koodo mobile business plans

Search results for

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.

Koodo Mobile buyer's guide: Plans, perks, and more

Published on February 28, 2022

If you’re over the painful prices and inconvenient limits, it’s time to get away from Canada’s largest mobile networks. The country made a push to encourage competition among carriers in the late 2000s, and it’s working out so far. Koodo Mobile is one of the best carriers to come out of this push, and it’s easy to see why. Here are the best Koodo Mobile phones, plans, and so much more.

See also:  The best Canadian phone plans

No matter your reason for switching carriers, we’ve got you covered on this page. We’ll keep you updated on Koodo itself and even give you tips about some of the top competitors up North. Ready to “Choose Happy?” Let’s get to it.

Koodo Mobile at a glance

Telus launched Koodo Mobile back in 2008, though it wasn’t the first MVNO from Canada’s third-largest carrier. Koodo took over where Amp’d Mobile failed, targeting younger users with low-cost plans. The name Koodo comes from the ancient Greek word kudos. That may not help you choose a plan, but it’s always cool to know where a name comes from.

Koodo’s catchy name and reliance on the robust Telus network have helped it gain a nationwide presence. Koodo Mobile is also credited with influencing the plan structures of both Fido Mobile and Virgin Mobile Canada. Unfortunately, despite its reliance on Telus, Koodo still does not offer 5G access in December 2021. Of course, you can buy 5G-ready devices from Koodo, so it should only be a matter of time before this changes.

You can check out Koodo’s entire nationwide network and compare it with top competitors right here .

Post-paid Koodo Mobile plans

Koodo is best known for its Tab plans. They’re an easy way to get yourself connected when you buy a new device. You can get unlimited talk and text, as well as up to 15GB of data, and it all starts for as little as CA$30 per month. All plans include shock-free data, which means that Koodo will send you a handy heads-up whenever you get close to your data limit. You’ll also find that Koodo loves to run promos where you can get mountains of extra data at no additional cost.

Of course, the real reason you might want to pick a Tab plan is for the Tab itself. You can essentially pay your way to a new phone upgrade with an investment of up to CA$33 per month over 24 months. Lower Tab plans allow you to put up to CA$15 into your Tab, and you can use that money every time your upgrade rolls around.

Highlights:

• Invest in your next device with the Tab
• Get unlimited talk and text with up to 15GB of data
• Users who want to upgrade every two years

Bring your own device plans

If you already love your device but still want to join Koodo, bring it with you. You don’t have to worry about paying for a Tab; you’ll have to cover your monthly costs. Even better, Koodo doesn’t look down on you with less service or higher prices. Your options start at just CA$15 per month for 250MB of data and unlimited incoming texts, or you can spend a bit more to take limits off of your talk and text.

On the data side, options top out at 15GB, just like the Tab plans. Even though you’re not paying into your next device right away, the BYOD plan does mean that you can pop your SIM into a new device whenever you please.

• Save money and only pay for service
• Change phones whenever you want
• Users with the money to switch phones often

Prepaid Koodo Mobile plans

Koodo Mobile essentially offers several different versions of the same basic prepaid plan. Almost all options include unlimited Canada-wide talk and text. You can pretty much choose your data capacity, too, up to 5GB per month. Koodo will make the data deal just a little bit better with Top Up when you sign up right now. Top Up is just Koodo’s way of saying that you’re refilling your account.

• Bonus data with automatic Top Up
• Talk, text, and data at low prices
• Users who don’t want a post-paid plan

Booster add-ons

Koodo’s singular prepaid plan might not be perfect for your needs, and that’s where these Booster options come in. They offer easy, affordable ways to kick your talk, text, or data into high gear. If you need more data, you can grab as much as 1GB of Canada-wide connection for CA$30 per month. Smaller caps cost less, or you can add up to 500MB in the US for CA$20 per month.

If you’re looking for talk or text instead, the same CA$30 fee will get you a whopping 600 minutes on the phone. The same amount of money will also net you 900 minutes of long-distance dialing, which is just right for friends abroad. You can’t put CA$30 into text messages, but CA$20 gets you 1,000 roaming US text messages, which is more than enough for a vacation abroad.

Learn more and perfect your prepaid plan at the button below:

Which of Koodo Mobile’s plans is right for you?

