BajaNomad

Cell phone coverage in Baja

rbfactor - 4-15-2007 at 02:47 PM

We are heading down to LA Bay, Santa Rosalia, Mulege, and Loreto and have the choice of taking either a T-Mobile pre-pay or Verizon cell phone. We are trying to decide which phone to take to use for emergency purposes. Does anyone have any experience with either of these carriers in Baja?

Many thanks!
RB

leadmoto - 4-15-2007 at 03:19 PM

Get everyone in the group pitch in to Rent a Sat phone.

elgatoloco - 4-15-2007 at 04:13 PM

We use a sat phone for emergencies because they work everywhere(caves excluded). I had Verizon for years. Dumped them because they have no roaming agreement in Mex. I use Cingular with no problems where there is cell phone coverage. No cell in Bahia for sure.

JZ - 4-15-2007 at 04:13 PM

Cingular (at&t) is your best bet. It will work at all those places. Sat phone is over kill for those locations.

T-Mobile will probably work well also. Verizon coverage in Mexico tends to be poor. The difference is the digital technology Cingular/T-Mobile use compared to Verizon.

[Edited on 4-16-2007 by JZ]

DonBaja - 4-15-2007 at 05:10 PM

I just dumped Verizon after 15 years (LA Cellular, Airtouch, Verizon) because there is no coverage in Baja. I went with Cingular (AT&T) because they have an agreement with TelCel and coverage is much better.

bajaguy - 4-15-2007 at 05:56 PM

Stop as soon as you cross the border and get a prepaid Tel-Cel or Movistar phone......cost about $36US....then just add time as you need it

David K - 4-15-2007 at 11:04 PM

Cell service ends at El Rosario valley for those with the Mexican service.

I have Sprint and it works to Ensenada and around San Quintin with the International calling plan added.

It works real well in Ensenada and Tijuana where I get digital roaming... in the other areas along the highway, where it is analog roaming I think I could receive calls but not make calls.

It doesn't work at all on the San Felipe side...

So, I do not recommend Sprint if you are shopping for dual national service.

JZ - 4-16-2007 at 12:04 AM

Sprint and Verizon use CDMA technology. Good coverage in the US, but poor in the rest of the world. Cingular uses GSM/UMTS technology. Good coverage in the US and most of the rest of the world. Caller id, BlackBerry service, etc. works great all through Europe and most of Asia outside of Japan. Why would you go with any other US provider?

Capt. George - 4-16-2007 at 05:06 AM

Movie Star Pre Pay

$1.11 to states ( for a minute "or up to 30 minutes") so far so good.

Bob and Susan - 4-16-2007 at 05:18 AM

david...you REALLY need to drive PAST el rosario...
"come-on-dowm":lol:
there is more of baja:lol:

i amazed how many locals here in mulege have cell phones...
they use a pay-as-you-go service

visitors here have used (sucessfully) cell phones all the way to our place at the point which is 8 miles south of town.

rts551 - 4-16-2007 at 06:42 AM

T-mobile works as well. We use it in Abreojos all the time. About $1.50 per minute to the US.

David K - 4-16-2007 at 02:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
david...you REALLY need to drive PAST el rosario...
"come-on-dowm":lol:
there is more of baja:lol:

i amazed how many locals here in mulege have cell phones...
they use a pay-as-you-go service

visitors here have used (sucessfully) cell phones all the way to our place at the point which is 8 miles south of town.


I have been the full length of Baja (Cabo San Lucas) at these times: 1966, 1974, 1985, 2001.

In addition, I have been as far south as Loreto/ Puerto Escondido/ San Javier in 1973 and 1976.

All the other trips have been no further south than Punta San Francisquito/ Laguna Manuela... ie. Baja Ca Norte.

It's a matter of TIME... In order to enjoy Baja Ca Sur, one needs more than a week, as it takes two days just to get there... So, trips to L.A. Bay or Gonzaga Bay or closer will be more common for me.

Until I can get away for 2 weeks again, I am limited to Baja Ca Norte... which I can assure you has PLENTY of things to see and do!

I must tell you, Baja Angel would like nothing more than to see San Ignacio, Mulege, Bahia Concepcion, Loreto, La Paz, etc. We do plan to do the whale thing next year!

