Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Recommended cell phone options during Baja travel?
What's cell service like in central Baja these days? What options would work well for travelling for a week?
Is a Prepaid account worthwhile?
Wondering if I will have any problems (besides costly roaming charges) if using my US mobile phone or if there are better options while travelling
for a week or so and needing to stay in touch.
Thank you for your recommendations.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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fourninerpapa
Junior Nomad
Posts: 40
Registered: 11-2-2008
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I use the prepaid ATT&T Go Phone. It costs .25 per minute from Mexico to the US. There are no other charges. I found it works anywhere in Baja or
the mainland that has cell service.
Norm
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CortezBlue
Super Nomad
Posts: 2213
Registered: 11-14-2006
Location: Fenix/San Phelipe
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I have ATT Viva Mexico plan. Check it out
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roundtuit
Senior Nomad
Posts: 607
Registered: 12-21-2004
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Mood: Wife's Job
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AT&T pay as you go (go phones) Been using this for 3 yrs. In BCS Verizon doesn't work. Most towns have cell service
Never learned from a book-Only from mistakes, mine and yours
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Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Thank you both for recos
CortezBlue, I will check the AT&T option. is it prepaid also?
Just realized I probably can use wi-fi in many places also.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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Alan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1628
Registered: 4-6-2005
Location: Yucaipa, CA/La Paz
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Stop by a Telcel store and buy a pre-paid phone then add minutes as you need them at any OXXO.
In Memory of E-57
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roundtuit
Senior Nomad
Posts: 607
Registered: 12-21-2004
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Mood: Wife's Job
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oxxo are hard to find in small towns.. AT&T you can fill minutes on computers
Never learned from a book-Only from mistakes, mine and yours
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
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The growth of wifi access in Baja over the past 3 years is incredible. Most hotels have wifi, some restaurants, and most towns at least as big as
Mulege will have internet cafes. We do carry an Amigo telcel phone for the rare occasion that we need to use it, but mostly email suffices.
Have a great trip.
Ken
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 19365
Registered: 9-16-2006
Location: San Diego
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Mood: Hot n spicy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Whale-ista
What's cell service like in central Baja these days? What options would work well for travelling for a week?
Is a Prepaid account worthwhile?
Wondering if I will have any problems (besides costly roaming charges) if using my US mobile phone or if there are better options while travelling
for a week or so and needing to stay in touch.
Thank you for your recommendations. |
if going for just a week for vacation, i like to leave the phone off. if you need to periodically call home, you can buy a calling card and call from
hotel phone or other public phone. and easy to find wifi of intertube cafe to periodically check email from your own laptop or a public 'puter.
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MitchMan
Super Nomad
Posts: 1856
Registered: 3-9-2009
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If you are in Baja frequently, the Telcel prepaid is a good way to go for local calls, texting, and calls to the USA ($11.43 pesos for 10 minutes to
USA).
If you have a wireless laptop, Skype to Skype calls are fantastic because they are FREE from and to anywhere in the world!
FWIW, regarding which phone to buy for use in a foreign country, different countries use one or two of 4 possible frequency bandwidths. MOst phones
you buy at lower costs have one or two frequencies which conform to the country of your intention. You can buy a quad band that will work in any
country as it will have the band that any given country uses. When I went to Italy, I researched quad phones and they cost around $250 USD on up,
BUT, I found one Motorola quad band that only cost $54 USD...bought it and it worked flawlessly. Note that which ever country you go to, you have to
purchase and install the "chip" with that countries frequency band, around $20 USD back then. The good news is that the phone cost $54 USD and for a
$20 chip I can use that phone anywhere in the world...that has phone service.
[Edited on 2-28-2013 by MitchMan]
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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We use Google Voice from our computer wherever we have wifi service...about a penny per minute. Otherwise, we have ATT service and it costs .99 cents
per minute with excellent coverage.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65107
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Online
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Of course a lot of Baja California ... specially central Baja (El Rosario to Guerrero Nero) has no cell towers, so a satellite phone is the only sure
way to get out... Places rent them... the Iridium style I recall as being the best... anyone? There is a fiber optic cable running along the
Transpeninsular Highway... and you will see signs at some roadside ranchos and villages that have a 'rural' phone... ie. a public satellite phone or
connected to fiber optic line?
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CortezBlue
Super Nomad
Posts: 2213
Registered: 11-14-2006
Location: Fenix/San Phelipe
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Whale-ista
Thank you both for recos
CortezBlue, I will check the AT&T option. is it prepaid also?
Just realized I probably can use wi-fi in many places also. |
I don't think so, it is offered in my cell plan, but it allows me to go to mexico and pay no roaming and just use my normal minutes. It does not work
with texting, so be careful.
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