Like everyone else I’ve seen the Koodo ads around town and thought, “hmm, that sounds like a deal. I’ll take a look.” My friends and I had a debate about who Koodo was, and today we found out it’s Telus marketing to the youth market. This just proves my one friends was correct in saying, “There is never a new carrier.”
I’m currently mobile phoneless, becuase I just can’t justify a 3-year term contract and upwards of $40 a month for service. While in Australia I was paying $30 for credit that expired after 60 days through Vodofone. It included 60 texts, and 100 ‘calling to same service provider’ minutes. I had my own phone, but could have bought a basic one for $60-80. I think the one time activation fee was $9.95 or so, and it included free voicemail. I’d rarely go through all my credit before it expired, but if I topped-up I’d get to carry forward anything I didn’t use. Maybe it was the small town, or seeing people in class and on the beach that resulted in my low usage. It only takes 1 messages to say, “VB @ 12:30″, and 1 to reply, “Cool. I’m in.” Sure, if I got into the habit of calling people I’d be burning through my credit like no ones business (20 cents connection fee, then 30 cents for every 30 seconds), but the solution is easy: don’t call. Does not calling defeat the purpose of having a ‘mobile phone’? Maybe, but $15 a month seems like a reasonable amount to spend on mobile service.
I guess I’m just saying I want a reasonable cell phone plan in Ontario. I want to be able to text people with no chance of ‘going over’ or ‘incurring extra charges’, make a handful of phone calls, and access voicemail for less than $30 a month — taxes in. It would be awesome if I could do this without a contract and on a phone that I can buy for less than $100 — a small phone, that fits in a standard pocket without producing a bulge. Until we get affordable unlimited data plans and/or true G3 speeds (and the iPhone in Canada) I have no use for Internet, email, video and a camera. I look at Koodo and they want $75 for a phone, then $25 a month for service that looks to meet my needs. However, if I want voicemail that’s an extra $5 a month. Oh, and don’t forget to add the tax. That’s no great deal, and Rogers, Bell, and Koodo parent Telus have similar plans.
I’ll suppose I’ll just keep looking, and modifying me needs to comply with the limited options offered by wireless carriers in Ontario. They wouldn’t want to offer a product I actually want and see value in, no, because where’s the money in that?
Update: Well, I caved and purchased an iPhone from Rogers with a voice and data plan. I tried out a prepaid from Rogers and it wasn’t that bad, but my old phone was acting up, and I needed mobile Internet access for some work I’m doing. The voice plan is $35, which includes 250 minutes, free evening and weekends, voicemail, some texts, as well as Canada-wide My5 — which means I can call any 5 numbers in Canada for free. As I currently live in a different city then family and old friends this is actually a great deal. However I have had nothing but problems with the 3G network Rogers runs, and I have detailed my hassles in a recent post.
Some of the people who left a comment on one of my other posts actually got a deal. But when I looked at the plans they were pretty much comparable to everything else there is on the market with the exception of eliminating system access fee.
The new carrier will appear soon since the government opened up a bid for new wireless waves.
The thing is that users in Canada are just so used to such abusive rates that there is no guarantee that the new carrier will shake things up.
Hi – I think you have missed some key points in Koodo’s favour. I recently purchased one for my mom b/c of 3 things:
1) The $20 dollar plan gives 100 minutes (billed by the second mind you…not by minute) and unlimited evenings and weekends from 7pm onwards and 50 free txts. This in itself is a decent plan
2) There is no system access fee…so you save $6.95 tax each month that you would have to pay with Telus, Rogers, or Bell, etc…this is HUGE.
3) No contract – That $75 phone is put on your ‘tab’ and 10% of your bill is put towards paying that off each month. In 3 years that would be paid off and you will start building credit for a new phone but this is NOT a contract. There is no cancellation charge per month or anything like that. Just pay for the remaining tab on the phone and leave whenever if you want to. So after a year, you can leave and pay off the phone @$50…or after 2 years, it will be ~$25 and so on.
Your bill each month is like $22 or $28 with voicemail…you’d have to pay at least in the mid $30′s anywhere else and those will have real contracts that will lock you in with expensive cancellation charges.
Their plans and pricing worked for me. Thoughts?
It may work out if I go bare bones. I guess I’m just more expressing frustration with the lack of choices. I think Roman said it pretty good, there just isn’t enough competition to get the prices down. We have accepted that this is what it costs, and we pay.
and for some reason north americans don’t mind being billed twice for their minutes, not outgoing and incoming. when i lived overseas, you would only get billed for minutes used on calls made. so if you were low on credit, you could call someone and hang up right away so they would call you back and you wouldn’t use up any minutes.
When I was in HK for a few weeks last year, I got a sim w/200 minutes 100 bonus minutes = 300 anytime minutes w/call display and unlimited text for about $15 cdn or so…the minutes last for 90 days and carry over if you top up before the end of 90 days. I have no problem with 300 anytime for 3 months with the unlimited sms included…that’s $5 a month…crazy!
We pay far too much here…that’s true. Let’s see if anything changes after a new carrier appears…
It only takes 1 message of “VB @ 12:30″ to realize that you’re mate has really shitty taste in beer.
I expected more of someone who onced worked in a brewery
Here’s a hint, the VB stands for Very Bad!!!!
