Telus and Koodo now officially charge $50 connection fees

Telus and flanker brand Koodo have officially increased connection fees to $50, rounding out the latest sage of price increases.

The Vancouver-based national carrier previously confirmed plans to increase the cost of its connection fee on July 29th after Bell and its flanker brand, Virgin Mobile Plus raised their connection fees to $50 on July 7th. Rogers followed suit over the weekend and flanker brand Fido also upped its connection fee to $50 earlier this week.

Now, both the Telus and Koodo websites list $50 connection fees. In Telus’ case, the new fee can be found on a ‘Mobility fees’ support page (available here). “The $50 connection fee includes a SIM card and access to a TELUS team member to process your activation or renewal along with other exclusive TELUS services like Smart Start, Learning Sessions and the Device Checkup App,” the site reads. As before, people who order online can avoid paying the fee.

However, things are a little different with Koodo. The $50 connection fee is listed in the details for each plan on the carrier’s Plans page. Like Telus, Koodo also waives the connection fee for online orders. But unlike Telus, Koodo recently added a $5 SIM card charge to online orders.

To be fair, $5 is a lot less than $50 and, if I had to choose, I’d happily pay the $5. That said, it’s ridiculous that customers have to pay a fee at all when activating a plan with a carrier.

Telus last raised its connection fee in November 2020, roughly nine months ago, from $40 to $45.