Koodo Mobile

Amp'd Mobile (2007)

Telus Mobility's competitor, Bell Mobility, had an MVNO partnership with Virgin Group to create Virgin Mobile Canada. This brand was in operation since 2005, and it mainly targeted high school, college, and university students. In response, Telus Mobility had a similar but much shorter partnership with the American Amp'd Mobile in 2007 to create a Canadian MVNO. It was ended because the Amp'd Mobile operations in the United States suffered from poor customer service and bankruptcy. This meant that unlike Bell, Telus no longer had a mobile brand targeting students.

Koodo Mobile launches (2008-2009)

Nearly a year after the launch day of Amp'd Mobile in Canada, Telus launched Koodo Mobile on March 17, 2008, in Canada. This mobile brand provided services at a lower cost than most other companies.

BlackBerry and transition to HSPA+ (2010)

Many customers at Koodo requested the addition of full QWERTY keyboard devices to facilitate text input for SMS and Internet-based tasks such as email and social networking services. On May 25, 2010, Koodo launched their first smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 8530. The following month, Koodo released the Nokia 3710 as their first HSPA+ device on June 28, 2010. After this date, the company gradually started to discontinue sales of CDMA devices.

HSPA+ smartphones and Canada-wide monthly plans (2011)

Six HSPA+ smartphones were released in 2011. The first was the LG Optimus One, launched on March 2. Later that month, the BlackBerry Curve 9300 was available starting March 23. The Nexus S was added to Koodo's lineup on April 12, 2011. In order to prepare for the back-to-school season, Koodo discontinued sales of all CDMA devices near the end of June 2011, less than a year after the carrier launched their first HSPA device. Shortly thereafter, they were replaced by the iPhone 4 and two low-cost Android devices.

Products

Koodo's product lineup mainly consists of smartphones but also includes a few feature phones. Smartphones are currently sold with one of two operating systems preloaded: Android or iOS. Koodo currently carries phones from Alcatel, Apple, Blackberry, Essential, Google, Huawei, LG, and Samsung.

All devices carried by Koodo are, or at least previously were, also available at Telus Mobility.

Services

Data services

With Shock-Free Data, you can purchase 300 MB for $12 or 1 GB for $22. As well, you can use your plans' pay-per-use rate which currently sits at 100 MB for $7 but older plans may have different rates.

Koodo started offering eSIM on its plans on January 9, 2020. Customers with the eSIM enabled devices and smartphones can purchase the eSIM voucher online and connect to the network.

Controversy

Discontinuation of per-second billing

Numerous current and prospective Koodo customers became disappointed and frustrated with the removal of per-second billing on Koodo Mobile's February 2012 monthly voice plans. Customers were given no advance warnings of these changes, although a third-party blog did provide a leaked brochure of the new per-minute plans. These plans cost $5/month more than their previous counterpart and include the caller ID and voicemail features, but are billed per minute instead of per second. One of the five plans was also lowered to 100 minutes instead of the 150 previously included, but the backlash to this change prompted the company to reverse this decision. Customers on Koodo's Facebook profile and the operator's Get Satisfaction Internet forum criticized the removal of per-second billing, perceiving it as "one step forward, two steps back". Existing customers with old plans are grandfathered with per-second billing, but will receive per-minute billing if they change their plan. There were over 100 frustrated customers voicing their support for per-second billing, with some considering a switch to another operator.

Illegally painting a duplex for an advertisement

In June 2024, Koodo's advertising agency Camp Jefferson painted a century-old duplex in Montréal, Québec in bright neon colors for an advertisement. The city intervened, citing that their urbanism laws prohibited painting bricks on the facade of most if its buildings, that heritage buildings have special protections in place and that rules are in place to limit ads in the urban landscape. Camp Jefferson said that they asked for guidance, which was given by an employee of the city. The duplex was restored to its original state in July, at the original plan's planned date.