Job Discussion Forums

[carolync]

I am coming to Oaxaca on the 18th for a year and have some questions. Can I keep my Bank of America accoint, or should I get a new one there? When I traveled to Europe, I just used my bank card (visa) to withdraw money and it was easy. Whats the best way to change money once I get there? Also, should I just cancel my phone here and get a new one there. I'm not very happy with T-mobile here and am sure there are a lot of cheaper service providers down there. Thanks!

[MELEE]

These are questions you should ask the school that hired you, since they know the exact area where you will be.
Of course you can keep your US bank account. And you can use your ATM card here, but you should ask your bank how much they will charge for international withdrawls and let them know your travel plans so that they don't think the card has been stollen. But the school you will be working at might want you to open a Mexican account so that they can pay you by direct deposit.

As for cell phones, I'm no expert. It depends if your US plan has a penalty for cancelation. You can get a phone that uses prepaid cards starting at 400 pesos here. You can also spend a lot more, depending on the phone. If your US phone uses a SIM card, you can probably have someone in Oaxaca unlock it and change the SIM card, this costs about 350 pesos.
The poster Gregor lives in Oaxaca City so he should tell you which companies have service there now. At least Telcel and Iusacel (which has some relationship with Sprint ) but I think I saw that Movistar had moved into Oaxaca City as well now.

[carolync]

Thanks! Gregor hired me to work at his school!

[Gregor]

Hey carolyn!
Yes, Telcel is here. I have another teacher who swears by Movistar, which, yes, is indeed here. She says they're cheaper. I don't know. I use Telcel, and have no problems with it.
Also, I have a BofA account in the US. I don't know what BofA is like in Arizona (strangely, they differ from state to state), but my California account is very easy to manage online here. As I said in the message I sent to your email, it's a hassle depositing money, but I don't know how much you'll want to deposit.
The fees are not that high for using your ATM card in machines. If you have a VISA debit card that will work same as a credit card in larger shops (except the money comes right out of your account of course), and it works as well here as it does in California. You should have no trouble.
Near the z�calo there are TONS of casas de cambio, the money exchange places. They all offer pretty much the same rates. That's a god, easy way to convert cash once you're here. And, of course, if you take money out of your account with an AMT machine here, you get pesos, converted at that day's rate.
Back to phone, I was originally under the impression that you were planning to buy a phone once here. Can you get your American phone converted to use in Mexico? I don't really know. I tried to convert my Chinese phone and it did not work, for no reason I could work out. Just uses different bands than they use here, I guess. Would you have that problem with an American phone? No idea. You MAY not even HAVE a SIM card in your phone. You SURE don't want your T-Mobile service here. The roaming charges would be astronomical, I'm sure.
What I would do - and in fact, sort of did - is just forget the US phone (mine was Chinese) and get a Mexican phone and then just get Telcel or Movistar service. You buy the SIM card, stick it in and you're good to go. I buy a pre-paid card for about $100 (that's pesos of course) about once a month; a little less often. I don't use it that much and then try to stick with just SMS messages (I HATE talking on the phone, and cell service is expensive here).
I'm not sure what you'd pay for the phone - I'm the DoS so the owner provided me a phone (I pay for the service). That's what I meant by "sort of" up there.

By the way, since MELEE mentioned it, no, we don't do direct deposit. We pay by check, written against the school's HSBC account. I'm thinking of opening an account here if the fees aren't too high (I hear that Mexican banks charge extortionate rates but I haven't checked for sure), because I'm already sick to death of standing in line for 30 - 60 minutes to cash the bloody thing. But if you want to do that, make sure you have enough money (not sure how much yet; I'll let you know when I do) that you can keep a minimum balance up. The paycheck itself won't do that.

I just spoke with the guy here who helps out (every school has one I think). He says that you can get a cell phone as cheap as 400 or 500 pesos. It would cost you almost that much to ATTEMPT to convert your American phone, and then it might not work. Then about $150 for the SIM card, which includes about 30 pesos(?) worth of service. That sounds like the best way to go.

[eclectic]

Gregor is one nice chap, there, hey?

