BajaNomad

How to setup smartphone with Telcel Sim w/data BEFORE entering Mexico

mrfatboy - 12-3-2012 at 12:29 PM

I have been looking for a way to set up my iphone with a telcel sim for my upcoming trip to Cancun before I arrive there. I found the below website that had a tutorial that I thought I would pass on to the Nomads :)

I contacted Travellers Telecom and they said that this method will also work in Baja although you will have a Mexico City cell number. This method also works for newer android smarthphones.

I have not tried this personally yet but googling around yielded many people that have used it.

It's about $15-$20 more expensive then actually going to a official Telcel store in Mexico but it saves you the time and hassle of actually going into the telcel store and dealing with it. Plus it works immediately when you cross the border.

Another bonus I found out is that Telcel lets you tether or create a hotspot for other devices to their sim. So basically you only need one sim/smarthphone and other friends and family members can tether to you phone internet connection with their smartphones, ipads, laptops.

I hope this info helps somebody :)


http://www.worked4me.net/home/tag/telcel

Riom - 12-3-2012 at 12:42 PM

Useful guide, that does have one factual error: for 3G data on Telcel you need the 850MHz band (the 1900 Mhz band they mention is just for legacy GSM Edge speeds, very slow).

Tethering is certainly possible and what many of us that use Telcel do, see:
http://www.sanfelipelife.com/post/Mobile-Routers-for-Telcel-...

Rob

mrfatboy - 12-3-2012 at 01:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Riom
Useful guide, that does have one factual error: for 3G data on Telcel you need the 850MHz band (the 1900 Mhz band they mention is just for legacy GSM Edge speeds, very slow).

Tethering is certainly possible and what many of us that use Telcel do, see:
http://www.sanfelipelife.com/post/Mobile-Routers-for-Telcel-...

Rob



I'm not sure about other phones but my Verizon iphone 5 has the 850, 900,1800,1900 GSM bands. I got the speedy 3G :)


You might also check this website out. It will tell you all about your phone. It gave me info on my iphone. I'm not sure about androids.

www.imei.info

Riom - 12-3-2012 at 02:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mrfatboy
I'm not sure about other phones but my Verizon iphone 5 has the 850, 900,1800,1900 GSM bands. I got the speedy 3G :)


Yes, if you have the 850 band for UMTS you get 3G (the article said 1900, which was wrong).

Most phones have a selection of bands for GSM, and a separate selection for 3G (UMTS). One of the iPhone5 models has:

GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz);

In that spec, it's the 850 in UMTS that's important, not in the GSM list. For example if you needed UMTS 1800 (for some carriers in Europe) the fact it's in the GSM (2G) list wouldn't help at all, it needs to be in the UMTS (3G) list.

This is something to watch for in earlier "quad band plus 3G" phones where 850 might only be available on 2G. The speeds for those people will be disappointing. :-)

Rob