If you’ve gone through all of Koodo Mobile’s plans, only one thing remains — choosing the right one for you. Unfortunately, we can’t say which one is the best as it varies by user. Your best way to save money is by bringing your own device, but the Tab plans are a great way to work towards a brand-new device every 24 months. Of the Tab options, the Tab Plus plan is the best way to hack the most money off of the price of your next device, paying out at up to $504 after 24 months.

On the prepaid side, your main decision depends on how much data you want. Most plans offer unlimited talk and text, but you’ll have to jump to the CA$30 per month plan if you want 500MB of data. Overall, the prepaid plans work if you stay on Wi-Fi most of the time, but you’ll want to turn to the Tab if you need lots of data.

Koodo Mobile vs the competition

If you’re still not sure whether Koodo is right for you, it might help to take a peek at the competition. In this case, that means a quick look at the top MVNOs from Bell, Rogers, and Shaw. We’ve set up comparisons against Fido Solutions, Virgin Mobile, and Freedom to help you choose.

Fido Solutions

While Fido sticks to simplified names, the general structure should feel familiar. After all, it did model its plans after Koodo’s options. In fact, the data caps are pretty much the same across the board. Most of the challenge comes down to which network you prefer and what you expect in customer service. Fido relies on the Rogers network for service, and it reaches 97% of all Canadians.

• Low prices, decent data caps
• Rogers’ large nationwide network

Virgin Mobile Canada

Owned by Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile takes a simple approach when it comes to plans. Everything is built for the millennial subscriber, right down to the MyBenefits and MyPeeps perks. MyBenefits allows you to rack up discounts and benefits on food, clothing, and more, while MyPeeps is all about you and your friends. You can set up multiple lines of service on the same bill, and you’ll get unlimited calling between them all.

• MyBenefits and MyPeeps perks
• Similar prices, slightly more extensive network

Freedom Mobile

Freedom is the home of the Big Gig Unlimited plan, and it’s one of the few carriers that tends to do its own thing. You’ll find much larger — and more expensive — data caps when you switch to Freedom, though the Freedom plan is a solid alternative. It is a bit lower on the data, but the talk and text should do nicely, and you can’t beat the prices.

Freedom Mobile may also be changing hands as part of Rogers’ purchase of Shaw Communications, but we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds.

• Huge data caps with the Big Gig Unlimited plan
• Savings on talk and text with the Freedom plan

Want a full-service Koodo Mobile alternative?

We’ve already compared Koodo Mobile to top MVNOs, but what if you’re looking for Canada’s top carriers? If you want even more options and coverage, then the Big Three might be your best bet. In this case, we’ve chosen Rogers, Bell, and Telus because each is the owner of one of our popular MVNO picks. Let’s see what each has to offer.

Rogers Wireless

Rogers is the way to go if you want service almost everywhere. It’s also the parent company to Fido Solutions. You can take advantage of Canada’s largest 5G network, and you can even get a free tablet for a two-year agreement. Even better, Rogers Infinite offers a large pool of sharable data at reasonable prices. You can save an extra CA$15 per line every time you add a device.

Bell Mobility

If you’re looking at Bell, the first thing you might notice is that it offers a ton of plans. You can go Unlimited, or you can choose to Connect Everything. There even are promotional plans on top of that. Depending on what you choose, you’ll either get unlimited access to Canada’s fastest 5G network, or you’ll get a nice pool of data to share between your accounts. Bell also offers a long list of connected device plans so you can connect your whole house to the internet.

Telus Mobility

The last competitor to consider is Telus Mobility. Like we mentioned with Koodo, it shares the same nationwide LTE network as Bell, so you at least know that you’re getting great service. All plans include unlimited talk and text, so it comes down to how much you want to share your data. If you go for either Peace of Mind or Peace of Mind Connect, you’re pretty much able to keep your data to yourself and your own devices. However, if you head for the Simple Share plan, you can split a pool between your family and friends.

What phones can you use on Koodo Mobile?

Most of Canada’s phone providers offer increasingly similar lists of devices, and Koodo is no exception. You can grab all of the latest flagships from Samsung, Apple, and Google. Koodo also carries a few TCL options like the 20 Pro 5G if you want something a little less mainstream.

See also:  The best phone deals

If you love your current phone and want to stick with a BYOD plan, we can’t blame you. As long as your phone is unlocked, add a plan and a free SIM card to your cart, and Koodo will do the rest. You’ll just have to make sure that your current device is compatible with Koodo Mobile’s bands. Here’s a quick table showing what you need:

You might like

Koodo Mobile Review – Is Koodo worth it in 2023?

