Cancellations with riders

Everyone with a three-year wireless contract will be able to break their agreement as of Wednesday without the hefty cancellation fees often mandated by carriers thanks to new regulations.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s wireless code took effect on Dec. 2, 2013, but will apply to all wireless contracts signed as of June 3, 2013.

Canada’s wireless carriers attempted to prevent the code from applying to people with three-year wireless contracts that would not have expired by June 3. The carriers lost a Federal Court appeal in May when the court ruled that the CRTC can make the code applicable to those contracts even if it interferes with the rights of mobile carriers.

While all customers will be able to walk away from their three-year contracts as of Wednesday regardless of when they expire, some will still have to pay a small cancellation fee if they choose to do so.

“Most customers on three-year contracts will not be required to pay cancellation fees,” the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Howard Maker said in a statement. “And, if they do, the amount they will have to pay has been limited by the code.”

People with three-year contracts that have lasted more than two years can cancel their plans without paying any cancellation fees, according to CCTS. This applies to anyone who signed a three-year contract before June 3, 2013.

However,  who started their contract between June 3 and Dec. 2, 2013, can cancel their contracts. But they will have to pay at most $50 to do so. The carrier will calculate 10 per cent of “the minimum monthly charge for the remaining months of the contract,” according to CCTS.