@bramptonian @tina9099
Depending on your contract and the device subsidy you pay it can still be advantageous to break the contract and pay the ECF (early cancellation fee). Usually you wouldn't want to do this unless you had less than 6 months left in your contract but as long as you didn't take an inducement at the beginning such as a gift card then you are only paying the remaining months of your device subsidy.
The Wireless Code of Canada states that once you pay any amount in a billing month towards your device subsidy it is considered a whole month paid. So if you ported out on the second day of your billing month you will pay a prorated amount of your plan amount and your device subsidy. If you're billed $90 per month equally split between your plan amount and your device subsidy it will be prorated at $3 per day multiplied by 2. Your prorated amount for that billing month will be $6. $1.50 for your plan and $1.50 for your device subsidy per day. Your ECF would be $45 × the months remaining in your contract.
For @tina9099 if you ported out on October 2nd for example and your contract ends at the end of April you would pay a prorated amount for October and 6 full months of your device subsidy. Based on the numbers in my example you would pay $6 for October for both your plan and device subsidy and $270 for your ECF. The additional savings by paying the ECF would be if you are paying less for a new plan amount at your new provider. If you are a low data user and only need the $25/1GB/30 days you would then save $20/30 days on your plan amount=$20×7=$140. Device subsidy ECF =$270 - $140=$130 to pay off your device.
A thorough examination of the conditions of your contract and the price of your device subsidy along with the price of your plan when compared to the plan you intend to activate at your new provider will determine whether or not it is worth breaking your contract and paying the ECF.
Of course if you discover you were never sent your contract then you can break your contract and when your provider tries to bill you for your ECF you can make a ccts complaint that you were never informed of the ECF for breaking your contract and the penalty your provider will pay is that your contract is canceled and your device subsidy is ECF is $0.