But really, what did you drink when you were down here?
I respect your statements, and conceed my use of VB is ambiguous. I was using it as the shortform of ‘volleyball’. And no, I did not drink VB if I could help it. I was a Tooheys New man mostly, and a Five Islands Brewery (local Wollongong brewery) guy if the pub had it on tap.
i knew you meant volleyball lol
Koodo’s awesome, the best one you can find in Canada :(
It’s weird, I don’t actually see the savings in any of Koodo’s plans.
I’m with Rogers and I don’t consider my phone plan to be very heavy.. all I have is call display, voicemail, 100 daytime, 1000 evening/weekend (essentially unlimited to me) and free incoming– this is $25/month sysaccessfee 911, so roughly $35/month tax
The equivalent plan under Koodo is $40/month, but Rogers also gave me a free phone which Koodo does not. If I add the $75 phone cost to the monthly plan over a period of 2 years (length of my typical rogers contract) then I end up paying $48.67/month for Koodo after taxes, versus Rogers’ $39.50/month.
I understand that Koodo is meant for barebones setups, but frankly, in this day and age I absolutely consider call display to be a barebones feature, and I would argue that voicemail is becoming one too. Maybe not 5-7 years ago, but it’s 2008. I would accept losing the free incoming which Koodo charges $10/month for, but that would still only get the bill down to $37.38/month, which is really not much savings at all for an inferior plan.
What’s the deal, am I the only one that doesn’t see the benefit?
One of the things you missed is the fact that Koodo DOES give you a phone. You don’t pay for the phone for up to $150. Using the $75 phone example you had and a $40 plan you would pay off $4 of the tab each month (10% of your bill) and owe them nothing for the phone after 1 and 1/2 years. That’s a free phone if you stayed with them for 1.5 years. Contrast that with most contracts which req. 2 and usually 3 years before you get a free phone. Then if you wanted to leave them earlier…you’d pay up to $400 dollars to cancel (the figure is in this ballpark…might be more).
I saw a benefit here – no contract here…and if I really wanted to put a max on the ‘early termination’ fee…it would be $75 – $4 x # months on contract. That’s peanuts vs. any other early term. fee so there isn’t the sense of being tied down to them.
Regarding the plan, I personally prefer the 100 minutes by the second unlimited after 7pm weekends vs. 100 and 1000. It works better for me than free incoming since most of my calls are in the evenings since friends have unlimited nights and weekends too and are equally cheap :-p. It really depends on your usage patterns.
Good luck! (I bet you could boost your plan a bit through calling your L & R if you’ve been with them over a year or if you are nearing the end of your contract)
Koodos vs Telus?
You have to get contract with telus, unless you wanna pay 500 dollars for a phone you can get it for free or under 100 dollars in asia. (if you can still find a place to buy such outdated phones!)
I myself had trouble with telus phone, the phone broke after 2 yrs. I needed replacement phone, but it would cost me 160 dollars to get the most basic phone with shit camera…. it was a phone that is probably discontinued for manufacture/sell in Asia. That is just way too expensive for me. I walked around the mall and found koodos, and looked at the plans.
Koodos is amazingly simple, cheap, and hassle-free. You don’t need contract, you don’t have to pay 500 dollars for that’s barely worth 100 dollars in quality. Activation is simple, and most of all, no system access fee.
Koodos >>>>>>>>> (insurmountable barrier) >> Telus
YOUR ALL CHEAP BITCHES
So far so good. I got my first bill, its $26.37 just as the sales kid had said it would be.
Much better than the $66.05 I was paying with Rogers.
im yet to see my first bill…and i cant find ANYWHERE on their website what the incoming calls are charged at (tho it sucks u guys are charged to RECEIVE calls. is this only a north american thing?). does anyone know their prices? im scared im goin to get a shock with my first bill…
as for plans in general here. they are shit. and they are expensive. but i guess im just used to the aussie plans….
Look like Koodo is not revealing any limitations of their service when selling these cellphone plans. Internationl Text massage does not work, you might be able to send, but it is very unlikely that you would receive anything. This is a misleading advertising. Any one else having the same problem. is it time for a class action suite?
yes im having the same problem, i cannot recieve any txt messages, and im really vexed b-cuz the whole point for me the get a plan with koodo, was for the unlimited txt msgs
Try Rogers pay-as-u-go. Get a $100 phone card, does not expire for 1 year. $100/12 = $8.33/month. This includes call display, voicemail, etc., etc. Might not be that good for text users, but I wouldn’t know.
At $0.25/minute air time charges, that gives you around 30 minutes per month on avaerage. Great for the infrequent user. Some months I use next to nothing, some months I use quite a bit more than the 30 minutes, but I still have over $120 credit not used up after two years. Can accumulate (roll over) up to $750.
Can’t get much better than $8 per month for the infrequent user.
The thing that everyone is missing is that there is no contract and therefore no cancellation fee if you ever try to leave. The plans might not SUPER but there are several well priced options to build your own plan. They are cheaper or comparable to that of others but the difference is that there is no additional fees and if you ever decide to leave you will not have to pay $20/month to get out of your contract.
