BajaNomad

Unlimited data on Telcel Amigo prepaid mobiles

Riom - 11-18-2008 at 06:07 PM

Telcel Amigo have a new tariff for "unlimited" prepaid mobile phone gprs data, by the day, week or month.

First, get your pay-as-you data working on a mobile phone, optionally tethered by cable or bluetooth to your computer (APN "internet.itelcel.com"', dial *99***1#, no user/password).

Once you've got that working, and have enough money on the card, you can send an SMS to get unlimited data for 1 day, 7 days, 15 days or 30 days. Prices work out around five US dollars for one day, down to $2 per day when you get 30 days (i.e. 799 pesos for 30 days). Appears to be calendar days, not 24 hour periods. Buying large recharge cards gets you bonus time that should reduce those costs by up to 40%.

The details of this are on their site - http://www.telcel.com.mx then "Amigo de Telcel" then "Internet Telcel Amigo" on the left menu. It's also possible to sign up for it on the account portal https://www.atencionenlinea.telcel.com/ instead of SMS, at slightly lower prices.

It's "unlimited", but limited. After the first 100MB or so per day (3GB per month), they may drop your speed down to 128kb. Around San Felipe, I'm getting 192 kb/s download, 96 kb/s upload, but in other areas they have 3G, much faster. Works in Mexico only.

It sounds ideal for short-term visitors to Mexico.

When 3G reaches here it'll even beat the fixed-wireless Prodigy Aire for a full-time connection (if it's reliable, and if they don't keep altering the tariff - both big ifs!).

tjBill - 11-18-2008 at 06:15 PM

That plan sounds awfully complicated. :no:

Riom - 11-18-2008 at 06:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by tjBill
That plan sounds awfully complicated. :no:


You send an SMS to buy 1,7,15 or 30 days unlimited data access, you get a reply back which tells you it has been activated.

I can't see which step they could omit to make that less complicated.... :tumble:

Getting data to work on your phone, especially connecting it to a computer, can be complicated with any carrier - but it's nothing to do with the plan.

CaboRon - 11-18-2008 at 07:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Riom
Quote:
Originally posted by tjBill
That plan sounds awfully complicated. :no:


You send an SMS to buy 1,7,15 or 30 days unlimited data access, you get a reply back which tells you it has been activated.

I can't see which step they could omit to make that less complicated.... :tumble:

Getting data to work on your phone, especially connecting it to a computer, can be complicated with any carrier - but it's nothing to do with the plan.


What's an SMS ?

comitan - 11-18-2008 at 07:03 PM

I just got Telcel for my computer here in La Paz its good up to 35 Kilometer from La Paz, It uses a Modem to hook into your computer with a USB device, it is based on the 3G phone system its supposed to 1.5 Mbps. This is unlimited and the cost is 429 pesos a month and you sign up for an 18 month contract and the modem is free. So far its working good except i cant send out any email, it says I have reached my limit on the IP server. So am having to use hotmail. If anyone knows how to solve this problem HELP: My mail server STMP port 25 is enabled.

Riom - 11-18-2008 at 08:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by CaboRon
What's an SMS ?


Text message (sorry, forgot it was called that locally).

The difference between this, and the plan comitan mentions, is this is prepaid on demand for just the days you want to use it, rather than an 18 month contract (also, no hardware, but that does give you the option to use something more mobile).

So for a visitor with a suitable phone it's very cheap.

Comitan: what's the exact message? Sure your inbox isn't full, or some other quota reached? Does your mail server have an option to use a port other than 25, such as port 465 for secure smtp?