Mexico

[DRNewcomb]

On eBay someone is selling a Telcel (Mex.) SIM with $6 credit for $19.95 + $4 postage. Looking in the Mexico section it seems that you can buy them in Mexico for ~$18.50 with that much (200 Peso) credit in place. Am I missing something here or is this eBay seller "too proud" of his Telcel SIM? Are they easy to find in most tourist areas of Mexico?

[VladS]

They're easy to find in 'metropolitan' tourist areas such as Acapulco and Cancun, however they're almost impossible to find in areas with more tourists than locals such as Riviera Maya.

Another item to consider is that in Mexico you pay for incoming calls if you're outside of the 'local' area where the SIM card is based in. Finding a location specific SIM on eBay can be quite difficult.

From a coverage point of view I would go for Telcel rater than Telefonica, as their footprint is much better.

In my opinion your best bet for service in Mexico is still the IoM based eKit Premium SIM card, as it still offers free incoming calls.

vs

[money69]

Alot of people here will suggest for you to maybe go with Telcel here because they have more coverage, however, I will tell you that I have traveled to several parts of Mexico and had excellent coverage with Movistar everywhere I am. I travel to Monterrey at least once a month and have had excellent coverage there as well. Where are you specifically traveling to? Also, in regards to pricing, Movistar has Telcel beat hands down, look at this page here: http://www.movistar.com.mx/n1/n1_prep_tipo.html

They have a prepaid plan called "por llamada" which charges a flat rate per call, I use it and its excellent. Anyway, let me know if you have any questions in regards to the cell service there, I;ve tried both Telcel and Movistar and know alot about both.

Another thing I would like to add is that its difficult to find the sims by themself, usually the best plan is to buy the phone and sim, its not much money, usually $35 or $40 or so.

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by VladS

In my opinion your best bet for service in Mexico is still the IoM based eKit Premium SIM card, as it still offers free incoming calls.

Another alternative for Mexico is 09, with cbw, enlinea or gphone callback.

Using this I receive calls for free (but the person calling has to call an Icelandic mobile, unless I forward from somewhere).

More importantly I could make outgoing calls to the US/UK for around 10c/min. I haven't used this since the spring, so no idea if it all still works, I'll be there again in a few weeks to try it. Callback would work with eKit card as well of course, otherwise their outgoing price is excessive.

[Stu]

We need to take a hard look at Mexico in a couple of months. With all the rule changes currently going on in Mexico, things may change with respect to roaming very quickily.

[DRNewcomb]

Well, I'll only actually be in Mexico for a couple of days. However, T-Mobile's roaming rates there are outlandish and UM's are not much better. Since I have only a little Spanish, I think it will probably be better not to try to find a SIM there and just SMS roam forwarding my incoming calls to voicemail (with a message asking the caller to send a numeric page or SMS) and return calls from a landline.

Calls from a landline will run about US$0.25 - $0.35/min which should work fine for a couple of days.

If trips to Mexico become a regular thing I'll invest more time in finding a better solution. But this is my first trip to Mexico in over 30 years, so I doubt it will be necessary.

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by Stu

With all the rule changes currently going on in Mexico, things may change with respect to roaming very quickily.

I've just been back to Mexico. 09 has stopped working on both Telcel and Movistar (that, with gphone callback, worked well for me at 10c/min to US/UK last year). 09 now only works on one of the US networks as well, can't remember if it used to be more.

The Movistar-by-call plan does now look the best option for lengthy calls to the US (around US$1 for each 30 mins), especially as incoming calls are now free so could be used with callback as well.

Does anybody know if the Movistar recharges roll-over (accumulate), or do they, as the website says, simply expire after 90 days? How long after they expire do I have to recharge again before I lose the number, will an online recharge while out of the country keep it active?

[prion]

So 09 does not have coverage at all in Mexico now?

[VladS]

Originally Posted by RTuesday

The Movistar-by-call plan does now look the best option for lengthy calls to the US (around US$1 for each 30 mins), especially as incoming calls are now free so could be used with callback as well.

Do they still charge out-of-area roaming fees on incoming calls (eg. DF based SIM used in Riviera Maya).

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by prion

So 09 does not have coverage at all in Mexico now?

Mine doesn't (won't register on any network), still registers in the US so i don't think it's the card.

The local card might not be so great for callback though, as most companies seem to have already switched to charging (much) more to call Mexico mobile than Mexico fixed.

Yes, there is still a charge (3.45 pesos/min) for incoming non-local calls when out of your local area:
http://www.movistar.com.mx/prepago/p_prep_llam-f.html