The following is a review of Koodo Mobile based on my personal experience as a subscriber for almost 15 years (2009 to 2023).

Review summary

If you want one of the latest smartphones at the lowest upfront cost (sometimes as low as $0) and financed interest free over the course of 24 months, then Koodo is a good choice.

Your service is almost entirely self-managed through your online account (done-for-you customer service is available for a fee), so if you’re comfortable with other online self-serve services such as online banking, utilities, CRA my account, etc., then Koodo is a good fit.

As is the case for most mid-level and discount providers, customer service can be quite poor for any issues that fall outside of the capabilities of their online self-serve tools. Call wait times are long, but you can schedule a callback through their chatbot. However, they will charge you significant fees if they have to take any actions on your account on your behalf.

On February 16, 2022, Telus throttled the data speed on new Koodo plans to 100 Mbps, advertising them as “4G” instead of “4G LTE”, where they had not previously been throttled and capable of speeds of up to 250 Mbps. New customers are still connecting to the same 4G network, but the data speed is throttled. Existing customers will continue to receive unthrottled 4G data speeds, unless they change to a new Koodo plan. This is likely a step toward pushing customers towards their 5G offerings which are faster and much more expensive.

Koodo is worth it if:

• You want a brand new phone
• You want to pay it off over time
• 4G speed up to 100 Mbps meets your needs
• You frequently travel to the US
• You can manage your own account online

Koodo is probably NOT worth it if:

• You already own your own phone outright
• You want family plan discounts
• Customer Service
• Put new phone on the tab
• eSIM available
• Bring your plan with you roaming
• Includes call display, voicemail, call waiting and conference calling
• Long hold times for phone customer service
• No 5G access
• No unlimited data plans
• Loyalty is not valued
• Call forwarding costs extra

Koodo features

Koodo mobile coverage map and network.

Koodo uses Telus’ network, which is the largest 4G LTE network in Canada by a small margin over Bell since the two companies share the same network through a reciprocal network sharing agreement .

Network frequency bands

Koodo uses the following frequency bands:

• 4G LTE and LTE Advanced (LTE-a): 2100 MHz downlink and 1700 MHz uplink (AWS), 1900 MHz, 700 MHz, 850 MHz
• HSPA: 850 MHz and 1900 MHz (UMTS)

What is Koodo Mobile?

Launched in March 2008, Koodo Mobile is a mid-market mobile brand (MVNO) owned by Telus that offers postpaid and prepaid phone plans with 4G (up to 100 Mbps) and 3G (up to 3 Mbps) data speeds on the Telus network and wireless home phone services. It competes in the same market segment as Fido (Rogers) and Virgin Plus (Bell).

The brand name is a variation of the Ancient Greek word “ κῦδος ” (the source of the English word “ kudos “), meaning “praise, renown, glory” and more recently “acclaim for something well done”.

Koodo’s success in its first year with its simple plan lineup and lack of carrier-charged system access fees, prompted competitors to mimic their monthly plans. Fido made changes on November 4, 2008, and Virgin in 2010.

Koodo launched Canada-wide plans on July 21, 2011 and they were again mimicked by competing brands. Virgin initially offered long distance as a $10 add-on on September 7, 2011, but reduced this fee to $5 about a week later on September 16, and removed it altogether on October 4.

Koodo plans

All Koodo postpaid plans include:

• 4G data speed (throttled to 100 Mbps)
• Unlimited Canada-wide anytime minutes
• Unlimited messaging
• Call display
• Call waiting
• Conference calling

Additional data costs $13/100 MB.

New plans may only available to new customers

Koodo does not reward loyalty. Even though I’ve been a customer for years upon years, they won’t let you switch your plan to newer, better plans that are advertised to new customers Those plans are only available to new customers – giving their existing customers the short end of the stick.

New customers can get twice the data as existing customers. The only solution to this if you want this deal is to switch providers, and then switch back.

As stated on their website:

If you don’t see a particular plan you’re interested in, it’s likely because your current profile doesn’t qualify you, and you may be required to upgrade to a new phone on a Tab. The availability of rate plans depends on things like your Tab or any special promotions you received when you signed up.

Koodo’s “Tab” system reduces the upfront cost of getting a new phone by providing interest-free device financing. You can purchase a phone for $0 or low cost upfront and pay off the rest over the course of 24 months. It does require a credit check to qualify.