And the idiot you mentioned that of course it is plus tax, ‘urrrggg’ blame that on the government, no carrier can eliminate tax and anyone who says they pay it for you, are lying – they just hide it in the actual price they quote you.
And another thing about the text messages, call customer care and the problem will be fixed in about two seconds.
Is your phone broken, that is not Koodo’s fault it is the manufacturers, so call them and get a new one. That is the case with any carrier, it is simply your fault or a manufacturer defect. But keep in mind that any flip phone especially the razr/krzr does not have a long life expectancy, but carriers sell them because people want them.
K done!!
The thing YOU are missing, Elizabeth, is that buying the phone *is* the contract. If you’re surprised at that statement it’s because the intentionally sneaky marketing successfully tricked you. If (WHEN, since most people don’t own phones that operate on CDMA networks) you buy the phone, it’s put on a tab that you pay off incrementally. Naturally this means you are obligated to pay off your tab. This, my friends, is a contract. You are “free to leave at any time as long as you settle the remaining tab balance”, but that is code for a “termination agreement”. Yes, you DO save money on this termination fee versus the classical ETF, but for most people (you know, the 90% of people who don’t switch carriers or plans every 6 months), the early termination fee never actually applies– or if it does, it might be in the last few months of the plan anyway, making the cost relatively cheap. And a lot of the time for switching plans within the same carrier, the ETF is even waived, so the savings here don’t translate into real dollars; they’re potential savings based on a relatively longshot scenario for most people (switching carriers, generally). And hopefully you didn’t pay ETF just to switch to Koodo, that would REALLY make it not worthwhile. So according to the posts, “no contract” seems to be the only benefit; but it’s a contingency benefit at best, since it only applies if you terminate the contract early. Who buys plans based on whether they can no fulfill the contract?
The truth is you’re not actually saving money (in fact you pay more) for (rough estimate) a large majority of all cell phone customers who actually use their phones for more than text messaging and/or don’t terminate contracts early. I’m currently paying ~$33 before tax for a rogers plan (that’s cheap by rogers’ standards). The equivalent plan on Koodo would be the base $20 (since $15 won’t get you evenings wknds) $10 for callerid/etc.. $3 in “savings” but we didn’t count the $75 (at least) I’d have to pay for the phone that I would otherwise get free (*real* free) with rogers. And I didn’t even mention the free incoming that rogers gives me on that $33. Savings? By my calculations that’s actually a 12 cent increase for Koodo’s plan if I used it for 2 years.
Now lets get back to the realities of contract law. There is a reason a cell phone carrier, or any company, offers contracts. One is to guarantee a certain gain from each customer. This comes with obligations that you as a customer must carry out, like paying bills or the ETF. The second reason is so that they can lock you into a price. This is a *benefit* for the customer because much like “buying in bulk”, it means the carrier can reward you by making your costs cheaper relative to the duration you agree to guarantee them a gain. Contracts are actually a win for the consumer in this respect, because the contract is actually the reason my plan is cheaper than Koodo’s– the contract is what gets me a free phone. Koodo deals with this by making the contract equal to the phone (see above) but it’s not as much of a guarantee, so the net savings are less. The problem is that today in society we have a serious problem with A.D.D. and an inability to commit to any product for even a few years. Contracts aren’t the problem with cell carriers; PRICES are. Koodo doesn’t solve this, end of story.
so i work for Telus ( the contracted side ) and for Koodo, im the annoying person who calls your house and gets you to switch over to us ;) ahaha , so i know alot about providers and telus is the only company that does truly UNLIMITED data for VERY low costs we also just launched the all in one plan which is amazing ! , now as far as koodo i think its pretty neat i mean it has the amazing side of prepaid (no conracts ) yet is reliable like a contracted phone where you will never “run out of minutes” i know when i had prepaid nothing pissed me off more then being out and going to make a call and not having any minutes , but anyways noones ever really going to be HAPPY with the price they pay it could always be better.. .. PS in 2010 telus is launching the 4G network :)
also the CDMA EVDO REV A which is what telus use’s is equal to the 3G network .. and alot more reliable ;) … Oh and one more thing ..if someone wants to go on about how GSM is better because you can use your phone around the world .. telus is partnered with ROADPOST.CA check it out .. i would rather rent a phone from them for my travels then pay the roaming and LD fees it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO much cheaper..
anywho i just needed to vent all i hear all day long is how rogers and bell are better when i really dont see why ..
@Candice:
GSM *is* better because you not only can *use* your phone around the world, but because you don’t need to *buy* a new phone when switching providers. I’ll bet you good money that it’s way cheaper to bring my phone with me and just buy a prepaid GSM card than it is to *rent* a phone AND plan (in fact I’ve done that before). Also, phones these days are more than just gadgets. People have lots of their own important data on their phones; they can’t just go around renting new (crappier) ones. CDMA is definitely one of the deal killers with phone companies in Canada. Screw number portability, I need phone portability.
actually ” renting a phone ” is WAY cheaper and you can rent data phones aswell not crappy phones and yes GSM has its pros but do you know how many people i talk to who get there phones stolen because its SOO easy for someone to take their sim card and pop it in a stolen phone .. where as CDMA , a stolen phone is useless to another person , and like i said in 2010 not only will telus be CDMA but the are building the new G4 technology, which will have sim cards … its the best of both worlds ;) …
How much cheaper can renting a phone be than $10? That’s how much I got a pay-as-you-go GSM sim card when I was travelling in the US. In countries like China and Japan it’s probably even cheaper. Are you telling me I can rent a phone for $5 or less? I doubt that. I think you have your numbers backwards.
