Koodo Plans: Every Option Compared (By People Who Sell Them Daily)
We activate Koodo lines across 10stores in BC, Alberta, and Ontario, and the same conversation happens at our counters every week: someone paying too much on another carrier, convinced that switching means worse coverage or some hidden catch. So let's skip the brochure talk. This page is everything we'd tell you in-store — the plan types, the Tab math, the fine print people miss — written the way we'd actually say it.
Koodo Postpaid Plans: What You Get
Postpaid is Koodo's standard monthly plan — you use the service, the bill comes after. Every current Koodo postpaid plan includes:
- Unlimited Canada-wide talk and text, including picture messaging.
- Shock-free data.This is Koodo's best feature, full stop. Hit your data cap and your speed slows down — you are never billed overage. If you've ever opened a surprise overage bill because a teenager discovered TikTok on cellular, you understand why this matters.
- The TELUS network.Koodo doesn't run on some discount network. Same towers, same coverage map. The trade-off is priority during extreme congestion and access to the newest premium network tiers — in day-to-day use across our 10 stores, most customers never notice a difference.
- Pick Your Perk on eligible plans — choose one bonus like unlimited long distance or extra data, included.
Koodo Prepaid Plans: Who They're For
Prepaid flips the order: pay first, use after, no credit check, no contract, no bill anxiety. In our stores, prepaid is the right answer far more often than people expect. It fits:
- Newcomers to Canadawho haven't built credit history yet — prepaid needs none.
- Students and first-phone teens — parents load a fixed amount, and the plan physically cannot overspend.
- Light users — if your phone is mostly WhatsApp on WiFi, a base prepaid plan with an add-on beats any postpaid plan on price.
- Visitors and temporary stays — activate for the months you need, walk away clean.
The honest trade-off: prepaid per-gigabyte pricing is usually worse than postpaid, and perks are thinner. If you pass a credit check and stay in Canada year-round, postpaid generally wins. If either of those isn't true, prepaid wins. That's the whole decision.
Prepaid vs Postpaid: Which One Fits You
Prepaid means you pay first and then use. Postpaid means we bill you after. That single difference decides credit checks, phone financing and how much control you have over spending. Here is how the two compare at our counters.
| Feature | Prepaid | Postpaid |
|---|---|---|
| When you pay | Upfront, before the month starts | Monthly bill, after service begins |
| Credit check | Usually none | Usually required |
| Phone financing | Typically not offered | Available on eligible phones |
| Spending control | Capped by what you load | Plan limits and overage rules apply |
| Best for | Second phones, kids, short stays, tight budgets | Main lines, financed phones, long-term use |
Pick prepaid ifyou want a hard ceiling on spend, no credit check, or a line for someone who doesn't need a new phone.
Pick postpaid if you want to finance a phone, need the larger data tiers, or hold the line long term.
Not sure which side you land on? Bring your last bill to any of our 10 stores and we'll check the fit before anything is activated. Current Koodo rates for both types sit in the plan cards on this page.
Koodo BYOD: The Discount Nobody Mentions
BYOD — bring your own device — means you activate a plan with the phone already in your pocket. Two things make this the quiet best deal in Canadian wireless:
- No Tab charge on your bill. Your monthly cost is the plan, period.
- Maximum flexibility. With no device balance owing, you can change plans, switch carriers, or pause service without an exit bill.
Who should BYOD: anyone whose phone is working fine, anyone buying a phone outright (including our certified pre-owned phones), and anyone leaving another carrier with a fully paid device. Your phone needs to be unlocked — Canadian carriers have been required to sell phones unlocked since 2017, so unless your device is quite old, it already is. Bring it in if you're not sure; checking takes us thirty seconds.
How the Koodo Tab Actually Works
The Tab is where most Koodo confusion lives, so here's the plain-language version.
When you get a new phone from Koodo, you don't pay full price upfront. The cost spreads across 24 months as a "Tab charge" on top of your plan. Depending on the phone, Koodo structures it a few ways:
| How it works | Best for | |
|---|---|---|
| Tab | Phone's cost ÷ 24 months, added to your bill. No or low upfront cost. | Most people getting a mid-range or flagship phone |
| Tab Plus | Lower monthly Tab on premium phones, with a larger portion structured into the agreement | Flagship buyers who want the lowest monthly hit |
| Pay in full / BYOD | No Tab at all. Plan price is your whole bill. | Anyone with a working phone or cash for the device |
Three Tab facts our team repeats daily:
- Leaving early means paying out the remaining Tab balance— not a penalty, just the rest of the phone you haven't paid for yet. Ask us for your exact buyout number before making any switching decision; it's often smaller than people fear.
