BajaNomad

Cell activation for Baja iphone

brewer - 8-20-2014 at 04:37 PM

Has anyone had any luck using their iphone with Verizon? I tried on mine and had no service, San Felipe, Mexicali. I've gone through the procedures to set it up. I think Verizon has very little cell coverage in Baja.

So I was thinking of getting a cheap phone and buying prepaid minutes from Carlos Slim, Telcel. Has anyone gone that route.

By the way, we would only want to use the phone for emergencies,

Thanks.

Verizon

bajaguy - 8-20-2014 at 04:59 PM

If you go to Verizon's service map for Mexico, you will see very little Verizon coverage. A Verizon rep told me they have "service bubbles" at the major cruise ports. Otherwise you will be off-network roaming.

woody with a view - 8-20-2014 at 05:01 PM

take it back. ATT is the best.

dasubergeek - 8-20-2014 at 05:02 PM

It drives me insane. My iPhone is perfectly capable of roaming on GSM. It does it, say, in France. But no, not in Mexico, where there's a tiny tiny bit of CDMA coverage. So your friends with AT&T and T-Mobile will be blazing down the information superhighway while you're stopped at the toll booth asking, "Hay Wi-Fi?"

Ateo - 8-20-2014 at 05:18 PM

ATT X2

Whale-ista - 8-20-2014 at 06:09 PM

I've used T-Mobile with my iPhone for the past 18 months. Free international data is very nice. It works with TelCel or moviestar services.

Howard - 8-20-2014 at 06:26 PM

ATT X 3

I have the Viva Mexico plan. I do not know if they still offer it.

BAJA.DESERT.RAT - 8-20-2014 at 06:35 PM

Hola brewer,

while in baja, i've had a telcel cheapie, $ 50.00 U.S. for years and just buying minutes when i ran out. i think you will find out how handy it is to have.

also, if you're driving, 066 is the 911 number of baja. so, it worked out for me when i had a flat and needed service in a somewhat desolate area but within phone range.

BIEN SALUD, DA RAT

mojo_norte - 8-20-2014 at 06:45 PM

Last winter I got a cheapo Telcel phone at OXXO for around 200 Pesos - came with some airtime .

dasubergeek - 8-20-2014 at 09:30 PM

That's what I do, too. I started out with the 301$ special Nokia from Sanborns and eventually upgraded to a cheapie Samsung smartphone for something like 1000$ (pesos). When I need airtime, I just walk into an OXXO.

mrfatboy - 8-20-2014 at 10:45 PM

If you have an unlocked Verizon iPhone 4s, 5, or 5s just pop in a Mexican sim (telcel, lusat, moviestar) and your are good to go.

Popping in an Att pay as you go sim and roam in Mexico on telcel should work also. Not sure how cost efficient it is tho.

[Edited on 8-21-2014 by mrfatboy]

zzzxxx - 8-20-2014 at 11:15 PM

FYI, all Verizon 5s iPhones are unlocked. If you have a Verizon iPhone 5s, all you have to do is buy a MX SIM card, pop out the verizon SIM card, and slid in the MX card. When Verizon bid on new bands with the FCC, one of the stipulations was that their GSM phones would be unlocked. This is not true for ATT, etc. iPhones.

zzzxxx - 8-20-2014 at 11:18 PM

Purchasing a MX sim card is much cheaper than turning on MX service through Verizon. MUCH cheaper....

BajaWarrior - 8-21-2014 at 04:29 AM

Brewer, we use a the "Go Phone" plan through AT&T. You can get the phone at WalMart and charge time to it on line. Had it for years now, works everywhere there is service in Baja.

We use Verizon normally for U.S. service.

brewer - 8-26-2014 at 03:59 PM

My wife picked up a cheap phone at OXXO, $30. It came with 100 minutes. Telcel. Just for emergencies really.

We are helping Carlos Slim get richer.

Mula - 8-26-2014 at 05:19 PM

We've had a Verizon for years with the Mexico plan - for $88 USD per month that only worked when we were in Ensendad, La Paz, Cabos, etc.

Just got an AT&T go phone in the states and it works all over here in Baja. $30 USD for 80 minutes per month. We are JAZZED!!!!

Ateo - 8-26-2014 at 05:24 PM

My son has a phone thru a random carrier and when we're in Mexico it works and there's no additional fees. I'll ask my wife what carrier it is and post here later. $20/month.

Ateo - 8-26-2014 at 06:34 PM

Republic Wireless is the company we have my son's phone thru. You buy the phone, then pay $20/month for unlimited talk/text/data. NO CONTRACT. It uses wifi for calling when you have a wifi signal to cut down on network usage. Anyway, it's a USA plan but when we go to Mexico he uses it. The first time it scared the crap outta me because I thought we'd get nailed with roaming fees. Got the bill - nothing extra. He can make calls and text at NO EXTRA CHARGE. He hasn't tried the data (like internet browsing) when we're not on wifi in Baja yet. Will advise.