The stolen phone argument is pointless. Most thieves won’t know whether your phone is GSM/CDMA before grabbing it.
And having sim cards in 2010 is still pointless if the phone won’t work on GSM networks, unless you’re claiming they will. Otherwise the only difference is that phones on a Telus network can now be interchanged on the same network.. like anyone actually cares.
Rogers…… Straight up suck!!!!!
I use Pay & Talk. It’s perfect for my needs, and it sounds like your needs too. I top it up every 30 days with a $10.00 pay & talk card, and it lasts til next fill for amount of calls I use it for. Most of the time I’m near a “land line” so don’t need it 24/7. My Pay & Talk phone is tiny, fits in small pocket (I’m female, so lumps & bulges in pockets are a no-no.) Plus with my phone I can still text AND it has camera so I’m always prepared for a photo-op. And NO CONTRACT to sign. My phone cost me under $50.00 and has all that. So maybe you should look into Pay & Talk for your needs, unless you’re one of those who has it constantly stuck to your ear.
I use international text messaging all the time, this month I sent over 80 international text messages, probably received the same amount, absolutely no problem. Koodo si worth it to me just for the international text messaging which is how I keep in contact with family whilst I am at work. I am saving lots since moving from Rogers
The world laughs at Canada. We are screwed for cell phone service worse than anywhere.
Recently, planning a trip to the US, I asked Bell about roaming and price per minute, etc. They offered 100 minutes for $40 and couldn’t tell me if I’d be charged for roaming. I declined.
In the US, I walked into a Best Buy. Shock! I bought a Virgin Mobile cell phone, brand new, for $10 and a 200 minute card for $20.
Even more amazing, I learned that US cell phone users do not have Long Distance charges. Every call is billed as local. So, I could be in NYC and calling my friend in Los Angeles and it’s billed exactly the same as a local call. OMG!
And even more amazing, unused minutes are rolled over to the next month. In fact, to keep rolling unused minutes, I need only spend $20 every 4 months.
We are being royally screwed for cell phone use in Canada. What I pay for a basic cell phone plan here is obscene. It’s time for a change.
Koodo ripped me off!!!!!
so i got koodo and loved it
i had the plan starting at 15$ and then added unlimited text..so for 25$/month i had unlimited text and 50mins/month which isnt really much less than any other competetors but none the less its not a bad price
anyways i added “unlimited” long distance when i moved into university only to find out there definition of unlimited wasnt quite the same as the rest of the world
so for unlimited the website says…
“Unlimited Canadian LD
Make unlimited long distance calls in Canada for just
$20/month.”
so i thought i was getting just that only my next bill came and it was 330$
so i imediate called them to find out why
turns out “unlimited” to them means u get unlimited long distance calls at loca price (which is 35 cents/min)
ive read over the page about 5 thousand times and i still dont see where that small detail is listed, ive read then fine print and everything and its definately not on the page
when i called them i asked them and they said they cant put everything on the website so you should call to ask
….ok sooo many things wrong with that
first of all i should to verify anything i read online? it takes aboitu 20mins to get through to a customer service reap…and to call from ur cell directory assitance is 1.50$/min
so onmce again anytime i read anything online i should spend that 30$ to find out if its right?
whats the point of a website if everytrhings wrong on it anyways?
and u cant put everythingon the website? so theres no room for that one line mentioning that unlimited isnt unlimited.. its 35 cents/min
needless to say i am completely unsatisfied with koodo and have been calling them daily trying to get rid of this fee
there customer service is terrible and koodo is only cheap if u use ur phone for nothing
any add ons will run u dry
just adding called id is 10$/month.. which at 35 cents/min for local calls and no truly unlimited calling options how many calls r u gonna make on ur cell to make that 10$ worth it
i wouldnt recomend koodo to anyone ever!!!
Hillary,
It sounds like you signed up for $20 of “Unlimited Long Distance in Canada,” but you have to remember that you still have to pay for air-time. The air-time on your phone is probably $0.35/minute, which of course will rack up your bill if used heavily.
Every carrier charges for air-time and for long-distance as separate products. Even traditional land-lines charge for both independently ($25 / month for the phone line, and then $0.35 / minute for the long distance, with the option of buying pre-paid long distance minutes).
The “fine print” on the telephone companies’ websites can’t cover every hypothetical situation in explicit detail, because there is an unlimited number of circumstances you could be in. All they can do in the legal terms and conditions of your contract is provide you with the guidelines to understand what would happen in near-all circumstances. It’s up to you to read through it, and understand it. I am 100% sure that it says, somewhere in the documentation that you agreed to, that you would have to pay for the air-time of your phone.
My only advice is to be more careful in the future, and question “deals” that are “too good to be true” with due diligence.
How is $20/month “too good to be true”? If you read the above post, you will see that the US does *not* charge such fees and $20 is perfectly reasonable. It is absolutely idiotic to blame the victim; “it’s your fault for not sifting through legal terminology” is bullshit, plain and simple.