The total full retail price that Koodo charges for a new phone consists of 3 components, the upfront down payment, Tab and Tab Bonus:

• Upfront down payment: The portion of the phone’s full retail price at Koodo* that you must pay off up front.
• Tab: The next portion of the phone’s full retail price at Koodo* is paid off over the course of 24 months in equal monthly amounts. It is shown on your bill as a separate line item called the Tab charge and is subject to tax.
• Tab Bonus : The last portion of the phone’s full retail price at Koodo* that is ‘forgiven’ over time. The balance remaining decreases in equal monthly amounts over the course of 24 months. You do not actually have to pay the Tab Bonus off (it isn’t a line item on your bill) unless you cancel, upgrade or change to an ineligible rate plan before it reaches $0. In effect, the Tab Bonus is a cancellation fee that decreases slowly over the course of 2 years It was formerly called the Phone Credit, Activation Bonus, or Activation Credit.

The Koodo Tab Bonus acts as a form of lock-in to get you to stay with them for at least a period of 24 months while you pay off your phone and the Tab Bonus penalty reduces.

The full retail price of buying phone through Koodo is equal to the sum of the 3 components:

Full retail price = upfront down payment + total tab charges + Tab Bonus

The cost is typically slightly higher than if you were to buy the phone outright from the manufacturer. See example below.

If you cancel your service or if Koodo terminates your Service Agreement in accordance with the Service Terms, any Tab balance plus the Tab Bonus balance (subject to any applicable adjustments) becomes due and payable. All other charges owing to Koodo for use of the service will remain due upon the termination of this Agreement. The remaining Tab balance and Tab Bonus balance will be calculated based on an equal monthly reduction over a 24-month period.

Tab cost example

For example, at the time of writing, the MSRP of the Pixel 7 Pro costs $1,179 (plus HST) from the Google Store.

If you buy the phone through Koodo on a Tab Plus, the total cost is:

= $429 + $792 + $160

This is $42 (3.56%) more than if you had purchased the phone directly from the Google Store at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP):

And here are the tabs for the Pixel 6a:

Comparing the two phones on Tab Basic, the numbers work out as follows:

For the Pixel 6a, the Tab Bonus cancellation fee starts at 15.5% of the cost (MSRP) of the phone and reduces to 0% over the course of 24 months in equal amounts and does not actually make the phone any cheaper than buying it outright from Google. The only benefit is smoothing out the cost of the phone over time.

For the Pixel 7 Pro, the cancellation fee starts out at 13.1% of the cost (MSRP) of the phone and also reduces to 0% over the same duration, but the phone is actually 3.56% more expensive when purchased through Koodo compared to buying it outright from Google. The only benefit is smoothing out the cost of the phone over time.

These early cancellation penalties are steep and really psychologically lock you into a 2 year contract – the maximum allowed by the CRTC.

Koodo Mobile family plans

Koodo does not offer discounts or data sharing for adding family members to the same account. However, they make it easy to add additional lines to your account so you can managed multiple phone plans under one login and monthly bill.

Shock-Free Data

All plans include Shock-Free Data , which means that Koodo will send you a text message letting you know when you’ve reached 50%, 90%, and then 100% of your monthly data limit. At 100%, they pause your data and you can send a text back to buy more.

As per the CRTC’s Wireless Code, service providers must suspend data overage charges once they reach $50 within a single monthly billing cycle, unless the account holder or authorized user expressly consents to pay additional charges.

Pick Your Perk

• Rollover Data – This doesn’t work like you might think it does. Unlike at other providers such as Eastlink where your rolled over data gets used first during the next billing period, Koodo uses the rolled over data LAST – only after the regular plan data for that month has been used. It is probably the furthest thing from rollover, that can still be called rollover. The rolled over data is only kept for 1 month before it expires. It also isn’t accessible while roaming.
• Visual Voicemail – Listen to voicemail audio files in your phone app in any order without calling your voicemail inbox.
• Speed Boost – Telus limited data speed on new Koodo plans to 100 Mbps on February 16, 2022. Speed Boost bumps the limit up to 200 Mbps download speed, but the speed you get will depend on your device, location and network traffic.
• Unlimited Long Distance Pack – Unlimited calling to the U.S., China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Bangladesh and the U.K. from Canada.
• Unlimited International Texting – Unlimited send and receive texts from Canada.

