astrobaja
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Location: near San Pedro Martir Park
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Telcel USA/Canada plans?
Hi all,
Since we only have cell at our place (and a weak signal at that!) we have been making our calls using Telcel cards.
Sometimes if you buy the 500 peso card you get double the amount, but still its $$ to make Canada/USA calls.
Visiting Telcel centres and asking has been of little benefit as nobody seems to know of any better plans than just using the cards.
Anyone here know of such a calling plan/
cheers
Astro
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bajaguy
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We have a Movistar plan that lets us call the US for about 11 pesos for 20 minutes. I understand that TelCel may have a similar plan.
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CaboRon
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajaguy
We have a Movistar plan that lets us call the US for about 11 pesos for 20 minutes. I understand that TelCel may have a similar plan.
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Yes, Telcel has the same plan .... go to the Telcel store and they will set it up for you .....
CaboRon
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baja829
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Tel Cel has the "Amigo" plan. You can either get a new cell phone from them, or ask them for a new sim card for your cell phone. The Amigo plan
costs about $15 to buy into. $10 of which goes to phone minutes. If your cell phone has a password on the sim card, it's another $5 or $10 to get
through that.
You still have to buy the Tel Cel cards, but, each call to the U.S. is $1.00 for 20 minutes. If you want to talk longer than that, hang up at 19 min.
or so, and call back. It's great. I can get 10, 20 minute calls to the U.S. from a 100 peso card -- best deal I've had so far. Don't know about
Canada however, but ask -- who knows, maybe they have a deal for them too.
I use the Tel Cel sim card in Mexico and then switch over to my AT&T sim card when I cross the border. The only problem was that I had to put in
all my phone numbers again for the Tel Cel sim, but once it was done that was it.
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MexicoGringoGuy
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Registered: 6-20-2008
Location: Tijuana, Centro/Rio
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When you buy cards, you are on Amigo.. .. and Although you are on Amigo Pre-Paid, there are a few options, which vary almost weekly as to prices..
They have plans so that you can call the US for 20 minutes.. and other places too (por Yamada). They also have it , depending when you activated
your number that you can choose the (friends and family plan) so that you can call any 10 local telcel numbers for 1.5 pesos a minute... and pick one
local telcel number that you can call for free up to 5 minutes at a time (yes it sounds silly but if you keep hanging up and recalling before the 5
minute marlk it will be free.. BUT if you talk more than 5 min it gets pricy)
Depending on what you need and depending if you want to stay in prepaid there are many options..
NOW, you mentioned plan.. which could also mean Contract, or Monthly plan... NON PREPAID... which telcel has too.. just like the US althouh much
more exspensive!! If you use your phone alot, a post paid, monthoy plan may be a better fit for you... They have many options..
I used to use movistar to call the us for 30 minutes for 12 pesos.. then it went down to 20 minutes.. NOW and new customers I think its 15
minutes... So in the end, Movistar and telcel are comparible, and if you are going to only have one phone.. for sure keep the Telcel, Because its
always cheaper to call someone that uses the same company, and by a staggering amount, telcel is the dominent provider here in Mexico... ,
Nextel de Mexico has some OK plans.. Although more expspenive then Sprint / Nextel USA... if you call alot... that may also be an option...
Just my 2 cents
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baja829
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I have always used Tel Cel cards, however, I had to actually "PURCHASE" THE AMIGO PLAN, which came in an envelope like our new ATM cards in the U.S.
After the purchase, all Tel Cel cards I entered on that phone are 20 min. for $1. When I use Tel Cel cards on my "home" cell, (we in a solar
community, no land lines) I pay the higher price for each call to the U.S. Obviously, I don't use the "home" cell phone to call the U.S.
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astrobaja
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Hi all,
Thanks for the input! We did go to Ensenada yesterday and went to one of the bigger Telcel outlets (the one with the Wally-mart in the mall on
Reforma). The lady we spoke to said that the Amigo plan went for 11 pesos cada 15 minutes. The time is sold in 15 min blocks so apparently its not
necessry to hang up at 14. We could not apply at that time though because we have no land line, apparently you need to give them a land line in order
to register (not sure why) she did say we could even give a neigbors no. so we have someone in mind to ask.
Also for people that have 2 telcel no.s in the same area code (we have 2 ensenada no.s) you can register one no. and as long as you keep the calls
under 5 minutes and its within the same area code the call is free, but you can only register one no. (your most frequently called local no.)
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mtgoat666
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Location: San Diego
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| Quote: | Originally posted by astrobaja
Hi all,
Since we only have cell at our place (and a weak signal at that!)... |
Get a directional antenna (yagi type), and put it on roof, adust antenna orientation, run wire into house, and attach mob phone to external antenna.
problem solved
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astrobaja
Senior Nomad
Posts: 952
Registered: 5-22-2006
Location: near San Pedro Martir Park
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mtgoat666
--yep thats what we are planning, on a nearby hill about 200 yards from our house we get a average signal. Thats where we will put 2 yagis (1900mhz)
one facing the cell tower near Camalu, the other facing down to our house. A small solar panel/battery will power it and the signal booster.
This website sells solutions for weak cell areas:
http://www.alternativewireless.com/
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