Koodo Home Phone 5$ now ?

[BearFBI]

https://www.koodomobile.com/phones/wireless-home-phone

I was looking at Koodo's wireless home phone and its 5$. Was it always that price ? That seems a little cheap.

Heres some details.

$5 /per month 1

Plus a $125 onetime fee (Hub + SIM card)

• Unlimited Canada-wide calling (see international rates)

• Voicemail 10

• Call display

• Call waiting

• Conference calling

• Call forwarding (up to 2500 minutes)2

• $45 connection fee applies when purchased in store

• $0 connection fee when you order online!

Not Included:

• Home Phone handset

There is no limited time pricing listed anywhere

Why Wireless home phone with Koodo?

• You'll have unlimited Canada-wide calling built right into Canada's largest wireless network
• You can bring your existing home phone number with you
• No technicians needed

Hmm. Im wondering if you can use the SIM card in a phone... 5$ a month for unlimited Canada wide calling is a deal and a half. If you dont need text it may be good for seniors.

So if this does work in a phone you basically have a 5$ calling plan. Only problem is you have to pay the equipment price. Mabey you will be able to reject the equipment and say your using your own ? Worst case they offer 30 day money back guarantee. 

EDIT: oh. "Limited time offer. You'll pay $5/month for the first 12 months. On month 14, you'll begin paying the regular price, currently $20/month. "

I had to dig deep to find that. I mean you still could take advantage of it for a year then threaten to leave. Or just leave entirely and make a new account with them.

[BearFBI]

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@Nezgar wrote:

the features of voip.ms drove the techie in me to figure out how to do it myself...

Voip.ms is really fun to mess around with. I remember a while ago I was into VOIP and i was trying to find a home phone alternative for my parents. I was considering either going with Fongo or Voip.ms but i just made the decision that they should get a cell phone. 

I might consider getting a friend of mine setup with fongo home phone though. Ive done a lot of research a long time ago so I know all about fongo.

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[softech]

I am using Freephoneline.com, Fongo parent company, with my own ATA adapter.. there is some work to setup the adaptor but then it's free (only one time setup free + the ATA hardware cost)

Fongo/Freephoneline at home is working quiet well, i have been using it a lot for meetings as I have been working from home..

on the other hand Fongo Mobile app is terrible.. quiet often people not hearing me ... or they call me and it goes to voicemail without even a ring.  😞

[Nezgar]

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@BearFBI wrote:

I mean if your looking for a home phone I'm sure Fongo is great. I've heard many good things about Fongo. i made this thread because i was interested in the SIM part of it and that you man be able to use it in a cell phone (turns out you cant).

All true... Although the adapter is still kind of "fun" to play with afterwards to put in another unlocked SIM into once you unlock the adapter itself... I have leftover adapters from Rogers & Koodoo myself that I've unlocked...

For home phone Fongo is great but its BIGGEST downside is the ATA adapter isnt configurable. it comes pre configured and locked to their settings. freephoneline.ca fixes that but you have to pay a hefty upfront cost to get assess and its sorta a gamble.

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I agree - Initially I appreciated getting a preconfigured device due to my limited VoIP experience at the time. This "managed" configuration is perfect for most non-technical folks. Though eventually quirks like they could never get the setting for Saskatchewan's time zone to stick and most incoming calls had no caller ID name display and the features of voip.ms drove the techie in me to figure out how to do it myself...

Fongo's adapter is not really locked well... I was able to simply factory reset their ATA while not connected to the Internet, and erased the provisioning server URL. Then I proceeded to set it up to connect to voip.ms instead. Now I get correct caller ID timestamps and name display, and of course all the other goodies DIY techies like about voip.ms...

[BearFBI]

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@Nezgar wrote:

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@Luddite wrote:

If you really want $5 home phone look at Fongo home phone, and only $29 for the converter. https://www.fongo.com/#homephone

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I can second this... I had Rogers Wireless Home phone service (equivalent to Koodo's) and I can say that the audio quality from the Fongo home phone (VoIP + ATA) was much better, just as good as a real POTS line (uncompressed G.711) and now also includes canada-wide calling (to provinces) too. This would be a good "backup" line for better quality when at home, and for long-distance calls now that province-wide plans are becoming a thing at PM again. Fongo home phone also lets you setup additional numbers for "simultaneous ring" such as your mobile number.

