Answers to common privacy questions

To help you better understand our privacy practices and our commitment to safeguarding customer personal information, we have published a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) as a supplement to our Privacy Commitment.

The questions below have been asked by our customers, and we use specific examples to be clear and transparent about our collection, use and disclosure of customers' personal information.

We will continue to update this page as technology and customers’ interests evolve, and we will endeavour to promptly answer any additional questions you pose to us by phone or email. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our privacy practices.

Last updated April 2025

The types of information we collect from our customers generally fall into one of the following categories:

To establish and maintain a responsible commercial relationship with you and to provide ongoing service.

Here are some examples of what we mean by this:

When you apply for a service, we generally set up an account and collect information such as name, address, date of birth, preferred language, TELUS account number(s), any other authorized users, unique account security PIN(s) and email address
In order to confirm your identity and/or conduct a credit check, we may also ask for acceptable identification or identifying information
We also collect and use some personal information to confirm your identity when you contact us. For example, when you call us, we will ask to confirm some personal information to verify it's actually you and not someone else trying to access your account without authorization
If you use a TELUS mobile application (app) such as My TELUS or Optik TV, we collect information that is reasonably necessary to authenticate you and provide the service
If a feature in a TELUS app, such as the TELUS Smart Building app or Mobile Klinik Device Checkup app which is supported by TELUS, requires access to your location, camera, image and audio information, calendar, contacts, device ID including phone number, installed apps, app interactions or other information from your device to provide the services you have requested such as building management, arming/disarming alarm systems, or device diagnostics, you will be prompted with a notice to enable and/or disable the access to and sharing of this information. Data, such as location data, may be continuously collected in the background once you enable the app to provide the service you requested. By authorizing access to this data or continuing to use the app you agree to the use of your personal information as described in the notice
For billing purposes, we collect records of the services you use, such as telephone numbers, times, dates, and durations of incoming and outgoing cellular calls, data usage and billable home phone calls and movies. We also collect payment information to set up pre-authorized payments if you choose to do so
To assist you in understanding your bill, we also collect information about how the services or apps used on any of the devices on your account contribute to data usage
If you use any of our home services (i.e., Internet, TV, Smart Home Security, home phone), we collect your address and other relevant information in order to provide those services to your home

To understand your needs and preferences.

Here are some examples of what we mean by this:

We maintain a record of the products and services you receive from us or consume, and we may collect additional information about the usage levels and patterns associated with those products and services
Some of the data we collect or use for this purpose includes your wireless device information, such as telephone number, SIM card number, operating system, network type, device manufacturer, model and make, and IMEI serial number
We may also collect additional information to better meet your preferences, including details of the products and services you receive from us, such as your wireless device rate plan, or high-speed Internet rate plan
We have an automated system that analyzes your Optik TV viewing preferences in order to suggest shows or channels you may be interested in; for example, you may see on-screen suggestions in our Optik On Demand service, or may receive them directly from a customer service representative
We may collect or infer information about you or your preferences for particular products, services or lifestyle activities from information you provide us about yourself when you tell us your preferences, or when your usage activities indicate what your preferences are, or we may collect such information from other sources authorized to disclose it

To develop, enhance, market or provide products and services.

Here are some examples of what we mean by this:

From time to time, we may review and analyze your use of our products and services to help us provide better product recommendations and special offers that we think will interest you or the organization for which you work
We may examine your wireless usage patterns in order to recommend a new monthly plan that saves you money
We may analyze your use of our products and services to better understand your preferences, and to help us develop or enhance our products and services. This may include analysis of location data to provide relevant, new or enhanced products and services. For example, if you are roaming outside of the TELUS network with your wireless device, we may offer you or the organization for which you work a roaming package
We may note that you have a home phone and Internet services, and offer you or the organization for which you work a discount if you bundle them with a TV and/or a wireless service
We might recommend a new service or TELUS app that we think you or the organization for which you work will enjoy based on existing services with us or the apps you use

We note that our customers who do not wish to receive these types of recommendations or offers may choose to be removed from our marketing lists at any time

To manage and develop our business and operations.

