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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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T-mobile roaming access in Baja?
Has Anyone tried to use t-mobile service via lada, telcel or whatever the MX cell company options are called?
Tmobile now offers free international data/text (but not calls). I want to try to use this, and also tether my Ipad to the iPhone.
As for SIM cards, for voice calling, will one work in any cell, even an old one not activated in the US? I have several old cell phones, not in use.
Do I just need to charge the battery and purchase a MX SIM card to make calls?
Thank you for advice on this.
\"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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BajaNomad
Super Administrator
Posts: 4999
Registered: 8-1-2002
Location: San Diego, CA
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Mood: INTP-A
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Most of the roaming coverage in Baja for T-mobile is through Movistar. Here is the coverage map:
http://q87.us/19B0K4d
Having a phone for t-mobile that can be both a mobile hotspot and make/receive wifi calls will (incredibly) add value in using this service in Baja.
Be aware that the "included" data plan for international roaming wth t-mobile is only 2G speed.
Calls are $.20/minute. Both incoming/outgoing texts are now included in the international roaming on the new "simple" plans.
"The cost of staying connected across borders is completely crazy. Today's phones are designed to work around the world, but we're forced to pay
insanely inflated international connectivity fees to actually use them. You can't leave the country without coming home to bill shock. So we're making
the world your network -- at no extra cost." - John Legere, CEO, T-Mobile
http://q87.us/1h8C5sK
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
We know we must go back if we live, and we don`t know why.
– John Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Wow - this wasn't available when I last visited in July. I had enabled international roaming on my T-Mobile HTC One and ran up over $50 in charges in
a matter of minutes after landing in Los Cabos. That prompted me to get a Telcel SIM card. If it truly turns out to be the case that I can use my
current data plan in Todos Santos, it will be huge.
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BajaNomad
Super Administrator
Posts: 4999
Registered: 8-1-2002
Location: San Diego, CA
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Mood: INTP-A
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| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
If it truly turns out to be the case that I can use my current data plan in Todos Santos, it will be huge. |
You need to change service - if you don't already have it - to the new "simple" plan that started in October.
Depending on what plan you have, it might even save you $.
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
We know we must go back if we live, and we don`t know why.
– John Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez
https://www.regionalinternet.com
Affordable Domain Name Registration/Management & cPanel Web Hosting - since 1999 |
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNomad
| Quote: | Originally posted by pauldavidmena
If it truly turns out to be the case that I can use my current data plan in Todos Santos, it will be huge. |
You need to change service - if you don't already have it - to the new "simple" plan that started in October.
Depending on what plan you have, it might even save you $. |
I did convert to the Simple Plan ($50 per month) and unlimited data ($10 per month), which lopped about $45 off my bill with the same services, some
of which used to cost extra (e.g. tethering, mobile hot-spot). Having used Verizon, Sprint and AT&T before, I'm quite happy with T-Mobile.
Ironically the worst coverage I get is at home, where I need to rely on WiFi to make calls. Go figure?
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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People are always disappointed that most of their phone servers dont work out here in the boonies...only AT&T or telcel work here.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Telcel was trouble-free for me during my last visit. I used it primarily for data and only made one phone call. I may go that route after all, since
we'll be in San Pedrito instead of Las Tunas this time, and it looks like Movistar's coverage might be limited there.
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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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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNomad
Most of the roaming coverage in Baja for T-mobile is through Movistar. Here is the coverage map:
http://q87.us/19B0K4d
Having a phone for t-mobile that can be both a mobile hotspot and make/receive wifi calls will (incredibly) add value in using this service in Baja...
"The cost of staying connected across borders is completely crazy. Today's phones are designed to work around the world, but we're forced to pay
insanely inflated international connectivity fees to actually use them. You can't leave the country without coming home to bill shock. So we're making
the world your network -- at no extra cost." - John Legere, CEO, T-Mobile
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Thank you. Very helpful. Coverage looks good for areas I'm planning to visit this week. May need to change for future trips.