Hillary, continue speaking with their representatives. Call every day and tell them you refuse to pay. If a company advertises a product as “unlimited” but does not point to fine print, this is misleading and can be seen as an illegal practice. Fine print *must* cover every hypothetical situation, that is it’s strict purpose. To say “we cannot tell you all the details” is an outright lie. You cannot legally sell a service online but only give out the details by phone. There are consumer protection acts which protect against this misleading behaviour. Burying the details of a plan in legal documents is also not seen as an ethical practice if there is *no* mention of such documentation in the consumer level advertising.
I agree that calling something ‘unlimited long distance’ but then adding an Astrix that says, “we actually mean you pay the local call rate” is pretty lame and questionable marketing. There has to be a test that asks what a reasonable person would think when reading the statement. How powerful is the Astrix in marketing? Looking at this example it seems that I can say almost anything I want as long as I throw an Astrix next to it that directs to the small print that says what I really meant.
I went over to the Koodo website today to see if I came to the same conclusion about their long distance claims and sure enough it was very misleading, but I did see the link to the small print. In the ‘Build your own’ section for mobile service Step 2 lets you ‘pick your sides’. One of the options is ‘Unlimited Canadian LD €’ for $20. That ‘€’ is superscript and if you scroll down to the bottom of the page all the superscript marks are explained in a light grey font. The ‘€’ is explained as ‘Local anytime minutes apply.’
I agree that Koodo calling the feature ‘Unlimited Canadian LD’ is extremely misleading, but sadly they do seem to cover themselves off with the Astrix to the small print. Your only recourse might be to advertising standards for misleading ads.
Im a koodo user and have been since they came out
i pay 34.80 every month and get 100 anytime minutes, unlimited texting, voicemail, unlimited after 7 and weekends, call display and then ure basic features. with my tab i have already almsot completely paid off my tab from my 75 phone and have purchased a new one.
Koodo works for me and was the best deal as a student.
“While in Australia I was paying $30 for credit that expired after 60 days through Vodofone. It included 60 texts, and 100 ‘calling to same service provider’ minutes. I had my own phone, but could have bought a basic one for $60-80. I think the one time activation fee was $9.95 or so, and it included free voicemail.”
This just in, Koodo mobile will, for 20 bucks a month, give you 50 min, 50 texts, and voice mail. There is no system actication fee, I got a refurbished phone off their website for signing up onto a ‘contract’ where I agreed to spend 300 bucks on their service, or pay a portion of that 30 bucks on my way out the door.
In other words, Koodo offers a competitive service, comparable to the one you described as reasonable in australia. Vodaphone gave you 30 bucks every two months, 60 texts, 100 min, voicemail, for two months, and required a (by your estimation) 70-80 dollar investment. Koodo requires a 0 dollar investment, and for 40 bucks every two months, give you 100 texts, 100 min, and voicemail. For the low low cost of expecting you to keep the service for less than a year and a half. If you happened to keep it less, you would be paying $30-2n where n is the amount of months you had the phone.
I’m not willing to say it’s a strictly better deal, but, i’d argue it’s danmed competitive.
On the other hand, to the lady who felt ripped off by Koodo? I’m on the page right now, the ordering page clearly has a footnote beside Unlimited Canadian Long Distance, which more or less lets you know what’s up. They may have added that after you signed up. I don’t know. I do know the one notable problem with Koodo is that they do not immediately give you a document to consent too. They’re website and packaging strictly does not have detailed pricing information. I’ve been over it. I ended up emailing customer support, and asking for a fuck ton of clarification on billing. As far as i’m concerned, this is the only contract i’ve agreed to. (For instance, without asking tech support, you have no way of finding out what the downloading fees are except by checking them out on you’re first bill. Now I was cautious, and asked, but I guess i’m just ontop of the ball.) Koodo is sketchy as sin when it comes to their legal documents. Like their website has a eula, that claims you automagically agree to the eula by visiting their website. And the eula isn’t even standard stuff like ‘this website is taken on an as is basis, and we warent nothing here works’… it’s strictly ‘you agree to not hold us responsible if our gross negligence causes you harm’. I’ve been over all publicly available Koodo documents… sketch bags is all I can say.
Woah, hold on a second Peter, you have the math (and logic) backwards. You’re saying the Vodaphone plan had a $60-80 investment, which is a false assumption.
Firstly, the article says he already owned a phone so he specifically did *not* make a $70-80 investment, which already defeats your comment that an investment is “required”. Secondly, the article doesn’t say if a free phone was available, which it could have been. Thirdly, not only does Koodo *not* offer free phones, but it is also not on a GSM network (unlike Vodaphone), so it is *much* more likely you would need to invest in a phone to use their service. But finally, you admit to “a ‘contract’ where I agreed to spend 300 bucks on their service”. Maybe their shrewd marketing tricked you, but $300 *is* an investment– commitment and investment mean pretty much the same thing in this context. It’s also a really big one (about the same cost as early termination).
So to recap, in *reality* you made a $300 investment while this guy on Vodaphone is actually the one who made the $0 investment.
If you really don’t see the value or benefit to Koodo then you need to look harder. How about the fact that your not on a contract that Rogers extends for another 3 years every time you phone them for anything.