I personally don’t find any of these perks to be worth their cost per month or the requirement to subscribe higher cost plans.

Koodo Mobile phones

If you want the latest and greatest, they’ve got it.

Koodo carries a wide range of phones, from the latest phones from Apple, Google, Motorola, TCL and Samsung, which at the time of writing, this was the iPhone 14, Plus, Pro and Pro Max, Samsung S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra and Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.

They also have affordable, mid-range phones available such as Pixel 6a, Samsung Galaxy S10, iPhone 11 and certified pre-owned phones at the time of writing.

Bringing your own device

You can bring your unlocked device to Koodo, all you’ll need is one of their SIM cards . Most carrier-unlocked 4G/HSPA phones will work on the Koodo network. They have a phone checking tool to verify compatibility.

Koodo add-ons

With Koodo’s Easy Roam add-on, you pay a flat fee per day to use your phone as if you were at home – using the same data, minutes, and texts included on your monthly plan. Phone calls to numbers in Canada and your destination country are included.

Once Easy Roam is enabled through self-serve, you’ll only be charged for the days you use minutes, texts or data while out of the country. You can leave your phone in airplane mode to avoid getting charged.

Maybe a little on the pricey side, with the prices increasing on March 8, 2023, I found Easy Roam to be very convenient and stress-free on a recent trip to Las Vegas and San Francisco as I could use my phone the way I would normally and didn’t have to worry about my usage. On days that I would have WiFi access most of the time, I turned on airplane mode to prevent the charge for that day. But be careful, if so much as a kilobyte of data is downloaded from Koodo, you’ll be charged the full daily rate.

Pay-per-use roaming rates are available, but are so expensive ($1.60/min, $10/50MB) to convince you that the daily Easy Roam rate is a comparatively good deal.

The transition from streaming wars to cable bundles 2.0 has begun.

Telus and Koodo customers can purchase “Canada’s first” bundle of the following streaming services for $25/mo:

• Netflix Premium

with any Koodo plan. This is 20% off based on the regular prices of Netflix Premium $20.99, Apple TV+ $5.99 and discovery+ $4.99.

You can use your existing streaming accounts by linking them to your Koodo or Telus account.

Self serve portal

Koodo provides a self-serve online portal. You’re able to manage your account and perform almost all the most common functions relating to your phone plan through their website, including: account activation, managing plans and add-ons, roaming, changing your personal or payment information and more.

Call quality

Volte and wifi calling.

VoLTE and WiFi calling are available on the Telus network. iPhone 6 or newer, Pixel 3 or newer, as well as recent Samsung Huawei, LG, Motorola, TCL phones are capable.

Testing with SpeedTest.net and Fast.com, Koodo’s 4G LTE data download speed was 82 to 91 Mbps. Note that since I haven’t changed my plan in years, the speed cap of 100 Mbps applied to new subscribers to Koodo Mobile’s 4G plans on February 16, 2022 does not apply as consumers on the company’s older 4G LTE plans do not have a speed limit. And yet, my speeds are still below 100 Mbps:

Customer service

If you need help, you can read through their help pages (which are pretty thorough in my experience), message the Koodo Assist chatbot for suggestions (not that helpful) or post your problem to the Koodo Community message board. If you’re still having trouble, they do still provide customer service over the phone, but will charge fees to do certain actions for you:

Their customer service representatives were reasonably helpful in the few times I’ve had to call over the years, but the wait times were long and having to pay for their just-okay help is kind of a punch in the gut – especially when, in my opinion, we were only calling because the self-serve website wasn’t working properly.

For activations and SIM cards, Koodo Mobile has its own retail stores (see their store locator ), sells its services through Telus stores, WOW! mobile boutique and Mobile Klinik and also allows third parties to sell and activate phones and plans: Best Buy , Loblaw Companies,  Walmart , and London Drugs stores in Canada provide Koodo products and services. However, a $50 activation fee applies to activations that are not done online.

Koodo’s pay-per-use rates and fees for calls, data and texts including long distance that fall outside of your plan.

Koodo Mobile alternatives

• Fido – a direct competitor owned by Rogers
• Virgin Plus – a direct competitor owned by Bell
• Freedom Mobile – the 4th most popular network in Canada (not one of the Big 3) with solid prices, but coverage outside of cities is lacking
• Public Mobile – a sibling brand and fellow Telus subsidiary and provider of discount bring-your-own-phone plans

Frequently Asked Questions

Which network operator owns koodo mobile.