Here are some examples of what we mean by this:

We may collect personal information to help us manage our day-to-day operations, and to manage our infrastructure, including securing it and planning for future growth
We analyze how many customers use our wireless sites at what times of the day to help us plan new infrastructure. We also look at records associated with text and multimedia messages - which includes the date and time of sent and received messages, but not the content itself, as well as the associated phone numbers and cell towers
We similarly analyze records associated with calls made on our cellular network, including location data (i.e., locations of the cell towers that handled the communications). This also helps us plan for future infrastructure investment
We may look at usage data on our high-speed Internet network to help us improve reliability and stability. We collect and use IP addresses and port numbers that our customers are assigned, have connected to, or attempted to connect to. This allows us to continue offering internet connectivity
We may use video surveillance to monitor and/or record the activity that occurs in and around TELUS stores, premises or infrastructure, including wireless sites. We may also use unmanned air vehicles (drones) to inspect our remote wireless or network sites (i.e., cell towers). This information is used to maintain our networks, or for security and investigation purposes to protect us from theft, vandalism or damage to our property, and, most importantly, to protect you and our team members
We may also use cameras mounted on ground vehicles to capture information on infrastructure in TELUS service areas. This information is used to plan, build and maintain our networks
We monitor activity on our networks to detect and prevent fraud to protect both our customers and our business
We record interactions, such as telephone calls or chats, to or from TELUS service representatives for quality assurance and training purposes; our systems may also conduct real-time analytics on such interactions to identify trends and patterns to help us serve you better. In some cases, we use conversational artificial intelligence (chatbots) to help you expedite your interactions with TELUS
We collect information about visits to our websites (such as
telus.com
) to optimize our TELUS web properties, and for security purposes

To meet legal and regulatory requirements.

Here are some examples of what we mean by this:

We may collect or preserve information in response to a court order, which may include collecting your wireless device location for specific purposes
There is certain information that we are required to collect, use and disclose as a regulated telecommunications company. For example, if a customer dials 911, we provide the customer's name, telephone number, and location information to the emergency agency. Another example would be to satisfy a request for information from the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) about a customer complaint and how it was resolved
We need to collect certain information to comply with statutory obligations, including our tax reporting obligations

Privacy risk management

A vital part of our commitment to you is to protect your privacy through ongoing, systematic identification of privacy risks so that those risks can be mitigated or avoided. We embrace the 7 foundational principles of Privacy by Design and strive to build privacy protections into our products and services from the outset; TELUS also uses a variety of risk identification tools to identify and assess privacy risk, including:

Privacy Impact Assessments / Data Impact Assessments / Algorithmic Impact Assessments
Security Risk Assessments / Threat Risk Assessments / Data Risk Assessments
Audits by our Internal Audit team
Privacy risk reviews of a business process
Investigation of a privacy complaint or inquiry

Securing your data

To learn more about our privacy risk identification tools, please read our

Privacy Management Program Framework

.

Moreover, we use industry-leading best practices and cutting edge technology to protect your information. Importantly, TELUS has a strong culture of privacy and security and all team members and contractors are trained on the importance of maintaining the privacy and security of our customers. To learn more about our commitment to security, please visit us at

.

Incident management

TELUS takes the privacy and security of our customers very seriously. In that regard, we have developed the TELUS Data Incident Readiness and Response Playbook designed to facilitate a coordinated and timely response to the detection, management and remediation of privacy incidents. We recognize that it is important to respond with a sense of urgency when an incident occurs involving personal information and to take decisive action to contain the incident and, where appropriate, to notify customers who are impacted, or our regulators, in a timely manner.

When an incident impacts our customers, we are committed to fully investigating it, mitigating risks arising from it, implementing safeguards designed to prevent it from happening again and, more generally, making it right with you, our customers. If and when an incident occurs that could impact you, putting you at risk of harm, we will contact you via phone, text or email, and depending on the type of incident, we will post information on a web page to keep you informed of any relevant updates as we work to remedy the incident.

