Cell question?

[NDL_Diver]

We have Tmobile and have unlimted Talk,Text and 5Gb of Data no extra cost. Works islan wide (where there is cell).

 

[ReefHound]

We have Tmobile and have unlimted Talk,Text and 5Gb of Data no extra cost. Works islan wide (where there is cell).

I've used my free TMO in lots of countries. So nice not to have to worry about this nonsense any more.

 

[mstevens]

We have Tmobile and have unlimted Talk,Text and 5Gb of Data no extra cost. Works islan wide (where there is cell).

You have that for a while, but not for particularly long (perhaps 2-3 months, tops) before they cancel your account. You're also fairly likely to burn through 5 Gb of data in less than a week. Read starting with post #43 in this thread.

 

[arew+4]

No additional cost forT mobile, no 5g though, may be an island thing don't know for sure.

 

[ReefHound]

You have that for a while, but not for particularly long (perhaps 2-3 months, tops) before they cancel your account. You're also fairly likely to burn through 5 Gb of data in less than a week. Read starting with post #43 in this thread.

I thought we were talking about tourist use not ex-pat use? I've never depleted my 5Gb in 3 weeks but I don't try to sync media to the cloud from the beach. If you need to do heavy bandwidth work, get on wifi. My phone is on wifi anytime at the hotel. It doesn't quit working when you use up your 5Gb you just get throttled to a lower bandwidth.

 

[ggunn]

No additional cost forT mobile, no 5g though, may be an island thing don't know for sure.

I don't know a whole lot about the nuts and bolts of cellular communication, but I have T Mobile and it works on Cozumel for voice and text.

 

[gopbroek]

No additional cost forT mobile, no 5g though, may be an island thing don't know for sure.

I went to T-Mobile specifically because of the unlimited Mexico and Canada voice and data. Then T-Mobile quietly shifted to a 5 Gig cap for 4G LTE in Mexico. 5GB, no problem initially, but as time goes by the average sites you visit (including SB) have become more and more bloated with ads that burn a lot of data. I now find that basic usage burns through 500 to 900 Mb per day.

 

[ReefHound]

I went to T-Mobile specifically because of the unlimited Mexico and Canada voice and data. Then T-Mobile quietly shifted to a 5 Gig cap for 4G LTE in Mexico. 5GB, no problem initially, but as time goes by the average sites you visit (including SB) have become more and more bloated with ads the burn a lot of data. I now find that basic usage burns through 500 to 900 Mb per day.

Most of the time I use my phone in Coz is either back at the hotel or sitting at a restaurant, in which case I will be on wifi and not reducing the limit. Roaming about the island, most of my usage is either maps, texts, and maybe a little facebook for a brief time killer.

 

[DandyDon]

Most of the time I use my phone in Coz is either back at the hotel or sitting at a restaurant, in which case I will be on wifi and not reducing the limit. Roaming about the island, most of my usage is either maps, texts, and maybe a little facebook for a brief time killer.

 

[mstevens]

I thought we were talking about tourist use not ex-pat use? I've never depleted my 5Gb in 3 weeks but I don't try to sync media to the cloud from the beach. If you need to do heavy bandwidth work, get on wifi. My phone is on wifi anytime at the hotel. It doesn't quit working when you use up your 5Gb you just get throttled to a lower bandwidth.

Supposedly, we're talking about the original question of "Anyone have issue using T-Mobile on the island?" Besides, tourists can get authorization to stay up to 6 months and many people stay on the island for several months a year as tourists.

I think T-Mobile is the best option for most USA-icans who travel to Cozumel, which is why we got it when we lived in NH when it had the worst coverage in the region. I still think it's the best US carrier for me to use on the island. But it would be inaccurate to claim there aren't any "issues" with it.

As noted upthread, WiFi speeds many places on the island are much slower than unthrottled cellular (and sometimes slower than throttled!). I got 1-8 Mbps down and 0.5-2 Mbps up on DSL earlier this year and around 30 Mbps up/down on Telcel/T-Mo. Homes and businesses in the Centro can get optical, but that leaves many places that aren't resorts with cable or DSL. I just got optical fiber a few months ago so now my WiFi is a bit faster than cellular and plenty fast enough. Prior to that I had a Telcel cellular router and used it along with Telmex DSL in a load-balanced dual-WAN setup to get about 10 Mbs, but that's certainly not going to be available to most tourists.

I really like to get my photos in the cloud every day in case of device loss/damage, but that could take longer than a day on WiFi when I had cable or DSL sometimes. It was not always possible to do videoconferencing or to stream anything to the TV. If you're staying in a place that doesn't have optical, you could very easily have to tether to your phone.

Depending on the WiFi, cellular can be the only realistic option for heavy bandwidth work. This actually applies to a majority of the island.

I went to T-Mobile specifically because of the unlimited Mexico and Canada voice and data. Then T-Mobile quietly shifted to a 5 Gig cap for 4G LTE in Mexico. 5GB, no problem initially, but as time goes by the average sites you visit (including SB) have become more and more bloated with ads that burn a lot of data. I now find that basic usage burns through 500 to 900 Mb per day.

Exactly. I think they do truly cover unlimited voice calls (which I rarely use) or SMS, at least until they think you've been in Mexico for too long (which can be much shorter than some tourist stays) and threaten to cancel the line.

Messaging other than SMS uses data. That isn't always data-heavy, but when a friend sends you a large video attachment via WhatsApp, that can take a lot.

How about driving around using a mapping app (to find some of the more obscure places, on oddball streets that don't follow the naming conventions, or avoiding getting caught in one-way mazes around parks) while streaming music. I preload updated maps and download music to avoid this, but that's because I know it'll deplete my 5 Gb more rapidly if I don't.

5Gb for a 2-, or even 1-, week stay is increasingly paltry.