Koodo Mobile – 2 weeks later

I recently purchased a Nexus S with Koodo.

The Nexus S was a large part of the decision but the actual carrier, and their associated attitude and costs are equally and perhaps more important. It’s great to have a race car but if the road on which you can drive it on is poorly built, what is the point? With respect to the Nexus S I’d say I got a mid level Volkswagen coupled with the Autobahn. Not the fastest car in the world but very practical and the road is fast, well constructed and reliable.

Enough with the poor analogies – what does this mean?

The Nexus S cost, on Koodo, is $425. Fortunately Koodo puts $200 of that on a tab (which surprised me as I was only expecting $150). So out of pocket for the phone I was $225+tax.

My Plan:

Unlimited Combo $45
Nationwide Calling $20
Voicemail $6
Data Saver $5 – $30 (up to 1GB)

I use the phone for business, do a lot of calling throughout Canada so the ability to talk as often as I like was really important. Additionally I am in my home office the majority of the time so the relatively small data allowance isn’t a huge deal. I would prefer to have up to 5GB’s so that tethering was not a big deal but as it stands tethering would be emergencies only. If I go over the 1GB maximum I am charged $20.48 per GB or $0.02 per MB. Expensive but not ridiculous.

My billing for last period, tax in, was $87. I am very happy anytime I am under $100.

I am currently very happy with my plan. If that changes I am not on contract and can change carriers at any time.

Speedtest (wifi on):

D/L: 15.68 Mbps
U/L: 2.23 Mbps

Speedtest (wifi off):

D/L: 2.64 Mbps
U/L: 0.26 Mbps

VS my wife’s Galaxy S on Telus (arguably the same network)

Speedtest (wifi on):

D/L: 18.09 Mbps
U/L: 2.34 Mbps

Speedtest (wifi off):

D/L: 2.98 Mbps
U/L: 0.61 Mbps

I doubt the Galaxy S running 2.2 is a more capable machine than my Nexus S running the latest version of CM7. With that in mind I have to conclude, at least in North Nanaimo BC, Telus has a faster network than Koodo. From that we can also derive that Koodo is not the fastest network available. Is it slow? No and you could make the argument that the difference in speed is well worth the difference in price (ie savings). Try getting unlimited calling on any Telus plan…ya good luck with that.

Service

I haven’t had to call these guys yet and hopefully never will. After flashing CM7 I had to re-enter my APN settings…which were available publicly right on the Koodo website. I also had to change my phone number as I am moving to Victoria this weekend. The phone number change was done online and for no charge. In addition to that they have a great mobile site that shows me my current charges, data use and plan info. In short everything I need.

I have been very happy with the Koodo service so far.

Call Quality

I’ll be honest – I have no idea what effects call quality. The combination of my Nexus S and Koodo however do provide for excellent call quality.

Complaint

Every single time I make a long distance call I have to listen to a long recording about something I don’t care about. I would like to never hear that recording again.

Anyone else there on Koodo with similar or completely different experiences?