Empowering our customers

We also believe that an important part of protecting your privacy is sharing with you best practices on what you can do to protect your own privacy and security. To learn more about:

recognizing phishing and spam
protecting your devices
protecting yourself from identity theft and fraud
surfing the internet safety
creating strong passwords

please visit our

Protecting Your Privacy page

.

TELUS Wise

At TELUS we believe in empowering all Canadians to stay safe in our digital world. Free-of-charge, TELUS Wise® offers interactive and informative workshops and content to help Canadians of all ages have a positive experience as digital citizens. Topics include protecting your online security, privacy, and reputation, rising above cyberbullying, and using technology responsibly. Visit

to learn more.

We take great care with what information we share, and why. There are circumstances where we share some personal information about our customers:

To facilitate and improve the provision of products and services to you.

Here are examples of what we mean by this. We may share personal information with:

a person seeking information as an agent of a customer, such as a customer's legal representative, or as an authorized user under their account, if we are satisfied that the person is authorized to receive the information;
other TELUS business units to help us serve our customers better and to provide them with services from different parts of our company;
other telecommunications companies for the efficient and cost-effective provision of telecommunications services, such as the information required to facilitate the porting of services between carriers or when settling roaming charges;
a company involved in supplying a customer with telecommunications or directory related services; for example, Yellow or White Page listings, when your home phone number is published in the directory.

To enable our service providers and partners to help us serve you better.

We may share information with our suppliers, agents or other organizations or individuals contracted to TELUS to perform services or functions on our behalf where they require the information to assist us in serving you. We strive to minimize the amount of personal information that we share with our service providers and partners; we share the information reasonably necessary to achieve the stated purpose, and require that it only be used for that purpose.

Examples of what we mean by service providers or partners include organizations that:

Conduct research on our behalf, such as customer satisfaction surveys;
Perform data processing on our behalf, such as printing customer statements;
Install equipment for services on our behalf at your home , such as Smart Home Security;
Administer special TELUS programs with us, such as a rewards program.

For credit-related purposes.

We may share personal information with credit bureaus:

to evaluate your creditworthiness;
for the purposes of monthly reporting on the status of your payment history with TELUS.

We may also share your personal information with collection agencies to collect an account if your account has been referred for collection.

When data crosses borders.

Personal information collected by TELUS may be stored and processed outside the jurisdiction where it was collected. In either case, the information is protected with appropriate security safeguards, but may be available to foreign government agencies under applicable law. In particular, your personal information may be stored in the cloud, which may include transfers of data outside of Canada. Where appropriate, we use de-identification and other means to protect and minimize the amount of personal information we transfer.

You should also note that while roaming outside of Canada, the storage, treatment and transfer of your personal information and data may be subject to laws or regulations different from those in Canada.

For emergency purposes.

We may share information with a public authority or agent of a public authority if, in the reasonable judgment of TELUS, it appears that there is imminent danger to the life, health or security of an individual which could be avoided or minimized by disclosure of the information.

Where required by law or applicable regulation.

We share customer personal information with law enforcement or other government agencies if we are required to do so to meet legal and regulatory requirements; for example, if TELUS is required to provide records to law enforcement in response to a valid court order.

TELUS will challenge information requests from the courts, a law enforcement agency or other government agency if we believe the query goes beyond what is lawful. For example, we will challenge any request or court order that we believe goes beyond what a judge is authorized to order under applicable legislation, such as the Criminal Code, and we will only release confidential customer information when we are satisfied it is appropriate to do so. When necessary, we will take an issue to court, as demonstrated by a challenge we launched in early 2014, to a court order that would have required TELUS to disclose to a law enforcement agency the names, addresses, phone numbers and billing information of more than 9,000 TELUS wireless customers who happened to be using their wireless devices in the vicinity of certain TELUS towers during specific periods of time. TELUS believed that the order was unnecessarily broad in scope, and therefore unlawful. The issue was resolved early in 2016 with the Ontario Superior Court ruling that the request was indeed unlawful. We were grateful that the ruling both focused on the protection of our customers’ privacy and provided greater clarity about how much information police can request about Canadians in “tower dump” cases.

