How can I negotiate lower cell-phone, data, and internet bills?

Find a cheaper provider. Phone your current provider and say "hey, I want to change providers, Other Provider is offering [better deal]". They'll put you through to the "cancellations" (read: retentions) dept, who may match or beat the deal, or at least give you some incentive to stay. If not, actually go ahead with the switch.

Get internet from a company likehttp://teksavvy.com/, orhttp://www.start.ca. They lease dsl (Bell), and Cable (Rogers, Cogeco) lines from the incumbent carriers. There is an upfront cost to buy a modem, but the monthly charges are just over half of what the large companies charge. The customer service is fantastic as well.

You want http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merged-fido-retention-plans-376936/.

Thanks for the responses! I certainly have considered switching to Tek Savvy or Start, but I was worried about customer service issues, the same way reception is supposed to be crappier on koodoo and the budget cell phone companies, but I'll look into it!

Koodo are actually rather excellent. No reception problems here in Toronto's east side, and you can change your plan frequently without penalty. I'm also a TekSavvy user (and been for long enough that my customer number is low enough to cause CSRs to double-take) and their tech support is great. A 6GB data plan's going to be a bit ouchy in Canada no matter who you're with.

Like muddgirl says, keep very careful track of your usage, both voice and data, on your cell phone. How much you actually use, not how much you think you use. How much of that usage is necessary? How much of it is "nice to have" but expendable? Can that data be replaced with wi-fi usage, or waiting until you have access to a computer? Once you have those numbers, and it may take a month or two (or three) to get them, consider other options. Have you looked into prepaid services? I just got a smartphone (thanks to the question http://ask.metafilter.com/247934/But-its-state-of-the-artfor-2002), and am paying under $10 a month on Airvoice. Not sure what prepaid carriers are available in Canada, but Google should help out there.

Do some research on Ting. I'm planning to switch over later this year. It runs on Sprint's network.

Check with your employer. Mine has a deal with ATT ( in the US) for 27% off. Also check with CAA if you are a member.

You need to find a provider that is not one of the Big Three or one of their subsidiaries (like Fido). In Toronto, Wind offers service just as good as Fido, and their $30/month plan includes unlimited Ontario calling (in or out), unlimited texts and unlimited data. That would be $60 compared to the $126 you are paying now. My SO and I have Internet from Acanac for about $35-40/month; you can get similar rates from Tek Savvy. I have a great many tech savvy and heavy bandwidth user friends who have been perfectly happy with the speed and data limits (or lack thereof). We currently have no limits on our Acanac, and we watch hours of streaming video (eg Netflix) with perfect service.