Thanks for your interest in my getting past El Rosario... I have, and if I can't then El Rosario is a great base camp (Baja Cactus Motel) for so many things to see or do... Including the July 20-22 Baja-Rosario Cultural Festival (#3).

[Edited on 4-16-2007 by David K]

IMG_4512_1.jpg - 46kB

DonBaja - 4-16-2007 at 04:14 PM

Also make sure you get a "Quad Band" phone and it will pick up the telcel cell signal

Bob and Susan - 4-16-2007 at 05:26 PM

David you said "Cell service ends at El Rosario"

it doesn't

no one was talking about your trips in 1966, 1974, 1985, 2001

today is 2007

alot has changed...ALOT:light:

it takes one day to drive to mulege...a long day:biggrin:

David K - 4-16-2007 at 08:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bob and Susan
David you said "Cell service ends at El Rosario"

it doesn't

no one was talking about your trips in 1966, 1974, 1985, 2001

today is 2007

alot has changed...ALOT:light:


it takes one day to drive to mulege...a long day:biggrin:


Well, yes... there are no cell towers south of El Rosario in Baja Norte, that I have seen...?

You were saying I should get south of El Rosario and I just provided you with the years and trips that I have.

If you drive from Mulege to San Diego in one day, without any night driving, then you need a Parnelli Jones award.

Just FYI: I did drive from San Ignacio to San Diego in one day, but it was night when we reached Ensenada.

[Edited on 4-17-2007 by David K]

Roberto - 4-16-2007 at 08:48 PM

Keep digging, David.
Quote:

Well, yes... there are no cell towers south of El Rosario in Baja Norte, that I have seen...?

As you often do, you state your misinformed opinion as FACT. I thought you were her to provide info for travellers? If that's the case, wouldn't it be important to be sure of your information before you open your mouth?

But, I'm sure I'm going to get some BS explanation and whine about not reading your posts or long-winded story about the time you met me, etc.

cluck, cluck, cluck.

[Edited on 4-17-2007 by Roberto]

Bob and Susan - 4-16-2007 at 08:48 PM

there's botts dots and everything in the south now...

some places even have stoplights;D

brenda just told me it takes her 12 hours to get to the border from santa rosalia
...mulege is just 50 min south of that place

i like to leave the states in the evening and travel to san quantine...
the next morning leave to reach mulege by 2pm

driving back just leave by 4am and i'm two hours north of the border by 8pm

David K - 4-16-2007 at 09:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Roberto
Keep digging, David.

Quote:

Well, yes... there are no cell towers south of El Rosario in Baja Norte, that I have seen...?

As you often do, you state your misinformed opinion as FACT. I thought you were her to provide info for travellers? If that's the case, wouldn't it be important to be sure of your information before you open your mouth?

But, I'm sure I'm going to get some BS explanation and whine about not reading your posts or long-winded story about the time you met me, etc.

cluck, cluck, cluck.

[Edited on 4-17-2007 by Roberto]


Paisano,... I have seen cell towers and seen cell phones working in El Rosario. I have not seen them anywhere south of there in Baja Norte. IF I am wrong as you would love to show, then WHERE (south of El Rosario and north of the state border) are there cell towers and service?

I am not stating anything OTHER THAN personal observation... If you have more, newer, better or different information then why don't you use your fingers and CONTRIBUTE that here instead of wasting everyone's reading time in your endless and useless efforts to disrespect me...???

bancoduo - 4-16-2007 at 10:09 PM

You people seem to have issues. Talk to Sr. SLIM. He has all the answers. :lol:

Telcel Prepaid

MrBillM - 4-17-2007 at 09:10 AM

Telcel has the Best coverage in Baja (ATT/Cingular roams on their network) and there is Usually a great deal on buying a Prepaid phone. Current Prepaid charge for calls to the U.S. work out to about 70-75 cents per minute. Prepaid service is good for 60 days and the unused time rolls over. Even when the phone time expires you can put time on it and get it working again.

