BajaNomad

Telcel phasing out "digital" phones

rob - 11-26-2010 at 08:56 AM

We received a call from Telcel last week telling us they are phasing out the old "digital" (pre-GSM) phones - I should add we live on a ranch an hour west of La Paz, and the GSM signal is very weak (GSM was never designed as a rural phone solution, so I am told).

We have a reasonably high-speed satellite internet, but it doesn't work very well with VOIP - too bursty.

We are conducting further tests with external antennas/Wilson 800mhz amplifier but so far, the results are less than exciting.

Does anyone have any ideas on alternative remote phone solutions?

rob

El Jefe - 11-26-2010 at 01:12 PM

I feel your pain. We live on the east cape in an area not covered by cell service. Tried magic jack, skype etc and none work very well with the sat internet hookup. Some neighbors spent about 3K USD on a really high speed sat setup and claim it works pretty well for them, but geeze, that's a lot of dough.

We've pretty much given up after five years of experimenting and just go to town to make our important calls. Toughest thing is being out of phone touch to our kids in San Diego. Google chat and such is just not the same as hearing a voice.

We keep thinking, well maybe someday they will put up a tower....probably around the same time they pave the road!

But hey, these are the good old days right now.

Phil S - 11-26-2010 at 02:26 PM

El Jefe. Would the Hughes Network work for you down there? Modern technology is advancing so rapidly, you probably won't have to wait around for something that 'would' work for you much longer.

BajaGringo - 11-26-2010 at 02:38 PM

Would one of these work??? Just mount it up on a high pole...

3G Antenna and Amplifier

Edit - I was told that Telcel uses the same system as AT&T




[Edited on 11-26-2010 by BajaGringo]

rob - 11-26-2010 at 04:23 PM

Phil S - we have Starband - classified as a low/med speed system, the equivalent of Hughes. They work the same way, and the signal latency from us to the satellite to Atlanta to the destination and all the way back again kills VOIP - too bursty.

The serious satellite stuff that is actually designed to support voice, as El Jefe says, is pricey - and that doesn't include the monthly data costs . . . it's for the wealthier among us!

Bajagringo - thanks for the link. Actually bought a Wilson Dual-band GSM amplifier and it doesn't help at all - our YAGI antenna pole needs to be higher I think. The good news is that my ranch guy who lives at the front gate gets a very good GSM signal, so there is hope.

We get two bars at the beach and can actually receive calls, but when we try and speak we lose the connection.

aaarrgghh

durrelllrobert - 11-27-2010 at 02:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by rob

Does anyone have any ideas on alternative remote phone solutions?

rob

just buy a shortwave radio for you and everyone that you want to call :lol:

bajamedic - 11-27-2010 at 08:38 PM

Maybe the old “Bag Phone” work, they were analog and some rated at 3 watts if I recall. I and probably others still have some in a box somewhere. JH

BajaGringo - 11-27-2010 at 08:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajamedic
Maybe the old “Bag Phone” work, they were analog and some rated at 3 watts if I recall. I and probably others still have some in a box somewhere. JH


The problem is that those only work if there is still analog service available.

If there is service available nearby it might be worth playing with the location / height of the Wilson unit as I have heard of others having luck with this method...

mtgoat666 - 11-28-2010 at 12:11 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by rob
We received a call from Telcel last week telling us they are phasing out the old "digital" (pre-GSM) phones - I should add we live on a ranch an hour west of La Paz, and the GSM signal is very weak (GSM was never designed as a rural phone solution, so I am told).

We have a reasonably high-speed satellite internet, but it doesn't work very well with VOIP - too bursty.

We are conducting further tests with external antennas/Wilson 800mhz amplifier but so far, the results are less than exciting.

Does anyone have any ideas on alternative remote phone solutions?

rob


get a directional antenna, probably a Yagi type. then point it at nearest tower. depending on atmospheric conditions, you may choose between various towers

BigWooo - 11-28-2010 at 06:36 AM

Rob,

We also live outside cell service. We have Starband Nova 1500 and it works reasonably well with Skype. We've found that the first 30-45 seconds are poor and choppy, then it clears up. Try to set up calls so the other end knows you're calling and have them wait about a minute. It usually clears up quite a bit after that.

My wife read about this somewhere and I don't remember the reason why, but it works good most of the time if the other side can hang on until it clears up.

El Jefe - 11-28-2010 at 07:39 AM

Great point Wooo. We have found the same thing to be true. Seems to be the worst when people talk over one another. But if you don't throw in an "uh huh" once in a while, they think you are not there anymore. Not perfect, but we did get a nice conversation in with our daughter yesterday.

rob - 11-28-2010 at 09:36 AM

Big Woo - I think we will try Skype, if only as backup if Telcel pulls the plug while we are still trying to get GSM up.

I have only seen/used Skype once - it was at Shari and Juan's cliffedge house in Asuncion. There was a young Australian castaway there (her yacht had been wrecked off the coast) and she was talking a friend in Cape Town over Skype on Shari's laptop. They let me join in.

I was totally blown away to be talking/seeing someone living just over the mountain from my boyhood home - yeah, even after 20 years in high-tech, I am still blown away by what we can do!

If we have any luck with GSM, will share.

rob

bajatravelergeorge - 11-29-2010 at 05:19 PM

Maybe I got lucky! I live where I could get AT&T service up on the hill, but not at my house. I had a Wilson dual band amp that I was using in my truck, but it really wasn't helping that much. I decided to adapt it to home use by buying the home AC adapter, a Wilson yagi 1900mz directional antenna, 20' of ultra low loss cable, 15' pole, and assorted connectors. I now get 5 bars while sitting in my house. Only downside is I'm tied to the attached internal antenna which needs to be no more than 20" from the phone.

I use the AT&T Viva Mexico phone plan. I think its $55.00 for 450 minutes. So that comes out to about .12 per minute and I have a USA phone #. I keep a cheap Telcel pay as you go phone loaded with 100 pesos for local calls as I can't figure out how to make local calls with the AT&T plan. Maybe someone can clue me in on how to dial the local #'s.

I had thought I was going to be stuck with the satellite option and paying big bucks to get good phone service. But like I said, I got lucky.

David K - 11-29-2010 at 05:24 PM

Is the cost of satellite telephones and service still too high?

rob - 11-30-2010 at 09:28 AM

Alan Thompson (BCStech) discusses higher-speed satellite service at

http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=42340#pid4653...

High speed sat prices at

http://www.bajasatellite.com/VSAT-satellite-internet-systems...

(sorry despite 20 years in computers, never did figure out Nomad control characters to turn these into URLs).

The VSAT service is FAST (and expensive!). Between $4K and $6K initial equipment, and the plans have truly horrible throughput allowances - I would be looking at about $500/month for my current throughput equivalent (and that's WITHOUT phone usage).

I keep buying those lottery tickets . . .

rob

willardguy - 11-30-2010 at 09:34 AM

travelergeorge, how many miles do you think you are from the closest cell tower?