Koodo prepaid could be the move with $34/50GB, $40/75GB 4G plans

I spend a lot of time monitoring Canadian carrier website and detailing plan changes as part of my job, but one area I haven’t paid much attention to is prepaid plans since in my experience, these typically aren’t great options.

However, I think I’m going to have to start paying a lot more attention because I just looked at Koodo’s prepaid plans for the first time in a long time, and wow, they aren’t bad. There are a ton of options, so I’ll just list ’em out below, starting with the 30-day plans from cheapest to most expensive:

• $15 100 Canada-wide minutes, unlimited incoming calls, bonus 500MB data with automatic top-up
• $25 unlimited Canada-wide calling, 500MB data (1.5GB with auto top-up)
• $29 unlimited Canada-wide calling, 10GB data (15GB with auto top-up)
• $34 unlimited Canada/U.S. minutes, 50GB data (55GB with auto top-up)
• $40 unlimited Canada/U.S. minutes, 75GB (80GB with auto top-up)
• $50 unlimited Canada/U.S. minutes, 100GB (105GB with auto top-up)
• $55 unlimited Canada/U.S. minutes, 105GB (115GB with auto top-up)
• $65 unlimited Canada/U.S. minutes, 110GB (120GB with auto top-up)
• $75 unlimited Canada/U.S. minutes, 120GB (130GB with auto top-up)

Update Oct. 15, 2024 at 11:27am ET: Koodo added a “limited time only” banner to several of the prepaid plans it offers over the weekend. It’s not clear when those plans will go away, but if you’re interested in any of the company’s prepaid options, you might want to jump on them quickly.

All of those plans include 4G data and unlimited international texting (sent from Canada) along with calling features like voicemail, call display, call waiting and more. Like with its postpaid plans, Koodo caps 4G data speeds at 100Mbps. Koodo also has some 360-day plans, though I wasn’t as impressed with these options (though some could be decent for people who just need a basic calling plan).

To put those prices in perspective, Koodo’s post-paid plans cost quite a bit more. For example, there’s the $49/mo for 20GB of 4G data ($44 with autopay) and the $59/60GB plan ($54 with autopay). Even Koodo’s “starter” plans aren’t as good, with options like $35/3GB with 3G data speeds.

Unfortunately, I can’t really compare Koodo’s prepaid to other options because, well, there aren’t that many. Rogers-owned Fido doesn’t appear to offer prepaid anymore, instead directing customers to the Chatr website.

Update Oct. 15, 2024 at 11:27am ET: Rogers and Fido are actually shutting down their prepaid options entirely and pushing existing customers to migrate to postpaid or to Chatr. Learn more here.

Similarly, Bell’s Virgin Plus doesn’t list any prepaid plans on its website. Update Oct. 15, 2024, at 3:16pm ET: Virgin’s support site also notes that Virgin no longer offers prepaid activations. Chatr, Public Mobile and Lucky Mobile have similar prices to Koodo’s prepaid as well, give or take a few dollars (and Public has 5G options too).

Sure, the prepaid plans aren’t perfect, but the cost, in my opinion, is way better than Koodo’s postpaid options. It’d be nice if there were 5G options, and you can’t get a phone with Koodo and one of these plans, but I think that’s about it as far as drawbacks go.

Anyway, with these kind of plans, Koodo’s prepaid options might be worth considering next time you switch your plan. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Black Friday, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Koodo prepaid going forward.