I remember the bad old days when cell phones services in Baja were outrageously expensive. We finally paid to have landline phone service installed in
San Miguel. I mean that literally: The few of us who lived there in the early 90s paid for the telephone poles to be installed!
How things change in 20 years...
I appreciate your help!
\"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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unbob
Nomad
Posts: 407
Registered: 8-7-2006
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNomad
Most of the roaming coverage in Baja for T-mobile is through Movistar.
Calls are $.20/minute. Both incoming/outgoing texts are now included in the international roaming on the new "simple" plans. |
Obviously that is not a good deal. With my Telcel 'Amigo Combinado 20' plan I'm paying only around 4 1/2 cents per minute when
calling my "preferred" numbers (family, friends). 20 cents per minute is awful and unacceptable for me.
The unlimited data plan sounds great though!
"I'm too young to be this old!"
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by unbob
The unlimited data plan sounds great though! |
I was in Baja last week, and my T-Mobile phone indeed worked seamlessly on the Movistar network. Data speeds in Cabo and Todos Santos were often 4G,
but in Pescadero I couldn't do better than 2G, and there was a pretty significant dead zone between Cerritos Beach and Cabo San Lucas.
I made both local calls and calls to the U.S. without issues, although it will be interesting to see how much I actually paid for these calls.
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tjsue
Senior Nomad
Posts: 520
Registered: 4-12-2013
Location: San Diego
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I switched to the T-Mobile Simple Choice plan, and it's great! I had numerous calls from the US last month, and expected a higher bill, but it only
$65.12, and that's about $20 less than I was paying before.
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willardguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6451
Registered: 9-19-2009
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this from riom back in october:
What T-Mobile announced last week was free data and texting while *in* Mexico (and many other countries), for T-Mobile users on certain monthly plans
(postpaid only, no prepaid). Plus calls at 20c/min.
The data is 2G only (super slow), they hope to make money from selling packets of 3G data access.
The restrictions: no trip outside the US can be more than 6 weeks, and no more than half the data in three months can be outside the US (so you can't
use it just for trips, has to be some domestic usage).
So, quite handy for those taking short trips who only need a bit of slow data (that they also use in the US), and some texting and calls. Not useful
for anybody on long trips.
Should be coverage anywhere you get a Movistar signal (as T-mobile roam on them, not on Telcel). Their 3G coverage is much worse than Telcel's so the
2G is all you'll get in most places anyway.
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soinclined
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: 2-8-2014
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After getting the benefit of many good answers on this site, I am pleased to be able to chime in with one of my own.
I use a GSM phone that was originally set up to work on T-Mobile but that I use on Straight Talk which I think is actually Walmart. They have an
international flat pricing plan, unlimited everything, for $60. It has worked everywhere I have been in Mexico, but I hasten to add that isn't very
far.
I am taking baby steps into Baja from SoCal. I've been in LA for three years and just now plucked up the guts. I believed too much in the media
hype, I guess. The good news is that I can usually find sub-$20 fares on Greyhound to San Ysidro, where I can walk across at my own pace and poke
around for a few hours and then come back. I will retire before long and I'm thinking I want to do it in Baja for all the reasons well stated by
others. I'm alone now and there's nobody to please but me, and I was raised rural so I think it would be a fit.
I am being told that it works all up and down the coastlines, but I haven't yet tested that.
It is a comfort to me that I can call out and the kids can call and check on me with one number regardless of whether I am in MX or the US. Otherwise
these days there's not much of anybody to talk to.
I do not have any affiliation with Walmart or ST, just a happy camper.
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Just got my T-Mobile bill, and the biggest surprise to me is that there were no surprises. No extra charge for data roaming on the Movistar network,
and 8 phone calls - 7 to local Mexican numbers and 1 to the U.S. - totaling $2.60. That was the only addition to my normal bill. 
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| Quote: | Originally posted by soinclined
After getting the benefit of many good answers on this site, I am pleased to be able to chime in with one of my own.
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Welcome to Baja Nomad, so inclined. Feel free to tell it like it be.