@Carter: How about the fact that what you just said makes absolutely no sense and is wrong. I’ve been off my Rogers contract for months now– they have not started another 3 year commitment, nor was I in a 3 year commitment to begin with.
It’s funny how everyone here defending Koodo ends up making completely false statements about the competition.
You guys are all retarted. a sales person at koodo can give you a realyy good deal on your rate plan, however the sales person or the company does not prevent you from abusing your plan. Hilary you are a moron for getting mad at somthing you don’t understand. if I sell you an unlimited longdistance plan then you will never be charged a premium rate for the long distance call period. if you go into your cell plan like a blind handicap person in a football match how can you get mad at the company for somthing you did to yourself. in fact if you continuously go over your rate plan koodo will send you a text telling you to come in and revise your plan. You should do some research before making a descision you may regret.
dont get me wrong all companies have the same issues with technology, stupid customers, and unfortunatly somtimes reps don’t do their jobs right. but the biggest problem in all sales is that customers can’t see the forest for the trees and are stupid with their money.
Way to blame someone for something *you* don’t understand, ikeingersol. How do you know Hilary abused her plan? How do you know Koodo properly informed her of the terms? Please don’t make ridiculous assumptions that “customers can’t see the forest for the trees”, that’s the problem that got corporations into the Canadian cell market mess to begin with.
We were just looking at Koodo at Walmart, and were interested. However, they are in the process of changing all their plans and rates, and their website hasn’t been updated yet (I looked about ten minutes ago). The girl at Walmart said the she understood that the free texting stuff is going. Not sure about other details, but it may make Koodo less attractive.
It is unfortunate that that girl (Hilary?) got dinged so hard. It seems she honestly misunderstood that air minutes would be charged. Honest mistake; if you’re comparing anything to so with cell service to old school phone company service,you’re going to be sorely disappointed. The term “long Distance” to a cel company may not mean the same as it did to the phone company. It’s not that the phone company was in any way altruistic; it’s just that it was strongly regulated. Cel service is not, so it is open for abuse and subject to misinformation.
Therefore, anytime you change your service you should be circumspect for at least a while until you see how it’s going to work out. Don’t go hogwild with your calling right off the mark until you see how you;re going to be charged. Well, wisdom is the gift of experience, and hopefully Hilary has appropriated some fresh wisdom.
First off I’d like to say I just koodo and its not terrible. In terms of the no contract its true there isn’t one. The issue is you do have to buy your phone them, which may seem like a contract, but it isn’t based x months left times $. Just overpriced phones.
Now for my question, does anyone know how the long distance plan works in terms of roaming in Canada. Will I get roaming charges say if I have and ottawa number go to Toronto and receive calls like other providers. I ask because on Fido I have an old plan with 250 long D minutes and they were used to cover the roaming if I was out of area or long distance if I was in area.
Thanks for anyone who can help
Koodo is pretty much the best phone company out there for students. Since I’m originally from Ottawa and I go to school in Toronto, I need to make regular calls to Ottawa. So I got Koodo’s Nationwide talk and text for 45 dollars a month. This included:
No Long Distance Charges on All Calls Within Canada‡
Unlimited Messaging (Text and Picture)± (This includes international text, I can text friends in Europe)
Up to 300 Nationwide Anytime Minutes
7pm Nationwide Evenings & Weekendsº
Includes Call Waiting, Conference Calling, 911 and Per-Second Billing
Plus, I put my phone on a tab so the phone is paying off itself using 10 percent of the bill. No other phone company in Canada offers Nationwide talk and text. Long distance plans are available, but they are super expensive and don’t include things like unlimited text.
All of the companies are the same I have used them all. Plans depend on what you need them for and you need to ensure you do the reserch and ask the questions.
Rogers did try the re starting of the contract on my plan and I called them on it they cannot do that unless they get your permission it is a selling tacktic and should be stopped but overall there service is good.
I am reserching phones for our kids and koodoo seems the way to go with a tab no phone charge than and unlimited texts and 100 minutes but still tough decision. If we were in the states would be way different.
Do you have to pay extra to receive international phone calls? One rep told me yes … another said no (they just come of your minutes like local calls do) …. how do you know who to believe?
I have speakout wireless. It is 7-eleven version. It is not a new carrier, it is just Rogers. I got it during special promo, pay $100 plus tax and get $100 credit worth of credit and a free basic phone. 25 cents per minute local 45 cents long distance in Canada, $.99 911 fee, voice mail for free (airtime charges applied if check by cellphone) landlines free. 5 cents sms for sending and an other 5 cents for receiving.
Right now they don’t have this promo. But for the price is cheapest if you don’t use your phone a lot. Visit speakoutwireless.ca made from a customer which provides more info then the actual website at http://speakout7eleven.ca/
Koodo is great!
Great when at work all day:
100min day, unltd 5pm-8am local, unltd always 5 CAN #s:
20$ plan (100min,50tx,7pm E W)
12$ 5pm E W, display, voicemail, forwarding
10$ unltd 5 numbers (Nationwide)
__
42$
You’re all fucking crazy…koodo is hands down the best carrier.
$55/month
750 anytime minutes/month which works out to be 36 minutes a day from Monday to Friday.