Public Mobile is owned by Telus Corporation.

Is Koodo’s network coverage good?

Yes, Public Mobile customers connect to Telus’ network, which is the largest 4G network in Canada covering 99% of Canadians. Customers get good reception almost everywhere.

Does Koodo have 5G?

No, Koodo does not offer service on a 5G network. However, they do sell 5G-capable phones.

Can I tether my phone and create a hotspot?

Yes, you can tether your phone to create a mobile hotspot.

Can I port my number to or from Koodo?

Yes, you can transfer your current phone number to Koodo by letting them know during the sign up and activation process and giving them your number. They will handle the transfer by contacting your previous provider on your behalf.

To take your phone number with out when leaving Koodo, contact your new provider and let them know you want to transfer and they will handle the transfer by contacting your previous provider on your behalf.

How to sign up for Koodo?

• Go to their website .
• Shop for a phone plan or a phone + phone plan.
• Enter your personal information and payment method to buy a Koodo SIM card and create an account.
• Once you receive the phone and/or SIM card, insert the SIM into the phone and follow the instructions to activate.

Note: A credit check is required for all new postpaid plan customers, but not required for prepaid customers.

How to cancel Koodo?

As per the CRTC’s Wireless Code, you can cancel your monthly subscription at any time by notifying your service provider. To cancel, contact Koodo with the date you want the cancellation to be effective. Otherwise, cancellation takes effect on the day that the service provider receives notice of the cancellation.

To do so, schedule a call back using Koodo Assist or call 1-866-995-6636 or 1-855-205-2112 , Monday to Friday 9 AM to 9 PM and Saturday and Sunday 9 AM to 7 PM EST.

For postpaid plans, you’ll have to play any outstanding bills and charges on your account, including any Tab and Tab Bonus balances still owed.

Contact Koodo

To contact Koodo or get customer support:

• Store locator
• Phone: 1-866-995-6636 / 1-855-205-2112 , Monday to Friday 9 AM to 9 PM and Saturday and Sunday 9 AM to 7 PM or schedule a call back through Koodo Assist
• Chat: Koodo Assist
• Forums: Koodo Community
• Mailing Address: 60 St Clair Ave E, Suite 400 Toronto, ON M4T 1N5

Note: Fees may apply you may request of them which can be done through their self-serve portal. 

Customer reviews

Reviews have not been good as of late. Koodo Mobile has a 1.22 rating on sitejabber and a 1.3 rating on TrustPilot and a 3.6 on PlanHub, primarily complaining about the chatbot (the company used to have a human chat), unexpected roaming fees and poor customer wait times.

IME, their customer service is the worst I’ve ever experienced (and I was with Bell Mobility a few years ago. Lol)

Save yourself the headaches and use another provider. There are others with better customer service for about the same price (Virgin Mobile for example)

Not worth it

They do have cheap plans but they’re not worth it in the long run. Their customer service is the worst I’ve ever dealt with.

Avoid Koodo Mobile at all costs.

Good Basic plan

I switched to Koodo from Telus three years ago when I needed a new phone and their best deal was $75 a month. I switched to Koodo and paid off my phone and my plan is $45.

Unlimited Canada wide calling and messaging

One perk I haven’t used yet but I might take i nternational calling

They did call a couple of weeks ago and offer me a “free” Samsung tablet but when I started asking questions the truth came out that I would have to purchase a $30 a month plan. Well, I’m already paying for data for my phone so, no.

They are cheaters

I had really bad experience with Koodo, despite of using Koodo for few years when I wanted to go other provider they started playing all the tricks. Though I left Koodo with 0 pending balance now after 3 months they are threatening me to pay 60$ else it will affect my credit. I am not able to access my account now to see why they charged 60$ again. please avoid these scammers !

Beware of $15 a month land mine plan

Koodo has been a pretty solid provider for me since I switched, but I recently got my son a phone on a $15 a month plan and got burned with a $600 bill after he went a little overboard with long distance calling. There’s 100 minutes included in the plan, but if you go over, they price-gouge at a rate of $.70 per minute! Any other plan offers unlimited canada wide calling. Koodo likes to advertise their Shock Free Data, but there is no way to turn off long distance calling after using up the 100 minutes alloted by this plan. I suspect they set this plan up to trick users into paying punishing overage fees or push them on to more expensive plans. I don’t think Koodo is the only culprit here, I’m pretty such a lot of Telecoms have a bargain-basement low priced plan that’s rigged to blow up in exactly the same way.

