Koodo Mobile 4G & LTE Wireless Network Canada Coverage Maps

While your first instinct when shopping for a new mobile provider may be to check its plan speeds or data options, one of the most important factors to consider is network coverage. After all, if a carrier doesn’t provide adequate coverage in your area, that fancy new phone and won’t be worth anything.

Thankfully, contract-free cell phone carrier Koodo Mobile gets a major boost by running on the TELUS mobile network, with three speeds available within its coverage area—so for most Canadians, cell phone coverage won’t be a worry. Let’s dive a bit deeper into what you can expect with a full Koodo Mobile coverage review.

Koodo Mobile’s Coverage Area

Launched in 2008, Koodo Mobile operates on its parent company TELUS’ 4G LTE mobile network—and that’s a great thing for customers. TELUS covers 99% of Canadians throughout the country and boasts the fastest speeds around.

Koodo Mobile network coverage can be found widely within the following provinces:

• Alberta
• Mid- to southern Saskatchewan
• New Brunswick
• Prince Edward Island
• Nova Scotia
• Southern Newfoundland and Labrador

You can also find scattered Koodo Mobile coverage in:

• Mid-and southern British Columbia, with heavier LTE/LTE-A concentrations around the Vancouver area
• Southern Ontario, with heavier concentrations around Toronto and Ottawa
• Southern Quebec, with heavier LTE/LTE-A concentrations around Montreal and Quebec City
• Southern Manitoba, with heavier LTE/LTE-A concentrations around the Winnipeg area
• Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut (in small pockets)

For international travelers, Koodo Mobile also extends the benefit of connecting within one of its extended coverage areas on using its Easy Roam feature.

International Coverage

If you often find yourself jet-setting beyond Canada’s borders, you may be worried about how to communicate with friends and family while you’re away. For this, Koodo Mobile offers Easy Roam and extended coverage.

Easy Roam

Easy Roam is Koodo Mobile’s roaming service add-on for any postpaid plan. This service allows you to use your current plan abroad for a daily fee. You can activate Easy Roam before you leave through your Self Serve account, and you’re only charged for the days you actually use your phone plan’s minutes and/or data.

There are two Easy Roam options based on where you’ll be traveling; each is charged at a different rate, then capped at a specific threshold until your next billing cycle. After hitting that threshold, you can keep using Easy Roam without the daily charge.

Rates and limits are as follows:

• Easy Roam U.S.: $8/day, up to $100 per billing cycle
• Easy Roam International: $12/day, up to $150 per billing cycle

These prices are relatively equivalent to competitors like Virgin Mobile and Fido, who charge $7-8 per day for their U.S. roaming add-ons or $11-12 per day for international options.

Calls and texts to Canadian numbers are included, as well as numbers within the country you’re traveling within, but you’ll be charged on a pay-per-use scale for subscription or premium messages. Incoming texts are always free. The daily fee is activated once you initiate your first phone call or send your first text message, and is valid for the full 24 hours afterwards.

Easy Roam covers over 100 countries worldwide. Popular locations include:

U.S. Destinations (outside of the mainland):

• Alaska
• Hawaii
• Guam
• Puerto Rico

International Destinations:

• Mexico
• The United Kingdom
• Costa Rica
• South Africa
• Australia
• India
• Japan

Both LTE and HSPA coverage are widely available throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, and territories like Puerto Rico and Guam. Coverage gets much more limited when visiting Alaska, and international coverage varies based on each country’s specific roaming partner with Koodo Mobile. HSPA coverage is more widely available than LTE in many areas — visit the TELUS’ international coverage map for specifics in the country you’re traveling to.

Koodo Extended Coverage Areas

Koodo features Canada’s largest cellular network, but also offers “extended coverage” areas in specific regions outside of its HSPA+/LTE network coverage. This expands coverage to southwestern Ontario. You can use up to one half of your total monthly data within extended coverage locations. Note that your data speeds will be slower, and you might find yourself unable to access certain apps.

4G LTE vs. 4G HSPA+

To understand what Koodo Mobile’s network coverage means for you, it’s important to be clear about how the different levels of 4G coverage actually work. In short, 4G stands for “fourth generation,” as in the fourth iteration of mobile technology. Within this fourth generation are different options for connecting to a mobile data network.

• HSPA+means “evolved high speed packet access,” and is a sort of bridge between 3G and 4G cell technology—which is why it’s sometimes called 3.5G. It can reach top potential speeds of 42.2 Mbps, but often lands around 8 Mbps, as it still uses much of the same technology of 3G. It has very wide coverage, though, since it requires less bandwidth for access, and basically forms the “bones” of a 4G network.
• LTE—short for Long Term Evolution—is the next step up in cell technology and uses radio waves to send data back and forth. It can theoretically reach download speeds of up to 1Gbps. Most cell phone networks have implemented LTE throughout their coverage areas, but in places they don’t, you’ll likely drop back to HSPA+.
• LTE Advanced (or LTE-A) is the latest and fastest in mobile connections, before 5G arrives at our doorstep. Rather than transmitting data over just a single frequency of radio waves, LTE uses multiple frequencies, resulting in much faster download and upload speeds. As such, its coverage is more limited than its standard LTE counterpart, though it’s still widely found throughout Canada and international destinations.

What does this mean for you? Most households will have no problem accessing, at minimum, a standard LTE network. LTE-A is more accessible from major cities and metro areas. You can always check Koodo’s coverage map to see where each connection type is available.

Let’s take a closer look at how Koodo Mobile compares to two similar carriers: Fido and Virgin Mobile.

Koodo vs. Fido

Fido Solutions is owned by Rogers Communications, whose network is concentrated more highly around Canada’s urban areas. It leaves many rural customers out of its coverage perimeter — and Koodo Mobile picks up the slack in those areas, particularly within northern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador.Whereas Koodo’s network covers 99% of Canadians, Fido only claims 97% coverage.Additionally, Fido lacks the option for LTE Advanced connectivity (so no lightning-fast download speeds), yet its plans are more expensive overall, giving Koodo the advantage in these areas as well. Between these two, the clear winner is Koodo.

Koodo vs. Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile Canada is a sub-brand of Bell Mobility—which shares the same LTE network as Koodo’s parent company, TELUS. As such, their coverage map and speed options are practically identical, and their “bring your own phone” plan prices are pretty comparable.However, Koodo’s combined phone payment and service plans are cheaper (maxing out at $75 per month, compared to Virgin Mobile’s $115 per month). This is because Koodo uses a “Tab” system when buying a new device, so after two years your price automatically drops. Virgin Mobile plan prices remain the same even after you’ve paid off your new smartphone.

Popular Plans from Koodo Mobile