Hockey may be Canada’s national pastime, but my weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes that complaining about the major telephone and cable companies sometimes seems like it ranks a close second.  Delayed Canadian launches of the latest phones, new caps on Internet bandwidth, increased monthly subscription fees, and the entry of additional marketplace competitors all regularly attract significant media attention as consumers focus on their monthly Internet and wireless bills far more intensely than most other products and services.

Notwithstanding the public interest, the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services toils in relative anonymity.  Established in 2007, the CCTS came as part of a deregulation bargain initiated by then-Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, who deregulated many local telephone markets and established an industry-funded telecom complaints commissioner.

Read more ›