Leave a review

If you have a plan with Koodo we’re interested to know your thoughts. What is your plan (price and data), what data speeds are you getting and how long have you been with them? Let us know by leaving a review below!

Over to you

Do you have any questions about Koodo? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Share this:

Was this article helpful.

Stay up to date

Get Cansumer's independent reviews, expert advice, and intensively researched deals to help keep you informed, safe and connected, for free.

Public Mobile Review – Can you pay as low as $0/mo in 2023?

What is an MVNO? List and Status in Canada

Why are phone plans so expensive in Canada?

Leave a comment Cancel reply

An excellent and well written article. Thank you for providing such an in depth analysis of Koodo Wireless.

Stay informed with Cansumer in your inbox

• Managing your Services
• Billing & Payments

Business trip to USA

• 8 months ago 31 August 2023

I was in California in July and just recently checked my bill only to realize that it’s crazy high compared to regular months. It looks like I was charged for phone calls I had made because I had lost my passport in the inbound plane. Luckily, I found my passport and was able to return safely but nonetheless, I am not happy to see that two phone calls are costing me about 100$ more than usual. I have the wifi calling option turned on my phone and was really sure to be connected to the free airport wifi when doing the calls. Also, I had opted for roaming by answering “YES” to the automated text message when landing.

Anyways, is there a way to contests these fees and settle an agreement? 100$ for a couple phone calls is a bit ridiculous in this day of computer age and if I had been well aware these calls were going to cost me that much, I would’ve opted for an e-sim or some roaming plan in the first place.

• Mobile Master
• 12243 replies

I suggest you contact Koodo directly and see if some leniency is possible.

Heads up #1: WiFi calling just means that your call  is connected over WiFi (if possible), but normal charges still apply.

Head up #2: check out Easy Roam, to avoid these unexpected “surprises” (I agree with you that roaming fees are insanely high).

Thanks for your answer!

I’d like to contact Koodo directly but I don’t know how since they don’t advertise publicly a customer help phone number. Do you have a way to contact them?

As for the wifi calling, I agree that normal charges would apply but shouldn’t these be just data charges then since the whole call is made over wifi? And since this is made over wifi, then shouldn’t there be no charges? What is the point of wifi calling if it’s not?

And I agree that Easy Roam is available but it’s also really silly to have to manually activate it beforehand. It should be capped to that fee in the first place. Whichever ends-up being cheaper. There is absolutely no reason to charge one rate if you opt-in a service in advance and another if you don’t. Why not just only offer the Easy Roam feature then? You either turn off roaming or you use Easy Roam. Simple, no?

Apologies for the rant here. This situation is “a bit” frustrating. I feel like I have been misinformed and they are making money on my ignorance.

Oh I’m sure they are :) As for talking to a rep, you can do so using the chat assistant bot. Just say something like “I need a rep” and it will schedule a callback for you.

• 784 replies

@jfgoulet  I get why you’d think that, but no.  WiFi Calling’s purpose is just to provide you another way to make and receive calls if you have a weaker cellular connection but access to Wi-Fi.  At the end of the day it’s treated like any other call and not like data, even though the call is being transferred over Wi-Fi.  It’s kind of like if you’re not on Wi-Fi and make a a Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) call--the call is using a mobile data connection but counts as calling airtime and not as mobile data usage.

This can be confusing if you’re using to using VoIP providers (some examples: Fongo, TextNow, Skype, Teams, etc.) which can all do calls to/from regular phone numbers, but to your mobile provider are treated as data that comes out of your data bucket rather than your calling minutes; in other words, they look like any other data you might be using to stream music or videos, etc.  

Hopefully that’s a little clearer.  Making/receiving calls using your regular Koodo phone number uses airtime rather than data, regardless of if they are physically being carried over WiFi (WiFi Calling), LTE (VoLTE), or regular/legacy 3G cellular calling connection (WCDMA); making receiving calls using any 3rd party services--regardless of whether they are audio-only or Video calling, and regardless of if they are to a regular phone number or app-to-app--use either mobile data or WiFi and do not use your calling minutes.  Examples of this latter category includes but is not limited to iMessage, FaceTime, WhatsApp, Fongo, Facebook Messenger, TextNow, Skype, Teams, Slack, and so many others.