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I mean if your looking for a home phone im sure fongo is great. ive heard many good things about fongo. i made this thread because i was interested in the SIM part of it and that you man be able to use it in a cell phone (turns out you cant).

For home phone fongo is great but its BIGGEST downside is the ATA adapter isint configurable. it comes pre configured and locked to their settings. Freephoneline.ca fixes that but you have to pay a hefty upfront cost to get acsess and its sorta a gamble.

911 calling is a whole other discussion too.

[Nezgar]

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@Luddite wrote:

If you really want $5 home phone look at Fongo home phone, and only $29 for the converter. https://www.fongo.com/#homephone

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I can second this... I had Rogers Wireless Home phone service (equivalent to Koodo's) and I can say that the audio quality from the Fongo home phone (VoIP + ATA) was much better, just as good as a real POTS line (uncompressed G.711) and now also includes canada-wide calling (to provinces) too. This would be a good "backup" line for better quality when at home, and for long-distance calls now that province-wide plans are becoming a thing at PM again. Fongo home phone also lets you setup additional numbers for "simultaneous ring" such as your mobile number.

[Luddite]

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@BearFBI wrote:

@Anonymous Interesting.... Usually the SIM lock would be on the phone. Not the actual SIM card. I wonder how they did that. Darn.

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@BearFBI Pretty sure SIM lock codes are on the SIM itself. The PM SIM PIN is required in order to create a personal unlock code for a SIM.

Problems begin when you enter the SIM PIN incorrectly 3 times which locks the SIM (not your phone) until you get the PUK code from the carrier.

[will13am]

Lol, the SIMs for the wireless home phone is device locked.  If not, everyone would be getting $5 Canada wide calling plans.  Bell does the same thing with tablet data plans.  

[Anonymous]

Well there we go then. I won't bother fiddling with it anymore.

[Karnbot13]

I've tried the default pins for the koodo home phone card in an unlocked cell phone. They didn't work for me so I stopped trying before the card got locked out

[Anonymous]

 @darlicious , @BearFBI 

Well really in a way it doesn't matter. One would be more interested in using the device than the card. But maybe having the flexibility of using the account on another device might be useful.

I'll try again in another phone sometime maybe. The phone was in airplane mode too before I put the SIM in and of course it didn't give me the opportunity to turn it off after I restarted.

I tried 1234 and a likely own PIN.

[darlicious]

@Anonymous 

Did you ever try the default pin# (1234) in it? My A3 asks for it now after I stopped using both sim slots.....whenever I remove the sim card?

Edit: and after I tested another providers phone's sim card in it.....I recall now.

[BearFBI]

@Anonymous Interesting.... Usually the SIM lock would be on the phone. Not the actual SIM card. I wonder how they did that. Darn.

[Anonymous]

Lol I'll give that a whirl. I bet it would. It's just a SIM. It'll be a short while.

Edit: Ok not exactly short. I put it in a phone and it wanted a SIM unlock PIN. The phone's unlocked. I don't remember if and why I would have locked a SIM in that phone and I've put PM SIM's into it and all is fine. So I can only assume the SIM is locked from Telus. I don't care enough to do anything else about it.

[BearFBI]

@Anonymous But the real question is does the SIM that comes included with the WHP adaptor work in a cell phone ? Im curious. 

[Anonymous]

I've had the Telus Wireless Home Phone (WHP) one for a few years now. 10 bucks. Then it somehow went to 5 bucks. Then somehow back to 10. Then I moved and picked up some Telus Home Services (HS) and having this Telus Mobility piece of business - 10 bucks off the HS...makes the WHP a free wash.

The PM SIM works fine in it.

I also had the Telus Smart Hub. Stopped that when I got the HS. (ported the internal phone number to my third account here) The PM SIM works fine in that too...talk and data. Telus neutered the Smart Hub for talk. But it all works fine with the PM SIM.

[Luddite]

$125 for the ATA to connect cell service to your handset. If you really want $5 home phone look at Fongo home phone, and only $29 for the converter. 
https://www.fongo.com/#homephone