Traveling in Mexico. Need inexpensive phone plan to call U.S.A.

JeffKontur wrote:

I am not in Mexico yet (going next month on my first scouting trip) but my AT&T plan is free (though you have to specifically add it) and provides unlimited calls and texts plus 1GB per month of data usage. That to/from and anywhere within Mexico.

Is that no additional charge on your monthly plan?  Great , look no further.

I ended up getting a Telcel phone for about $18 and it lasted for the week.   Not the best reception but for the short stay (8 days) it was well worth it.   They didn't seem to know how much time/minutes I had but it did last.
Will probably go with something else next time I travel for a longer period of time.

Currently I have Metro PCS (T-Mobile) in the U.S. on an android smartphone.

It costs $5.00 extra a month to add a Mexico plan:

https://www.metropcs.com/Mexico-Unlimited.html

I can pay the monthly bill through the phone.

Sounds as if this may be a good option for me.

Get a portable wifi unit, stick a local SIM card in it, set the phone to wifi and use hangouts, skype or whatever you prefer.
Move country, simply change the SIM card.

so liento, what is a portable wifi
tech. chalenged

bothner06 wrote:

so liento, what is a portable wifi
tech. chalenged

portable & secure wireless hotspot. you can check them out on line, or perhaps Amazon will have them. I have one but never used it, they said to activate it when I needed it, and I have telcel so I pay 200 pesos a month for my phone and unlimited calls. I didn't want to activate it then have to re do that perhaps, when I had a perfectly good phone. But for your needs, Fed is right should be most helpful

I use Skype for all my calls out of the country and it works great and if free.

We use a Telcel phone to call the US. The plan is 150 pesos per month for unlimited text and calling to Mexico, US and Canada. We do not use Telcel for data, but there are data plans available as well.

Mreid51 wrote:

We use a Telcel phone to call the US. The plan is 150 pesos per month for unlimited text and calling to Mexico, US and Canada. We do not use Telcel for data, but there are data plans available as well.

The other benefit from that is, if you have an account you pay into, you are creating Mexican credit. U.S. credit does not count in Mexico as usable credit for Mexican debt.

bothner06 wrote:

so liento, what is a portable wifi
tech. chalenged

There must be a million versions on the markets ranging from cheap and nasty that'll last a few months before they die to some very nice quality stuff that are rugged and likely to last a very long time.

You pop a local SIM card in the thing so your internet is at the local country rates, not international roaming.
The downside is you have to use wifi so it hammers your phone's battery.
Every portable wifi unit I've seen has used USB charging so no need to carry spare charges around with you.