Laundramat in Cozumel & Cell Phone Information

[ronbeau]

My wife and I will be staying at the Iberostar for 2 weeks this summer.

We won't make it through two weeks without doing laundry.
I suspect that having Iberostar do or laundry would be outrageously expensive.

Is there a Laundromat in San Miguel?
If so, where is it located?

I plan to use Skype for most calls to the USA.
I plan to have an unlocked GSM cell phone with me for someone to reach us on an emergency basis.

Where is the best place to get a SIM for Cozumel?
Should I just buy it at the Cozumel airport?
Buy it at Iberostar?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I did a search prior to posting this entry and came up empty for the laundromat & the cell phone information appeared to be very old.

 

[MMM]

For how far it is from Iberostar to town, I'd just let hotel do the laundry. But if you must come into town, there is a place on 11th just off Melgar. I forget the name (I do laundry there) but it's got a pic of a woman/daisy on the sign. You can do it yourself or leave for them to launder, dry, fold etc. They charge by the load and extra for soap, bleach, drying, folding, etc . etc.

 

[psychocabbage]

Iberostar is crazy far from town. Other side of the island. We were there once when we first brought the kids with us.. never again.

Its a decent enough place just isnt exactly geared for divers.. more for vacationers..

As for phone coverage I cant help you there. I have used my broadband ATT over there when I needed it.

 

[cvchief]

Stayed at the Ibero. It was just on the edge of whatever network my Sprint BB Tour was roaming on. Stuck it in the window during the day to collect email Sprint Data was only .2 cents a kb I think. Calls are $1.50 a minute. The tour will take a sim, but for a couple of calls to alison, I didnt bother. I just had to enable roaming with sprint before I left. It worked fine at the Occidental just north of Ibero. I didn't see any sim cards at the lobby. Id check your carrier and see if they work there. I know when we first went down in 08, my wife was still on Nextel and it worked fine at Occidental. It actually was only .99 a min for calls.
If they got the wifi fixed, it was just at the pool and the lobby and expensive. When we were there in december the pool was down and you had to hoof it to the lobby.
Of course, won't go back the Ibero, cuz they charge your dive op to pick you up if you arent diving with their shop. The beach is nice up to the water line. If you want to go from beach to water, you need to go on the dock and down the stairs.
The ibero is way south but on the same side of the island as town. It is however a VERY short boat ride to some of the dive sites.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

What you're asking to do with your cellphone is to basically make it a Mexican phone, and that's a problem. A few months back, as yet another way to combat drug traffickers, the Mexican government starting requiring all Mexican cellphones to be registered. It's a PITA process and can only be done by a Mexican citizen. It would be far easier to pay for some type of international calling plan through your current cellphone provider, or just pay roaming charges.

 

[annlaur]

There are several laundry places in downtown San Miguel.
The one I used most was on Avenida 10 between Calle 7 & 9. Nice couple would wash/dry/fold it for about USD 5 / 10 pounds. Only drawback is they are often overloaded, a couple of times I dropped it off in the afternoon and they told me it wouldn't be ready until the next day. Plan accordingly. They also do sewing repairs at a ridiculous cost, I wish I had brought more torn clothes with me on that trip
If in a hurry, there's also a self serve laundromat near the Mega supermarket, on calle 11.

As for the cell phone, I bought the cheapest one I could find at Telcel. It was 200 pesos for a basic Nokia and came with 50 minutes worth of local calls. There's a Telcel shop downstairs of the Mega supermarket, maybe they sell the Sim cards alone, that I don't know. The Oxxo convenience stores that you'll find all over San Miguel also sell phones, not sure they have the cheapest ones, though.

As a tourist, I couldn't register my phone, but it was no problem. Only problem was everytime I made a call, some voice message would remind me that I had to register the phone, but then the call would go through. Also, I think you need to show your passport to buy a phone.

That said, if I was just going for two weeks, had a computer/international cell phone and was staying that far South, I wouldn't bother and would pay the extra for laundry and receiving the odd emergency call on my GSM. It's a bit time consuming. But then again, in Mexico time doesn't exist, so there's no way you can loose it. And it's a great excuse to brush up your Spanish and talk to locals that don't work exclusively with tourists.

 

[FishOutUvH2O]

The phone registration deadline is still in limbo. No one knows when they'll start cutting off unregistered phones. The original deadline was in April. Originally, non-citizens were supposed to be able to take their passports down to a local office and be able to register the phone. . . A lot of us tried and just couldn't get it done. The local office wouldn't/couldn't do it. So, I would hate to tell someone to buy a SIM (which they do sell) or a cheap Nokia with prepaid minutes, have them counting on it working, only to have the phone cut-off when the Govt. finally decides to enforce the law.

 

[deborahdelamar]

I'd like to clear up misconceptions about registering Telcel Amigo phones. There are two types of registration and both can be done by someone with a visitor's permit.

The first is Telcel's registration which is done through the phone by calling *264. This is what that annoying recording is telling you to do and all it takes is the help of someone who understands Spanish to get that done. You will set up your incoming voicemail message at the same time.

The other is the national registration, which Telcel can do for you. Just take a copy of your passport plus the original and your tourist card when you buy a phone and ask the agent to register it. If you already own a phone, bring it with you as they need to copy the SIM serial number and other info onto your photocopy. Be sure to show your tourist card, tell them that you do not have a "Numero de CURP" and need their help to register. The only Telcel office that will do this is the main one on Calle 2 Norte between Aves. 5 & 10. At some point in the future, the phone will return a text message ("Alta" and a number) confirming national registration but, by that time, you will be out of Mexico!

Inactivity -- meaning not recharging the phone with money -- will first cause the phone to go inactive and, after more time, Telcel will deactivate the number. Lots of information about the Amigo plan is available at http://www.telcel.com including locations in the USA where phones may be recharged. Last I checked, my Telcel phone worked on the AT&T network in the USA.

Other info to know:

In Mexico, the receiving party does not pay for the call -- only the party that initiates a call pays. Yet no one trusts this, so when you call a Mexican cell phone (vs. landline), from outside the country, add a "1" before the area code, i.e. from the USA, 011-52-1-987-nnn-nnnn. This seems to work to keep costs down.

A call to a local cell from a local landline is a toll call and you need to dial the complete phone number, 044-987-nnn-nnnn.

Local cell to local cell, dial 987-nnn-nnnn.

 

[annlaur]

Thanks for the info, I spent a lot of time trying to register my cell (went to the Telcel office on Ave 30) with my passport and permit, and the Telcel girl didn't manage to do it. Hopefully will keep my number, I left on March 2nd and hope to go back in October.

 

[deborahdelamar]

Hopefully will keep my number, I left on March 2nd and hope to go back in October.

You should be OK. If you want to track the status of your number in the future, you can register at Mi Telcel on the website -- can wait for your return as you'll need to be on the Telcel network to receive the NIP (PIN) via text message.

When you arrive in Oct., recharge the saldo and any old saldo will be recaptured and your phone will work.