As far as U.S. coverage goes, CDMA (Verizon) has better coverage at present than GSM. This last month I had to replace my two ATT/Cingular TDMA accounts because the TDMA network is being discontinued for GSM expansion so eventually the GSM will, no doubt, equal the CDMA. Because of that, I bought two Refurb CDMA phones on EBay and established two CDMA prepaid accounts. Current U.S. Prepaid per minute charges are 09 / 18 cents. Given the number of minutes I use in the U.S., I will spend approx $20 monthly instead of the $38 for Cingular plus the $10 for Prepaid TDMA.

Diver - 4-17-2007 at 09:25 AM

We normally use a Telcel phone when we are in Baja.
This year, when we went to put more $ on it to get it going again, it still wouldn't work. They called the big cheese and found out that it needed a new $10 chip as it had expired for no use in over 6 months.
If you plan to use Telcel for local call, make sure to buy it with the chip fo that area - local calls will be cheaper.

Roberto - 4-17-2007 at 12:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Paisano,... I have seen cell towers and seen cell phones working in El Rosario. I have not seen them anywhere south of there in Baja Norte. IF I am wrong as you would love to show, then WHERE (south of El Rosario and north of the state border) are there cell towers and service?

I am not stating anything OTHER THAN personal observation... If you have more, newer, better or different information then why don't you use your fingers and CONTRIBUTE that here instead of wasting everyone's reading time in your endless and useless efforts to disrespect me...???


First of all - paisano means "countryman". Unless you are Italian, please stop using that word, ok? It's a closed club.

Secondly, why don't you read the question that was posed:
Quote:
Originally posted by rbfactor
We are heading down to LA Bay, Santa Rosalia, Mulege, and Loreto and have the choice of taking either a T-Mobile pre-pay or Verizon cell phone. We are trying to decide which phone to take to use for emergency purposes. Does anyone have any experience with either of these carriers in Baja?

Many thanks!
RB


Even assuming you are correct regarding BCN (which you are not, there is cell phone coverage south of El Rosario and north of Guerrero Negro) - can you fairly say you are providing the information the man asked for? And if not - why open your yap?

Thirdly, the way you answered the question (incorrectly) was not as a (I THINK that ...) but as an absolute truth, nor did you make any mention of BCN, which is only a SMALL part of the area the man is interested in. Get over yourself David.

[Edited on 4-17-2007 by Roberto]

SiReNiTa - 4-17-2007 at 07:44 PM

CINGULAR!!!!! south baja doesn't like verizon or anything that is not telcel or cingular...i'd say your best be is that and if not there are cheap phones starting at about 30 dlls with a mexican number and mexican rates...cheap and practical...la bay doesn't have cel coverage but the rest of the places you mentioned do...

Riom - 4-17-2007 at 08:50 PM

Coverage maps of Movistar GSM are at http://www.movistar.com.mx/cobertura/index.html - you can zoom in a bit, but the result is still a tiny map. The maps on GSMWorld are a little older but easier to use: http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?x=0&y=6&z=...

The other (larger) GSM phone company, Telcel, doesn't have maps of their coverage but they do have detailed lists down to the colonia (and ranch) level at
http://www.telcel.com/portal/telcel.portal?_nfpb=true&_p...
Again as an alternative there's a slightly dated map at GSMWorld,
http://www.gsmworld.com/cgi-bin/ni_map.pl?z=1&x=0&y=...

To use either of these GSM mobile companies, the easiest way is to buy a phone/sim card package locally (watch out for short expiry dates on the cards if your trips are infrequent).

The other way is to roam on a GSM phone from another country - you need to have a phone that uses GSM 1900 (all GSM phones from North America, and "triband" or "quadband" GSM phones from other parts of the world). Make sure you have enabled roaming with your home carrier (ask them).

You can then use the coverage of either Telcel or Movistar, depending on which company your home company has roaming agreements with. Both companies have roaming agreements with T-Mobile, Cingular and Rogers/Fido for example. Check the rates charged, can be expensive.

I've used various GSM phone accounts from the UK and Iceland on both networks in San Felipe (one of the UK ones currently works out cheaper than using a local phone). Don't have personal knowledge of using them in other areas but the maps are probably fairly close (with the odd hole in the coverage especially down by cliffs at the sea).



[Edited on 4-18-2007 by Riom]