Consumer complaints about telecom services were up 17 per cent between August of 2024 and 2025, with about half of complaints related to cellphone service.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Telecom customer complaints have continued to rise among all major carriers, according to an industry watchdog report, in a year where consumers kept a close eye on spending and mobile carriers aimed to turn around years of sluggish profits.
Rogers Communications Inc. RCI-B-T topped the list for most complaints, though Telus Corp. T-T saw the greatest year-over-year increase, according to a report from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services, the independent organization that helps resolve disputes between telecom providers and customers.
Overall, complaints were up 17 per cent between August of 2024 and 2025, with about half of complaints related to cellphone service.
Billing issues made up the greatest proportion of complaints, with customers most frequently asking the CCTS to weigh in on concerns about incorrect monthly plan increases and missing credits or refunds.
“In an environment that’s rife with economic difficulties and increased cost of living, I think consumers are concerned about the prices they pay for things,” said CCTS commissioner Josée Bidal Thibault.
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Complaints about billing issues related to rental equipment were up 982 per cent, in part because of Rogers’s increase to customer TV set-top-box rental fees. Overall television service issues increased by 44 per cent.
Meanwhile, customers complained more often this year about their provider not honouring the terms of their contracts. Breach-of-contract issues were up 121 per cent, spanning concerns such as missing features, unexpected fees or agreed-upon terms appearing to have changed mid-contract.
Rogers and its associated brands, including Fido, Shaw Direct and Chatr Wireless, accounted for 38 per cent of all complaints, the greatest proportion of any national carrier. Complaints about the carrier were up 15 per cent in the year.
In a statement, Rogers spokesperson Zac Carreiro said the company has launched digital tools to help customers get answers more easily, including internal AI-enhanced features to help with support.
”We have millions of customer interactions every month and while only a small percentage result in a complaint, we know there’s more work to do,” he said.
Telus and its brands, including Koodo and Public Mobile, accounted for 27 per cent of all complaints, but had the greatest year-over-year increase of any carrier, up 38 per cent. This was largely driven by more complaints about Telus’s core brand, which were up 78 per cent. Breach-of-contract complaints for the company’s core brand increased 299 per cent in the year.
In a statement, Telus customer service senior vice-president Terry Wells said that in order to address customer concerns, the company is introducing a five-year price lock to certain plan categories, continuing to improve its cell network and using artificial intelligence to help frontline agents resolve customer issues.
“We acknowledge our complaint volumes increased this past year, and take full responsibility for these results, seizing every interaction as an opportunity to improve,” Mr. Wells said.
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BCE Inc.’s BCE-T Bell Canada and brands, which include Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile, represented 23 per cent of complaints – 1 per cent lower than last year – but saw its number of complaints rise by 15 per cent, with a higher number of complaints about missing refunds and credits than last year.
In a statement, Bell spokesperson Luc Levasseur said the company offers self-install options, a self-serve app and a virtual assistant to help with customer interactions.
“We are also leveraging AI to simplify complex customer challenges, resolve issues quickly and provide greater transparency when problems arise,” he said.
Quebecor Inc.’s QBR-B-T Videotron was added to the CCTS’s list of national carriers when it acquired Freedom Mobile in 2023. It made up 7 per cent of all complaints, and had 8 per cent more complaints than last year.
“We remain fully committed to a business model rooted in transparency and respect for the customer,” said Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and chief executive officer of Quebecor, in a press release.
During the year, the CCTS continued its public awareness campaign, which it said resulted in a 13-per-cent year-over-year increase in CCTS website traffic.
While the CCTS does not track data related to customer service complaints, Ms. Bidal Thibault said that the CCTS has found a general frustration with telecom customer support. This follows a year in which carriers rolled out chatbots for customer support, and some providers cut customer service staff roles or did not renew third-party contracts.
“What matters most to customers is whether they can reach a real person when they need to get clear information and have their issue resolved fairly,” Ms. Bidal Thibault said.
In recent years, telecom companies lowered prices and offered steep discounts to attract customers, with prices down 35 per cent in the past five years, according to the Canadian Telecommunications Association, a trade group that represents the sector.
As a result, telecoms have been posting declining ARPU – average revenue per user – related to mobile wireless plans in recent quarters, as many customers have repriced into cheaper plans. However, those companies have continued to raise certain prices, such as connection fees and roaming rates.