Summary

  • From 10 March 2027, providers covered by Canada’s Internet Code must put typical speeds, latency and the full post-promotion price more clearly into offers and customer documents.
  • The CRTC has ordered structured digital files of Internet offers, but CISC still has to recommend a Canadian data structure and an implementation timeline. Disclosure and easy comparison may therefore arrive in separate steps.

A buyer can see a promotional price, an “up to” speed and a list of fees on one provider’s page, then find a different vocabulary on the next. Canada’s regulator has now defined what providers must promise at the point of sale. Whether independent tools can put those promises side by side depends on a second, unfinished layer: the format of the underlying offer data.

The CRTC’s Telecom Regulatory Policy 2026-238, issued on 10 September 2026, amends the Internet Code. Its consumer rules take effect on 10 March 2027. Providers subject to that Code must give customers typical download and upload speeds, latency ranges and clearer prices in pre-sale offers; the speeds and latency also become contract terms. The CRTC’s consumer explanation says providers will no longer be able to rely on “up to” claims alone.

“Typical” is a commitment, not a market average. Each provider chooses a realistic speed and may choose how geographically specific its offer is. The CRTC says the commitment must be delivered 100 per cent of the time outside peak hours and at least 95 per cent of the time during peak hours. Peak hours are fixed at 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. local time on weekdays. Latency must be stated in prescribed ranges. The regular monthly price after a discount ends must receive equal or greater prominence than the discounted price, and necessary equipment rental charges must be prominent too.

The measurement rule establishes a boundary as well as a benchmark. Speeds and latency are measured on a sample basis, from a probe at the customer’s modem to an off-network server connected to an Internet exchange point in a Canadian Tier 1 city. Providers choose the probe and must publish their method. The 2018 broadband-quality decision supplies the measurement framework’s foundation. An exchange-point test can support a comparison of the access provider’s commitment; it does not promise identical performance on every route to every application.

The second layer is structured data. Providers must make their Internet offers available on their websites in structured digital files, such as CSV, containing price, speed and latency information. The CRTC points to the US Federal Communications Commission’s data specification as a starting point, but has not adopted it for Canada. It directed the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) to recommend Canadian changes and an adoption timeline by 10 September 2027, for the Commission’s consideration. Providers must tell the CRTC where the files are posted within 30 days after adding them.

The CRTC declined to require one consumer-facing label, reasoning that clear and prominent information in offers could deliver the benefit without that extra burden. It expects structured files to help third parties build comparison tools, but it did not require a third party to build one. Nor do the new rules cover every provider: they apply to Internet service providers subject to the Internet Code, a group the CRTC says serves close to 90 per cent of retail fixed-Internet subscribers.

The ruling can make a provider’s promise easier to challenge. If a customer’s experience conflicts with the published commitment, the provider bears the burden of showing it delivered the speed it promised; the CCTS may award compensation, weighing how serious and frequent a slowdown was. Yet a promise, a measurement and a comparison tool remain distinct. March 2027 is the date for clearer offers. The later CISC work will determine whether the data beneath those offers can be compared consistently.

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