Free after 5pm and weekends. Free long distance in Canada after 5pm and weekends.
50 texts a month and caller ID.
AND NO CONTRACT FOR $55 A MONTH…IT’S HANDS DOWN THE BEST PLAN OUT THERE!!!
Last summer I got my son a Koodo phone for 30 dollars per month. In 2 months I ended up paying over 200 dollars. Anyone on the internet can punch in your Koodo number and subscribe you to Premium Text Messages for 1.50 a shot. By the time you complain and find out how to stop it you have hundreds of dollars racked up.
Bill, that can be done with any phone. If I wanted to be mean, I could go and put someone else’s phone number on a website, and they could get charged 1.50 every text. That is not just Koodo. And to stop them, you can usually reply to the number and say stop and it will end there. You will only get charged for the texts that you received. I am really sorry that this happened to you and your son, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Koodo.
When I was with Rogers, one of my friends put in my cell phone number because she didn’t have one. I didn’t know I was getting charged, but sure enough, at the end of the month, I had a bill over 100$.
Don’t blame the company.
Now on the other hand, I am with Koodo right now. I have been since September. I think they are the best cell phone provider out there (well in Canada anyways). Right now, I am paying 40$ a month ( tax, obviously), and I have Unlimited messaging (text, picture & video), 100 anytime minutes, 7pm evenings and weekends, Call waiting, Conference calling, 911, Call display, Unlimited incoming calls and Per-second billing.
I don’t know what you think, but I think that’s pretty amazing! I remember, with Rogers, I used to be 30$ ( tax) and I had 100 minutes during the day, 1000 evenings and weekends, call waiting. No texting, no call display, and then all the extra stuff they used to add on my bill. I used to be about the same thing, but had absolutely nothing.
Rox:
I don’t get charged for incoming texts. In fact, nobody on Rogers does. Look it up. You’re full of shit.
No:
Hate to tell you this, but both Telus and Rogers pretty quick here are charging to receive texts. So maybe you should look it up since you’re full of shit. It’s clear on the Rogers website…and as I recall on the Telus as well. That portion happens to be something that is rolling up from the U.S.
Anyway, It depends on what you need as to which company will suit you’re needs best. I’ve been with all three and so far my best “fit” is Koodo. My bill is only $35 a month where as before with Rogers it was about $50. But that’s just what I needed. So all this fighting about whether or not Koodo is better really depends on you as the person. You can’t tell anyone else that Koodo will suit their needs better. They’ve got to figure that out themselves. But then again, that’s just MY opinion.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/05/05/rogers-text.html
Was not in effect when Rox or I wrote the message. Maybe you should do your research.
It may not have been in effect, but the site clearly said at that point that they were going to charge to receive. It’s been there for sometime. I know because I had to go and look months ago.
Me I’ve been paying almost 70 dollars per month with Koodo I wonder why while I supposed to paid 25 plus tax is there anything I can do to stop that I’m not even use my cell phone that much now they sent me a bill 59 dollars for the next month and I’m feeling so upset right now only idea I’ve his to found that person and breakkkkkk the phone on his face.
its the to the second billing and cheap texting that makes kodoos a nice set up
I’ve heard of places, I think it was in Africa, where you buy the phone and usage isn’t charged for. So, your 50$ phone purchase is it.
I live in the city of Thunder Bay, Canada. We have a regional provider called TBayTel. When I was thinking of buying a cell a year or so ago I checked them out. In the end I opted not to get a phone, since they wanted about 70$ a year just for the priveledge of using their service, plus activation, plus monthly plan, plus phone. I do hope a new provider comes along and shakes things up…
I was with Rogers for about 7 years. They boned me every damn month. I had a simple phone – no camera, no data, no texting, just phone calls. My bills would range from $150-$350/month. I used it a lot, because I had no land line, but even so, this was ridiculous. I called them up many times to get a better deal, only to be told I had an “excellent” deal which they no longer offered. Lucky me. I had friends with iphones who paid 1/4 of what I was paying. When I finally called to cancel I ended up talking to a special customer service rep who said he could offer me a better deal than anyone. My blood boiled. What he was saying was “If you say you want to cancel, we will actually give you the deal you have been asking for for the past seven years!” Maybe that was supposed to win me back but it was the final nail in the coffin. NEVER will I sign with those cheating, lying bastards again.
I went with Koodo, because the system access fee bullsh*t always stuck in my craw. They aren’t perfect: It’s not unusual for texts to disappear into the ether, you have to pay to call customer service, their website isn’t very straightforward, and my plan, at $56/month, isn’t as cheap as I would like. But I have unlimited texting, and no roaming charges. This is great, because I travel between provinces for work. Local calls are local, no matter where my billing address is. The bill, so far, is always the same. With Rogers it was a big guessing game.
We still get ripped off horribly in Canada, no question, but until something is actually done about that, Koodo works for me.
Oh god how I hate Rogers. And their coverage is so limited in Newfoundland as to be worthless. You set foot outside the capital city and you are out of their service area. Give me a break.
I’m not sure what Telus G4 network is? However, I do know Telus is making a big change in my area, end of February 2010 on their network for a wider broadband (for TV, desk phone & Internet). As I already have Telus for this, maybe I should contact Candice, to help me replace my lost cell phone.
