Challenge with ex-Koodo handsets?

[ottawa]

A friend has an old Koodo handset. It's a Samsung Galaxy SIIx to be precise, and it's gorgeous though dated. It was a $600 flagship when Telus introduced it in 2011 (I went with Telus for that price when it came out, my friend got hers a year later).

It worked well on Koodo but I don't think she had data just talk, text, and WiFi. Later she switched to Fido with data and it worked okay. But on Public Mobile she's always had trouble. When she wants to use data she often has to power cycle the handset (another friend had a similar problem I think).

My current thought is that it's got the Koodo APN hard-coded as default on the APN list, and even with the PM APN there, if for some reason data goes off, when it comes back it latches onto the Koodo APN (both being Telus of course). That would fit with it working on Fido, since it would ignore the Koodo APN and go straight for Fido. That's my working hypothesis anyway. 🙂

Is this a common issue (which it would be if my theory is right)? Or is it possibly either common to the Koodo-SIIx-on-PM, or something wrong with her handset? If we can fix the problem she'll probably keep using it, but if she's going to have the same problem I'll suggest a Bell, Rogers, or carrier-agnostic handset (e.g. Motorola). Running on PM of course. 🙂

Thanks!

=andrew

[will13am]

Oh my.  I read the title and the phone in question.  The thinking is yes definitely a challenge using such an old phone.  I had an old Pentium III that cost more than 3x what I paid for my current coffee lake computer.   As much as it feels so wasteful throwing all that money into the recycle bin, it had to go.  I would say this is a perfect excuse to let go.

[wetcoaster]

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@ottawa wrote:

My own recommendation is that she get a new handset. But I still come back to the question whether people here are running Koodo handsets on PM. I don't want to work to get her a new handset and have trouble because it's Koodo or Telus (but I also don't want to tell her to avoid Koodo if it's not an issue).

Thanks!

=aw

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As mentioned by others the problems could have more to do with the age of the device and the lack of OS updates than being originally provided by Koodo.

The consensus here is that, since Public Mobile, Koodo and Telus are in the same family running on exactly the same network, there should not be a problem using a Koodo device with a Public Mobile SIM card. (nowadays all new devices sold in Canada are carrier unlocked - until last December Telus and Koodo devices were the only ones that didn't need to be unlocked to work on Public Mobile.)

[ottawa]

My own recommendation is that she get a new handset. But I still come back to the question whether people here are running Koodo handsets on PM. I don't want to work to get her a new handset and have trouble because it's Koodo or Telus (but I also don't want to tell her to avoid Koodo if it's not an issue).

Thanks!

=aw

[meocon]

@ottawa I think it's a time for her to get a new model phone as Android OS is not like iOS it doesn't update a new software for old phone over time so... Moreover, I think it's annoyed because of restoring a phone all the time to get network data work.

[srlawren]

The fact that it starts working again for a time when rebooted--to my mind--rules out APN issue but yeah it might be time to try a factory reset to see if that can bring new life to the device.  Make sure your friend backs up anything they want to keep that isn't already backed up or synced to a cloud service.

[vogelhut]

I would second the incorrect APN assumption. I'm guessing the phone is running an older version of Android, but there should be a delete option in the APN settings. Maybe also worth noting that Fido, Koodo, and Public are alphabetic in that order  Coincidence?

If all else fails you can always try a factory reset. 

[ottawa]

I loved my SIIx, it was rock solid for 3+ years on Telus and my friend's was great on Fido. Agree it's dated now though. Guess we just have different opinions.

Does anyone else have similar experience with a Koodo-branded handset on PM?

Thanks!

=aw

[bridonca]

It is the handset!  They were trash when they were new, they certainly did not improve with age!  $80 will get you you an Alcatel U50, which is still trash, but better than that beast!