3G Usage Price Increase on a phone using VoLTE

Hi

From your description, the charge tracks what the network considers your device to be, not what the status bar shows. The page you linked spells out the criteria — on select devices (those more than six years old, not certified by TELUS or from another country), your data connection uses LTE while calls fall back to the legacy 3G network. So having VoLTE enabled and seeing LTE under voice and data doesn't rule the charge out on its own.

Firstly. I recommend you run the device through the compatibility checker to see how the network reads it https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/how-to-use-volte

As well, if calls really are falling back to 3G, the $5 isn't the whole story — the 3G network shuts down nationally starting March 1, 2027, and you'd lose calling on that device at that point.

If it still looks wrong to you after checking, you don't need a phone number — submit it through "Ask us to review a charge" in Self Serve and Koodo will get back to you by SMS or email https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/ask-us-to-review-a-charge-on-your-bill

But everything on my phone indicates that it’s using VoLTE. The Koodo SIM status reads “LTE” under both “Mobile voice network type” and “Mobile data network type”. If my phone were using 3G for calls, I would not expect it to say “LTE” for “Mobile voice network type”. Right?

It's actually quite simple to test if your phone is compatible with Koodo VoLTE. Just turn off your Wi-Fi, make an outgoing call, and check the top right of your screen. If the LTE icon changes to 3G or HSPA, your phone is not compatible with Koodo VoLTE

Unfortunately, your device is extremely outdated and not compatible with VoLTE on the Koodo network. It is mainly relying on the 3G network when you are making or receiving calls, which is why you are seeing the charge on your bill.

This should be an easy fix. If you want to keep a OnePlus device, you can upgrade your phone to the OnePlus 10 or later. According to this link, they should be capable of using VoLTE out of the box.

From what I’ve read here and elsewhere on the internet, my device supports VoLTE but Koodo is does not allow IMS registration from my device. Apparently, Koodo uses an IMEI whitelist that restricts which phones can use their 4G network. My phone isn’t whitelisted by Koodo, so it falls back to 3G. But this is entirely by Koodo’s design.

It makes no sense in a BYoD situation for them to prevent my device from using their 4G network and then charge me extra to use the 3G network. It’s great as a money-making scheme because it’s as if your land-lord or utility company cuts off your tap water and then also has a monopoly on bottled water. This is clearly a racket to rent seek customers using their moat or force customers to lease a new phone from the carrier itself. Telus abusing loyalty to increase margins is exactly their playbook.

Apparently, there are ways to circumvent this by forcing VoLTE without IMS registration or by IMEI spoofing. And in cases where customers have done that and it works, yet are still getting billed the 3G usage fee, customers can open a complaint with CCTS to force their carrier to comply. So I’ll be looking into this when I get home in a few weeks.

But Koodo refusing to allow my phone to use VoLTE because of a whitelist of their design and then charging me when my phone is forced to use their “legacy” network because of that whitelist is complete bs and should be illegal.

Buying a new phone is not a real solution when the only thing wrong with my current one is that Koodo wants me to buy a phone from them.