phones in cozumel ?

[gbray]

Please excuse my ignorance but how do cell phone charges work in mexico? If I make a call from my cell phone while in mexico to someone in mexico is it still considered an international call (since it is a US cell phone number I am calling from)? Is it better just to use the hotel phones? Do the hotels have phones in the rooms?

Thanks for any info
Gary

 

[mjatkins]

I would expect that you would be charged for a call routed through the US if you use your cell phone here. If you need to make some local calls you may be better off to just buy a cheep pay-as-you-go cell once you arrive. You can get them at any telcel phone centre for as little as 300 pesos (about $26 US), and they include a little airtime.

Nowadays you need to register them, but I have seen the people at the Telcel office register them for you right then and there with no problem.

You may also be able to buy a local chip and put it into your existing phone.

 

[DandyDon]

Some of that depends on which carrier you use. Before Verizon took over Alltell, I loved the latter's plan for free Mexico roaming, but Verizon doesn't have one. They told me that they did when I discussed the vague description on their site in 2009, but they were wrong and that could have been an expensive mistake to argue if I had used the Unlimited After 9pm minutes extensively like I did on Alltell before evacuating in advance of hurricane Dean - with the company calling the decision. Calling Continental Air's local and Mexico toll free numbers was impossible that week so I was calling their Houston number, along with calls home.

I guess a lot of cell phone users today may not remember the old Home areas of the area cell phone carriers maybe? With my first cell plan, I could use my phone without roaming charges in northwest Texas only. :shocked2: Calling across the street while in Dallas or Florida was quite expensive. Today, Verizon phones aren't supposed to work in Mexico unless you call to ask for that option, then will cost you $1/minute locally I think,* more to call long distance, much more to call the US, and then there the extra charges for texting and/or data which can be significant.

* These things change so rapidly tho, it's wise to talk with your carrier, even if it's the same as mine - and hope they know what they're saying. I'm not supposed to receive texts when in Mexico but often do on my old phone; I never try texting from there.​

ATT&T may have more & better options internationally, the others...?

Nowadays, I carry a headset and use Sykpe - on my laptop or a public computer. I forgot my headset once, and it's rude to use one's laptop speakers in a public place - but the airline earphones I'd kept on the flight in worked ok after removing an adapter along with the built-in mic on my laptop.

Now, there is no roaming issue with Skype as they look at calls as if they were placed from your home: 2.3¢/min to 49 states, 6¢/min to Alaska, 2.3¢ to 10.5¢/min to non-mobile numbers in Mexico, 33.6¢/min to mobile numbers! :shocked2: I use the hotel room phone to call my dive shop, but to call off of the island - I don't know. Where do you want to call? Most hotels have room phones I think, some may not, hotel policies may vary, so - where are you staying?

 

[stronj1]

We stay at the Cozumel Palace Resort and local calls and calls to the continental US (not 800 calls) are no charge.

 

[ggunn]

We stay at the Cozumel Palace Resort and local calls and calls to the continental US (not 800 calls) are no charge.

Same for Blue Angel as long as you don't abuse it. It's on their front desk phone.

 

[DandyDon]

Never heard of free calls to US - cool.

 

[robbcayman]

AT&T has an international plan that you can add to your phone. I do know that if you use it in Jamaica you can't dial out from your phone book. You must manually put in 1 + the area code and the number. So, if you run into problems calling out do it manually.

I'm heading to Cozumel in May and I'm adding the international plan to mine. Hey, I just thought of something else. Has anyone tried bringing their laptop and connecting to the hotel's wireless and running a magic jack? That would probably be the cheapest option and long distance anywhere is free I believe with the magic jack. Actually, I may try that.

 

[tridacna]

Using ATT with ANY international plan will be VERY VERY expensive.

Using ANY US based carrier while abroad will be VERY expensive. You will be unpleasantly surprised when you get your next phone bill. Beware. Especially of data plans.

Best two options are:

1. If you have an iPhone or Android device, turn off international roaming and data. Download an App like Vumber or Skype and use that with WIFI when travelling. In cozumel, there is a Starbucks at the cruise-ship terminal. Get a cup of coffee and a free WIFI code is on the receipt.

or

2. If you have an unlocked GSM phone, buy a SIM from a local carrier when you are there and use that. It won't solve dialing back to the US but incoming calls are free and your friends can dial you back from the US at relatively low rates. You can SMS them relatively cheaply.

If you don't have an unlocked GSM phone, you can purchase one from J&R online.

Do not pre-purchase a SIM on the Internet. They are a super rip-off. You will prepay for minutes at 8-10 times the price that you will pay in the country that you are visiting. They will also charge you $$$ for the SIM which should cost you nothing.

Good luck!

 

[ggunn]

I turn off my cellphone when they tell me to on the plane in Houston before we take off for Cozumel, and it stays off until we land in Houston on the way back.

 

[njones259]

I have the AT&T international plan and leave my phone on for business when I am in Coz.It isn't to crazy if I am just texting but it can get expensive when one of my customers doesn't know I am away and just wants to shoot the breeze.I like the idea of purchasing a local phone but how long can you keep the account active and how do you replenish?