Job Discussion Forums

guatetaliana · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:07 am Post subject:

I still don't totally get how the roaming situation on Telcel Amigo works. Ordinarily $100 pesos credit lasts us about 1 month in Monterrey. But once my husband visited family in Guadalajara and blew through all $100 pesos on one incoming 15-minute phone call! Apparently Telcel Amigo charges heavily as soon as you leave the region.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

cscx · Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 41

Roaming charges are pretty steep. You do get charged for incoming calls and you're outgoing calls are much more expensive. I have a Puebla number and my credit got eaten up super fast when I was in DF.

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

I had a Unefon (pobrefon) which I thought was quite reasonable for all kinds of calls. However, one day the phone just stopped working. Turns out they had updated the technology and if I had wanted to continue with Unefon I would have had to buy a new phone! Slightly miffed, I went and got a Movistar which I find eats credit like anything, and I only make local calls. Sounds like Telcel is the way forward from what other posters have written.

MikeySaid · Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 509 Location: Torreon, Mexico

I think there is still a national promotion going on where you buy a 500 peso card and you get an extra 400 pesos worth of airtime/sms free. If you're a heavy talker it can be to your advantage to buy that way...

Even if you're not a heavy talker, buy a card for 50 (if they still have them...) or 100 pesos to update your account and use the rest of those minutes.

Leo726 · Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 37

I have an unlocked phone. How much is a sim card in Mexico?

MikeySaid · Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 509 Location: Torreon, Mexico

Maybe 150 pesos with 50 pesos of calling time on it already... can't remember exactly, but that seems right to me.

guatetaliana · Posted: Sat May 03, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject:

Yup, I'm with Mikey. I paid 150 pesos for my Telcel Amigo sim card and it came with 50 pesos credit.

skyhorse23 · Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 11

On this Telcel Amigo SIM card, how much is each minute to the USA?

notamiss · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 9:18 pm Post subject:

I found one source (http://www.cofetel.gob.mx/work/sites/COFETEL/resources/LocalContent/2961/1/servidelargadistancia.html) that says it's $11 pesos a minute. This page is several years old, but I doubt the price has gone down.

I wouldn't consider calling to outside Mexico from a cell phone. I'd get a long distance card and go to a phone booth on the street, especially if you are more likely to make a few longer calls than many short ones.

skyhorse23 · Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 11

Thanks, Notamiss.

MELEE · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject:

I've been having trouble using up my phone credit now that my husband doesn't live across the country. So I decided to try putting just 30 pesos on it at the supermarket to roll over the credit I had left (which was quite a lot!) And was shocked to find--IT's only good for 15 days, not two months like the cards!!!

guatetaliana · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject:

If you really want to make calls to the US, try to do so from your computer using http://skype.com. It's about 2 cents a minute. I haven't been able to justify doing it in any other way.

If you really want to call from your cell, you might also try http://www.jajah.com. They have some new stuff going on with local access numbers. I haven't had time to investigate, but it might be worth checking out. In Europe, we would use jajah because you set the call up on the computer and then the system calls both your cell phone and the person you're calling at a certain per-minute rate. Can potentially save a lot if you get free incoming calls on your cell.

notamiss · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 7:46 pm Post subject:

MikeySaid · Joined: 10 Nov 2004 Posts: 509 Location: Torreon, Mexico