot resolve your issue directly. If they did not, that is itself a potential code violation. You do not need to give your ISP multiple chances before filing. The CRTC recommends contacting your provider first, but you can file with the CCTS at any point after an initial attempt.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Most Canadians who call their ISP’s retention department save between $10 and $30 per month. If your promotional rate expired and you have been quietly paying full price, the savings can be even higher, often $25 to $40 per month. That works out to $120 to $480 per year from a single phone call.
At minimum, review your bill once a year. The best time to call is one to two months before your promotional rate expires (your ISP is required to notify you 90 days in advance under the Internet Code). Many seasoned negotiators call every 12 months like clockwork.
Yes, but they must provide 60 days written notice for changes to key contract terms, which includes price. If you are on a fixed-term agreement with a price guarantee, they generally cannot raise the guaranteed portion. However, some ISPs structure contracts so that only part of the price is guaranteed, leaving room for fees or surcharges to increase. Always read the fine print.
Usually not. Under CRTC rules, your new provider can coordinate the transfer so that your old service ends and your new service begins on the same day. If both services use the same physical infrastructure (for example, switching between two cable resellers), the transition is often seamless. For fibre installations that require a technician visit, there may be a brief gap of a few hours. Ask your new provider about timing when you sign up.
In many cases, yes. Smaller ISPs lease access to the same physical networks owned by Bell, Rogers, and Telus through CRTC-mandated wholesale access rules. So the actual internet connection and speed are identical. What differs is price (typically $10 to $25 less per month), contract flexibility (most smaller ISPs offer month-to-month), and customer service style (usually more responsive, though with smaller support teams). The tradeoff is that some smaller ISPs do not offer bundles, on-site technician support may take longer to schedule, and promotional pricing is less aggressive since their everyday prices are already lower.
Limited competition makes negotiation harder but not impossible. You can still call retention and mention that you are considering Starlink (which is available at almost every address in Canada) as an alternative. Even in areas with limited wired competition, the arrival of Starlink has given ISPs a reason to offer better deals to keep rural customers. For more information on satellite alternatives, check out our Starlink hub.
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About This Guide
Written and fact-checked by the InternetAdvice.ca editorial team. Complaint statistics reference the CCTS 2024–25 Annual Report (January 2026). CRTC Internet Code provisions verified against current CRTC publications. Average pricing based on published ISP rates and CRTC Communications Monitoring Report data. We have no affiliate relationships with any ISP mentioned in this article. Last updated February 2026.