[MELEE]

Hey Gregor,

Maybe you should talk with the owner about going direct deposit for the employees. There are no fees for most NOMINA accounts. Diferent banks offer different nomina packages, we are with banamex, there is no minium fee on a nomina account, we get ulimited ATM usage, and of course it generates almost 0% interest . And while it can be difficult for a foreigner to open other types of accounts, not so with a nomina account, just flash your FM3 and your in. You don't even need to have any money to open the account, because they know money will be coming in on the 15th and 30th of each month.


Carolyn,
for the 400 peso phone, which includes a SIM card no need to pay more for that, you get 300 pesos of air time.

[Gregor]

MELEE, that's an awesome suggestion. I just need to see if HSBC (the bank my school uses) offers those accounts, and if not, if an HSBC account can deposit directly into another bank. I'll let y'all know how it goes.

[MELEE]

HSBC does have nomina accounts, we used to be with them, but their package is not as attractive. There is still no minimum balance and you can open the account with zero funds. But you only get 5 free ATM transactions/check card transations a month. But one of the driving forces behind the University changing banks was at least here in Huajuapan, HSBC's customer service is dreadful.

[salsera_africana]

Hi Carolyn,

I don't know too much about the banking system in MX, but I do know a lot about cell phones! I don't know if you are too attached to your phone because it is nice or new, but if you are you can check to find out what the band width is. You can do this by either checking the cell phone box or you can go online. The bandwidths can be a combination of 850/ 900/1800/1900, and if the phone is quad band, it will have all four. Mexico typically uses the 1900 band and maybe small towns use the 850. So, just make sure that your phone has at least the 1900 bandwidth.

Next, since you have good ole T-Mobile, you can call them up and have them give you the unlock code for the phone. This is a free service, just tell them that you are traveling and they will give it to you. Once the phone is unlocked, you can use ANY SIM card for the phone, including a Mexican SIM card. Doing this is great because it allows you to have a local MX number and not worry about roaming charges and best of all is that you didn't have to pay $400 pesos to get a really basic, lackluster phone. When I went to MX 2 years ago I did this with NO problems and it was great. (You should be able to buy a SIM card coming with $300 pesos of airtime, that was the case 2 years ago and it should be the same now).

Anyway, if you don't want to do all of this and don't care what kind of phone you have, you can just buy a phone when you get to MX, like some of the other posters have said. One thing I forgot to mention is that keeping your T-Mobile service WILL cost you an arm and a leg as time progresses because of roaming, so my recommendation is to cancel your service with them (after you gotten the unlock code). Oh, another thing is that if you want to call home (US or Canada? ) you can use Skype via the internet or other VoiPs such as Vonage. It should cost you literally pennies a minute to call home. Don't make calls home on pay phones (really expensive). I can't think of anything else to advise you on, right now, but if I think of more things I'll post more! I always get so happy when people move to other countries, and if I can help in anyway, I am here...

Happy traveling!!

[MELEE]

Salsera,

Thanks for the info about the phone, I left the US before having a cell phone was a requirement and lived in blissful ignorance until being pregnant in a house in the country forced me to bit the bullet and get one. I still try to use it as little as possible. This is a very common question that comes up often. I think there is another current thread by Mikey_said on the topic. Maybe you could help there too?

[carolync]

Thanks for all your help!

[jillford64]

I bought an unlocked, quad band phone in the US to bring with me, which worked fine, but it would have been much cheaper to just buy a phone in Mexico. I have a Telcel SIM card and I buy the prepaid refill cards (Amigo). This works fine for recieving/making calls within Mexico, but it is stupidly expensive to use to call the US.

I make a lot of calls to my Mom and my boyfriend in the US. For this I have a second phone and a plan called North America's Choice with Verizon Wireless. I pay a set monthly rate for a certain amount of weekday and weekend minutes. I pay no roaming charges and I have coverage everywhere that TelCel does. It isn't supercheap, but it is far more cost effective than using the phone with the Telcel chip, prepaid calling cards, or going to one of those phone calling places. Plus, I can use it in the privacy of my own home anytime I want.

I could make calls for free using Skype at the school where I teach, but I hate it. I don't want the whole world to know my business and I hate having to listen to other peoples conversations.