US cell phones in Mexico

[Spratman]

I was in Cancun last November. Since I was getting rid of my GSM phone (gave it to my wife) I picked up a GAIT (trimode) phone. I have a lot better coverage locally, and worked great everywhere we went. I have Cingular and they have reciprocation agreements with both the Mexican cell providers. My wife's GSM phone didn't work at all. Cost $.50/min.

Good thing too! The day we flew out of Phila. my daughter totalled her car and we didn't find out about it until we called home that evening. I spent a lot of time on the phone with the kids and the insurance company.

Can't tell you about T-Mobile though. I can only vouch for Cingular.

Jack

 

[sealab]

hello:
a friend of mine checked into renting a nextel satellite phone. they have contracts for 1,2,3 weeks etc. When you getback you just take the phone back to nextel .
good diving
jimmy

 

[halocline]

I second the email option if at all possible, it's very reliable in Mexico and there are cybercafes everywhere. The other way I've communicated with the U.S. while in Mexico (sometimes for months at a time) is pre paid cards, although some are much better than others, (you want llamadas internacionales, I think) with a regular old pay phone. Typically, you're looking at 100 pesos ($10) for about an hour of calling time to the U.S. At least that's what I paid last time I used this, which was summer 03.

I dared to check my messages with my cell phone once from Cozumel. (sprint PCS) All I got was a lengthy recording in spanish and a $5.00 charge on my next bill.

 

[Cozoholic]

When we were there in March. I needed to make a phone call to my Dr. in the states..Couldnt use Verizion apparently GSM doesnt work either? The blackberry (AT&T) worked...should be the same thing, no?

 

[SterlingDiver]

Even though they say your phone will work there, doesn't mean it will.

I had Mexico turned on as a country that I could roam in/from on my cell phone with AT&T.

First trip there, it didn't work. Called them when I got home and complained and they promised me they fixed it.

Second trip there, it didn't work. Same thing, same excues, same promises/lies.

Just FYI that no matter what they say, it still might not work.

Same experiance with Verizon's "North America One Touch Plan". I paid to have it activated and it never worked anywhere from CUN to Coz. I couldn't even get a refund on the activation fee.

Dave

 

[daval]

when i was in mexico in november i bought pre-paid calling cards from the variety stores (NOT THE HOTEL!), for 100 pesos card i was able to talk for about 20 odd minutes (might have been longer, my wife did most of the talking while i was in the bar) which was plenty for a couple of 'check-in' calls to the kids.

 

[Divedoggie]

Phone cards are the way to go!! Pretty much the cheapest option anywhere you travel in the world.

 

[donooo]

OK, if you've got to take your phone,,, I have a friend that was just in PV for a week and claims his Verizon phone worked for him. Haven't heard anything on the billing yet. His wifes AT&T wouldn't work.

adios don O

 

[Hawkeye Mark]

Upgraded to a new Cingular Phone last fall. Salesman promised it would work in Brazil. when I arrived turned it on in passport control. didnt work. got home and took it back. Other salesman told me no way this would work as it was a dual band phone. Now have a 4 band phone. going to Mexico Memorial day to do cenote dives. Hopefully it will work then.

 

[Web Monkey]

My verizon phone worked in Cozume, but you have to call VErizon and set it up in advance.

Also make sure that you verify with them that you will be able to both make and receive calls on your phone, because they have some sort of bizzare system that will let you do one or the other if they don't set it up correctly (I had that oen year).

Terry

We're going to Mexico for a vacation. We don't want to pay inflated hotel prices for making phone calls from the hotel. We do have some calling cards, which allow int'l long distance (i.e. back to the US), but we'd have to use a pay phone (inflated hotel surcharge for a toll-free #...)