Terry28 - 8-26-2014 at 08:59 PM

Dude! Thanks for that info. I will check them out..If I can get a deal like that I will be a happy guy...Gracias

Locations??

bajaguy - 8-26-2014 at 09:12 PM

Where in Baja has your son used this phone??
Quote:
Originally posted by Ateo
Republic Wireless is the company we have my son's phone thru. You buy the phone, then pay $20/month for unlimited talk/text/data. NO CONTRACT. It uses wifi for calling when you have a wifi signal to cut down on network usage. Anyway, it's a USA plan but when we go to Mexico he uses it. The first time it scared the crap outta me because I thought we'd get nailed with roaming fees. Got the bill - nothing extra. He can make calls and text at NO EXTRA CHARGE. He hasn't tried the data (like internet browsing) when we're not on wifi in Baja yet. Will advise.

wiltonh - 8-26-2014 at 11:58 PM

Republic Wireless uses the Sprint network in the US which is CDMA. Most Mexican cell phone companies run GSM so I question just how this works. In the limited Verizon areas there is a CDMA network but that is mostly in big cities.

The phone should work just fine on WiFi as that is VOIP.

I use an unlocked iPhone with a Telcel Sim and calls to the states are about 16 cents per minute. You can add money to your account from a credit card or on the Telcel web site but it is in Spanish. You can also add money to your account using Pinzoo. I put 10 dollars on about every 3 months so that I do not loose my cell phone number.

mrfatboy - 8-27-2014 at 04:30 AM

I have have an unlocked Verizon iPhone 5s with a telcel sim. There is a telcel app that lets you put money via a credit/debit card. No need to go to the website. It's much nicer. I do believe you initially have to the go to the website to add the credit debit card. The minimum amout is 20 pesos. You can top up at any oxxo also.

I add money (20 Pesos) to my sim every 6 months to keep the number. There is no official time limit for the sim to expire documented. 6 months has been working for me and i have read others have even gone longer. YMMV.

Use a google number to call back to states for free on wifi or minimal data usage on the telcel data network.

Here are the telcel data plans in pesos.

Consumo Bajo
Vigencia MB/GB Incluidos Precio IVA Incluido Clave
1 hr. 10 MB $ 5.00 bajo1h
1 día 30 MB $ 19.00 bajo1
2 días 50 MB $ 39.00 bajo2
7 días 200 MB $ 59.00 bajo7
15 días 600 MB $ 199.00 bajo15
30 días 1 GB $ 299.00 bajo30


Consumo Medio:
Recomendado para enviar y recibir correos, mensajerías instantáneas, Redes Sociales y navegación moderada en páginas de Internet.

Vigencia MB/GB Incluidos Precio IVA Incluido Clave
1 hr. 30 MB $ 9.00 medio1h
1 día 50 MB $ 29.00 medio1
2 días 100 MB $ 59.00 medio2
7 días 400 MB $ 99.00 medio7
15 días 1 GB $ 229.00 medio15
30 días 2 GB $ 339.00 medio30


Consumo Alto:
Recomendado para enviar y recibir correos, mensajerías instantáneas, Redes Sociales y navegación total en Internet.

Vigencia MB/GB Incluidos Precio IVA Incluido Clave
1 hr. 100 MB $ 12.00 alto1h
1 día 150 MB $ 49.00 alto1
2 días 300 MB $ 79.00 alto2
7 días 1 GB $ 169.00 alto7
15 días 1.5 GB $ 249.00 alto15
30 días 3 GB $ 399.00

[Edited on 8-27-2014 by mrfatboy]

Ateo - 8-27-2014 at 07:36 AM

As my son was heading out the front door to school I asked him where in Baja has he received texts and used the phone.

I didn't receive a solid answer. He doesn't remember town names very well at his age. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

He said he's definitely used it in the Puerto Nuevo area. The other towns he mentioned as possibilities I didn't get the feeling he was very sure of. I've seen him using it a few times so it is working somewhere. I wasn't tracking the locations previously because this question of service areas hadn't come up yet. I will track it next trip south and report back as to what carrier the phone says it's using and where.

I believe it uses Sprint in the USA so yep, that would make it a CDMA which would limit it's Baja use correct? The companies own website says it doesn't work internationally at this time, but I know that's not correct as he received a text message while we were camping in a remote area of the Baja coast recently.

Will advise.

EDIT: I apologize if I made this sound like a perfect Baja phone. If it was, I'm sure everyone would be using this plan. All I know is I saw him using it in Baja and was like, "Turn that thing off, we're gonna get nailed with roaming fees". Then when we got the bill there was nothing extra.

[Edited on 8-27-2014 by Ateo]

wiltonh - 8-27-2014 at 09:16 AM

My friend that has Republic is using a Moto X phone. It was sold unlocked and has both CDMA and GSM radios in it. That means you could purchase a Telcel card and get the cheap minutes.

To get the 16 cents per minute rate, you need to purchase 200 pesos each time. If you purchase less, the price goes way up.

The speed of data in Mexico varies a lot. In TJ I saw speeds on a 3G network that were faster than my home WiFi. In rural areas the data network is often so slow that it will not do email.