"YOU CAN'T LITTER ALUMINUM"
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unbob
Nomad
Posts: 407
Registered: 8-7-2006
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| Quote: | Originally posted by willardguyThe restrictions: no trip outside the US can be more than 6 weeks, and no more than half the data in three
months can be outside the US (so you can't use it just for trips, has to be some domestic usage).
So, quite handy for those taking short trips who only need a bit of slow data (that they also use in the US), and some texting and calls. Not useful
for anybody on long trips. |
Not true according to a personal friend who is using his cell with a T-Mobile
account in BCS.
He says "I called customer service and they assured me that there is no 6 week limit... I have been roaming for free in BCS for 3 months now. Also
I believe voice calls are 10c per minute now."
"I'm too young to be this old!"
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Riom
Nomad
Posts: 492
Registered: 12-17-2004
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| Quote: | Originally posted by unbob
He says "I called customer service and they assured me that there is no 6 week limit... I have been roaming for free in BCS for 3 months now. Also
I believe voice calls are 10c per minute now." |
This plan is described on http://www.t-mobile.com/simple-choice-international-plans.ht...
The small print is fairly vague:
"Not for extended international use; you must reside in the U.S. and primary usage must occur on our U.S. network. Device must register on our
U.S. network before international use. Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming or misuse." Also says:
"Standard speeds approx. 128 Kbps. No tethering.".
But, in the FAQ on that page:
"What if I plan to be abroad for several months on sabbatical – can I take advantage of T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plan while abroad?
T-Mobile’s plan is intended for customers who live in the U.S. and are traveling outside of the U.S. for work or casual travel. Customers
living or traveling abroad for extended durations (e.g., more than 5 weeks) would be better served with other international options, like local
service, as the majority of your usage must be on T-Mobile’s U.S. network."
Calls are still 20c, according that page.
So it doesn't look they're enforcing the limit for your friend yet (as it's not a fixed limit, more a guideline). I do know some people who had their
AT&T Go Phone service terminated for using it mostly while roaming, but as the T-Mobile service is newer they may not have any over-use processes
in place yet.
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
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We switched over to Republic Wireless last fall and haven't looked back since. The company is relatively new and is getting a lot of positive press.
The company uses hybrid technology that encourage users to use wifi instead of cellular. One of the downsides is that you are limited with phone
selection. You must use one of the phones they sell. With that said, one of the phones they offer is the Motorola Moto X.
There are four price plans based on your needs ranging from $5 to $45 per month. My wife and I chose the $25 plan which includes unlimited data,
text, and phone calls. You can switch your plan up to two times per month.
I knew we would not get cell coverage with our new phones but thought I would try the wifi only package during our two week trip at Christmas. Just
before crossing the border, we switched over to the $5 plan. We had unlimited data/text/and phone calls wherever we had wifi. Since we have wifi at
our place in Asuncion, we were in luck. From streaming Netflix to calling back to the States, we had no issues. We also used it at our hotel in San
Quintin.
We absolutely love Republic! I think we might get a cheap Mexican phone for emergency use. Check them out! https://republicwireless.com/meet-republic
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pauldavidmena
Super Nomad
Posts: 1715
Registered: 5-23-2013
Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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I should mention that I wasn't able to tether when I was in Mexico last month with my T-Mobile smart phone, something I could do when I used a
pre-paid Telcel SIM card with the same phone last July.
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unbob
Nomad
Posts: 407
Registered: 8-7-2006
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| Quote: | Originally posted by unbob
| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaNomad
Most of the roaming coverage in Baja for T-mobile is through Movistar.
Calls are $.20/minute. Both incoming/outgoing texts are now included in the international roaming on the new "simple" plans. |
Obviously that is not a good deal. With my Telcel 'Amigo Combinado 20' plan I'm paying 4.8 cents per minute when calling my
"preferred" numbers (family, friends). 20 cents per minute is awful and unacceptable for me.
The unlimited data plan sounds great though! |
"I'm too young to be this old!"
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