The Samsung cell phone that I lost was a Christmas gift from my two daughters with one of them paying $15 a month to Koodo for the next 10 months. I think she said the phone is $150 dollars, but paid nothing which includes up to 50 anytime minutes and up to 50 text messages at $15 a month. We are seniors and this basic plan works for us, but may need to be adjusted while traveling in the US. Looks like London Drugs, WalMart or Zellars have a basic Samsung cell phones for about $75 that I should be able to put back on the Koodo plan. Although Koodo said, there is a charge for this.
koodo has horrible customer service agents, the bluetooth on my phone stopped working and when i took it in for repair they said they had no loaner phone for me to use and i should check back at a later date. at the time the law against using for phone had no passed yet so it was no big deal. about a month later i went down to the stand and they said the same thing. then i started calling them daily and even popped by a couple times to see if they had anything this went on for nearly 2 weeks. they finally had a loaner phone but when the sales rep was setting it up for me she said my warranty had expired by TWO days. she assured me that if i called customer service they would allow her access to fix the phone. i called waited on on hold for 15-20 minutes and was finally able to connect to a service rep i explained the problem and he basically said it was my fault i waited too long and that the loaner phone was optional. at another time i might have contemplated giving my phone in and getting a loaner at a later date but i was currently waiting to hear about a job i had applyed for (booyah i got the job). i told him that i had been trying to get it repaired for quite sometime now but he said i should have called customer service and that calling to koodo stand was not the right move. which is total BULLSHIT if they can sell me a phone why cant they be trained to deal with basic customer service skills? i asked him to transfer me to his manager and he refused stating they would say the same thing he told me then he outlined that my option was to pay for the repair, get a new phone or leave it as is. after him spewing out some more bullshit he finally agrred to transfer me to a manger. i waited on hold for another solid 5-10 minutes. she stated it was my fault and that there was nothing i could do after that i told em i was closing my account with them and then she told me she could terminate it immediately for me. never in my life had i been as frusterated and pissed off then when i got off that phone. all in all F**K Koodo, im looking into windmobile now they appear to have some good deals
I think most of you are missing the point. Sure you can have a free phone with Rogers and pay more for your bill every month but you get a free tab phone (which you pay of 10% per bill) and there is NO CONTRACT. You can quit, switch plans or switch phones at any time with out any penalty.
@Koodoluvr: Except you’re full of shit. You can’t just quit without any penalty since you still have to pay off the remainder of your tab, which includes the full cost of the phone you got, none of which are free. This means that if you do leave within a few months, you will be paying a “penalty” of the remainder of your tab. Depending on the phone this can be almost as much as the ETL (Early Termination Fee) that other carriers charge.
It’s also important to point out that carriers will often waive ETL if you’re changing plans within the same company, or have a good reason to switch providers. Contracts are fairly easy to get out of, or negotiate. The contract is a good thing– it’s why iPhones aren’t $600, and why some phones are $0. “NO CONTRACT” is just an idiot marketing scheme that apparently you bought.
@Jon
You’re missing one huge benefit to having no contract with Koodo, namely that you can change your plan whenever you want up to once a month.
For instance, I was going to be out of province for a couple of months so I added the 5 Essentials (same as Rogers’ My 5) to my account for those 2 months. For $20 total, I got unlimited calls and texts to 5 numbers at home for that period. When I returned, I just cancelled that add on and went back to my cheaper bare bones plan. In the end I got about 2,000 long distance minutes to those numbers for a $20 outlay.
Another time my fiance was going to be away for a couple of months and I added unlimited incoming calls (again for $10 a month) so she could call me as much as she wanted. When she returned, I removed that feature, but again, I got hundreds and hundreds of extra minutes for a short term outlay of $10 a month ($20 total).
All of this can be done online and it all takes effect immediately. If you need more minutes around Christmas time, you can just change your plan to suit that and change it back in January; if you’re going to be travelling within Canada you can add the 5 Essentials or a cheaper long distance add on; if you need to receive a lot of calls for a specific period of time you can add unlimited incoming minutes temporarily. Try doing any of that when you’re under contract to a cell phone company.
@Koodo Fan:
This is a common misunderstanding of what your contract entails. In every other telecom company these are called “addons”, and don’t have any bearing on your contract. Rogers MY5 is $10/month according to their website (http://your.rogers.com/store/wireless/services/voice/my5.asp – half the price of Koodo, so you would’ve saved money), and can be added for any month and removed for any month. You’re not bound to these features for the terms of your contract. The same goes for all extras on any plan, like voicemail, free texting, etc.. These can all be modified online, via their toll free support, etc.. There is absolutely *NO* difference between Rogers and Koodo when it comes to extras.
The only thing you’re locked into in a contract is your base price plan. And, by the way, even those are extremely easy to modify with a single phone call if you’re staying within the same company. Occasionally it doesn’t work (if you constantly need to change your base plan), but most of the time they have no problem with it. Remember, they don’t put you on a contract because they want to be assholes, the contract is simply to keep you within the company until you’ve paid off your SUBSIDIZED PHONE. It’s exactly like putting you on a “tab”, it’s just a different phrasing with a different payment model. If you switch plans in the same company, they could generally care less, since they’re still getting your money.