- After 24 months, the Tab charge should disappear from your bill.Check your bill at month 25. If you're still paying a device charge on a paid-off phone, come see us — you're due for either a plan drop or a new phone.
- The "free phone" doesn't exist.A no-upfront-cost phone is a financed phone. That's fine — it's an interest-free structure — but know what you're signing.
How to Switch to Koodo Without Losing Your Number
Number transfers (porting) are our bread and butter — Rogers, Bell, Freedom, Fido, Public Mobile, anyone. The process, exactly as it happens in-store:
- Don't cancel your old plan.This is the one rule that matters. A cancelled number can't be transferred. Your old plan ends automatically once the port completes.
- Bring government photo ID and your current account number or a recent bill from your old carrier.
- We activate your Koodo SIM and submit the port. Most transfers complete in 15 minutes to a couple of hours. Your old phone keeps working until the handover moment.
- We move your stuff.Contacts, photos, WhatsApp — we handle the transfer to a new device before you leave, not after you discover something's missing at home.
Total counter time: usually 20–30 minutes.
Bringing your own phone? Confirm it's unlocked first.
Full walkthrough: how to switch phone carriers.
Koodo Questions We Answer Every Day
Is Koodo owned by TELUS?
Yes. Koodo is TELUS's flanker brand, the same way Fido belongs to Rogers and Virgin Plus belongs to Bell. It runs on the TELUS network and is sold by authorized TELUS & Koodo dealers like us.
Is Koodo coverage worse than TELUS?
No — it's the same physical network. Coverage maps are effectively identical. The differences are in network priority during rare extreme congestion and access to top speed tiers. For everyday use in the cities we serve, customers switching from TELUS to Koodo almost never report a coverage change.
Koodo vs TELUS — which should I actually pick?
Pick Koodo for the lowest reliable monthly bill, shock-free data, and self-serve simplicity. Pick TELUS for premium device financing (Easy Payment and Bring It Back), the biggest 5G+ data buckets, home-service bundling, or if your employer qualifies you for EPP pricing — which can make TELUS cheaper than Koodo. Plenty of couples split it: one line each. We sell both at the same counter, so you'll get a straight answer, not a steer.
Does Koodo have 5G?
Yes — current Koodo plans include 5G access at designated speeds on the TELUS network. The entry prepaid tiers run at 4G speeds, which remain more than enough for streaming and video calls.
Can I get Koodo home internet?
Koodo offers home internet in limited regions and situations — it's a different product from these mobile plans. We've written a full breakdown in our Koodo Internet guide, including when TELUS PureFibre is the better call.
What do I need to activate a Koodo plan in-store?
Government photo ID. Add your old account number if you're transferring a number, and the phone itself if you're bringing your own device. That's the whole list — most activations finish inside half an hour.
Is my phone unlocked before I bring it to Koodo?
It needs to be, and most phones sold in Canada since December 2017 already are.A locked phone won't accept a Koodo SIM or eSIM until the lock is removed. Unlocking is free and your current carrier must do it on request.
Test it in under a minute: put in a SIM from a different carrier and place a call. If it connects, you're ready. iPhone users can also check Settings, General, About, then Carrier Lock.
Also confirm the phone supports our network bands. Newer models almost always do. Our team checks both at the counter, and the whole visit usually takes minutes. Find your nearest store.
Can I pay my Koodo bill or get help at your stores?
Yes — any of our 10 locations can help with payments, plan changes, SIM swaps, and the account problems that are painful to solve over the phone. Find your nearest store.
Talk It Through Before You Decide
Here's our standing offer, and it's free: bring your current bill — any carrier — into any Bolt Wireless store.We'll put it next to today's Koodo and TELUS pricing and show you the real difference, including any Tab or exit costs on your side. If staying where you are is genuinely your best deal, we'll say so. Ten minutes, no pressure, and you'll finally know instead of wondering.
Call us at 778-957-8000, find your nearest store, or start with today's live offers.