Wow! That is clearer and really poorly named if that’s what the feature is actually doing. IMO it should be more of an option named “Use Wifi to improve carrier calls” and the actual thing that would be called “Wifi calling” would be another feature where Google’s services (or third party apps) would relay the voice exchange as VoIP. That would remove the confusion and would actually make the feature interesting.

Anyhow, I’ll be reaching out to a rep using Sophia’s trick and see what my options are here.

Thanks for your replies!

Well in fairness, the feature is described in quite a bit of detail here:  https://www.koodomobile.com/help/wifi-calling . There's a section below the supported hardware list that talks about billing. Also I believe there's a note that WiFi Calling only works when you're in Canada so it likely was not active. That was something I didn't actually know myself, but it always pays to read up on things before using them, I guess! Buyer beware.  Edit: though I think the feature works the same for all Canadian carriers, so by buyer beware, I just mean understand what you're getting rather than saying Koodo's version is somehow comparatively worse. 

• BobTheElectrician
• Superuser level 4
• 4738 replies

If you frequently roam in the US, and just need to call out, it’s cheaper to get a VoIP account and use their app on your handset when in wifi range.  Turn airplane mode ON, then wifi ON, and you have a wifi-only capable phone.  You can forward your Koodo calls to that number as well.

Already have an account? Login

Login to the community

No account yet? Create an account

Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.

Scanning file for viruses.

Sorry, we're still checking this file's contents to make sure it's safe to download. Please try again in a few minutes.

This file cannot be downloaded

Sorry, our virus scanner detected that this file isn't safe to download.

Koodo’s new bundling program offers mobile, internet and Stream+ services starting at $99/month

Bundles are only available in ontario, manitoba and québec at this time.

Koodo has rolled out a new bundling offer that combines mobile plans, home internet, and Stream+ services.

The “Happy Stack bundle” offers residents in Ontario and Québec plans starting at $99/month. In Manitoba, plans start at $115/month.

“It really is leaning into that value-focused customer where every dollar counts,” Dwayne Benefield, Koodo’s chief product officer, told MobileSyrup in an interview. “This is that base bundle that most Canadian households need.”

The $99/month plan comes with a 4G mobile plan that includes 10GB of data as well as an additional feature under Koodo’s “perk plan.” While perks are offered on both 4G and 5G plans, the options between the two differ. On 4G plans, customers can access premium voicemail and unlimited international SMS. 5G plans include additional features, such as unlimited data .

The basic bundle also has access to the basic tier of  Stream+, which includes access to Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Disney+.

Koodo’s parent company, Telus, recently revamped the service, introducing a tiered offering. The ‘Basic’ tier gives users access to ad-supported versions of Netflix and Disney+. The ‘Premium’ tier gives users access to Netflix Premium and Disney+ Premium.

Internet plans for the basic bundle will differ depending on the province the customer is in.

In Ontario, for example, the $99 bundle will include Koodo’s ‘Unlimited Internet 100’ plan. According to its website, the plan offers download speeds up to 100Mbps and upload speeds up to 30Mbps. In Québec, the bundle will come with the ‘Unlimited Internet 60’ plan, which offers download speeds up to 60Mbps and upload speeds up to 10Mbps. On their own, both plans cost $65/month.

According to Benefield, the base plan can save Canadians up to $26/month.

At this time, Happy Stack is limited to Ontario, Manitoba and Québec as Koodo only offers its internet services so far. But as the company plans to extend its internet availability “shortly,” this will change.

Benefield notes customers can create and customize their bundles as they wish, even including Koodo’s other services like wireless home phones.

More information is available on Koodo’s website.

Update 02/14/2023 1:36pm ET: The article has been updated with additional information.

Image credit: Koodo

MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here .

Related Articles

Get a $140 google store credit if you buy the pixel 8a before may 19, disney says it’s ‘heartened’ by results of netflix’s password-sharing crackdown, tim cook is dripping swag with one of a kind nike air max ’86 at apple event, here’s canadian pricing for apple’s new ipad air, ipad pro and more, the top technology news, delivered to your inbox every friday..

By submitting your information via this form, you agree to receive electronic communications from MobileSyrup, a division of Blue Ant Media Inc., containing news, updates and promotions regarding MobileSyrup's products. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

• About Us / Tips
• Smartphones
• Tablets & Computers
• Apps & Software
• Accessories
• Buyers’ Guide
• How-to’s
• Security & Privacy
• 5G & Infrastructure
• Tech Effect