Yes, TELUS may conduct data analytics using customer data for internal purposes including managing and developing our business and operations; understanding your needs and preferences; and to develop, enhance, market or provide products and services to you. For example, we might examine your wireless calling patterns to recommend a new monthly plan that saves you money, or analyze your Optik TV viewing preferences in order to suggest shows or channels you may be interested in; for example, you may see on-screen suggestions in our Optik On Demand service, or may receive them directly from a customer service representative.

TELUS may also analyze aggregated network information, such as records of communications sent and received by our customers on our networks, in order to manage and develop our business and operations. For example, understanding calling patterns to wireless sites over time helps us identify where network congestion will occur in the future and allows us to plan our infrastructure investment to serve you better.

TELUS may also provide de-identified and aggregated data sets to third parties in order to identify trends and patterns, and gain insights that can be used to better understand and solve complicated problems. While these insights may be shared with third parties such as municipalities, provincial or federal government departments or agencies, corporations and tourism bureaus, your personal information will not be shared. For example, TELUS may use large sets of de-identified and aggregated cell tower data to analyze traffic flow patterns, helping a municipality identify areas of congestion to help them plan more effective transit routes.

To learn more about how TELUS protects your privacy using de-identified and aggregated data, visit the

data analytics section

of our privacy site.

One of the choices we provide at TELUS is the opportunity for our mobility subscribers to opt-out of including their location information in de-identified form where the information or insights are intended to be disclosed to third parties to assist in research, planning, or product and service development, except where such sharing is required by law.

While apps differ in terms of their functionality, features, terms and conditions, some apps contain harmful software and/or request unnecessary personal information or data stored on your device such as your contacts, photos, location, app or browser activity and more. Here are some top tips that can help you protect your privacy when using mobile apps:

Only download apps from official app stores (Apple’s App Store, iTunes or Google Play), and be selective about which apps you download. Avoid downloading apps from untrusted sources; stick to apps created and managed by trusted, reputable companies.
When installing an app, review what other areas of your device the app is requesting permission to access. If the requested access should not be needed for the app to work, reconsider installing it. For example, be suspicious if a flashlight app is requesting access to your photos or contacts as this access should not be needed for the flashlight feature to work. At the very least, do not grant access to your contacts, camera, photos or location for an app that does not require them to function.
Always read the terms and conditions and privacy policies associated with third party apps so you understand what you are agreeing to in exchange for access to the app. While many apps are free, they may be costly in terms of the information you are sharing.
Review and adjust privacy and permission settings to control how your information is used and who is able to see it. Be sure to check privacy and permission settings periodically, not just when you download the app as they can change over time.
Promptly review and accept app updates when available as these updates often contain patches to known security or privacy vulnerabilities.
If you download an app and decide you no longer need it, deactivate your account (if applicable) and delete the app from your device. Note that deleting pre-installed apps that come with your phone may not be possible, however you may be able to delete them in your Phone Settings.

It is important to note that TELUS has no involvement with the third party apps you choose to download or with non-TELUS apps that come pre-installed on your mobile device or tablet. To learn more, please visit our

Protecting Your Privacy page

.

Questions?

We encourage you to let us know if you have questions or concerns about your privacy. You may contact the TELUS Privacy Request Centre at 1-800-567-0000 or email us at

[email protected]

.

Koodo customers can contact the Koodo Privacy Request Centre at 1-855-525-6636 or send an email to

[email protected]

.

Public Mobile customers can contact the Public Mobile Privacy Request Centre by email at

[email protected]

.

Helpful resources

National Do Not Call List

Learn more about your choice to receive telemarketing calls.

Go to the Do Not Call List

TELUS Security

We are committed to providing our customers with a secure experience.

Go to TELUS security

TELUS Wise

Learn more about protecting your online privacy and using technology responsibly.

Visit TELUS Wise