Keeping in touch from Mexico
(The rates quoted in this article are as of August 1998)
When I first started traveling in Mexico in the '60s, it was truly like going back in time. If you wanted to place a call back to the States or Canada you would have to call down to the front desk and they would take all of the information and then tell you they would try the call. It might take several hours for the operator to find an available line to place the call. The quality of the service was often terrible and you could expect to have your call dropped on occasion. One thing you never had to doubt, though, was that the call would be expensive. I once had a $2,000 phone bill for one week when I stayed in an Ixtapa hotel and had some customers with problems in the U.S.
Fast forwarding to today, it is like night and day from the old days. From most hotels, you can direct dial to anyplace in the world. In some of the cities they even have AT&T DIRECT available, which puts you in immediate contact with a U.S. based operator to place your call. However, you can still have no doubt that it will be expensive. There are some signs that NAFTA is bringing cheaper phone service to some areas of Mexico, and even some competition on pricing. What can you do to minimize your telephone or fax costs and still enjoy Mexico? The answer is to find ways to cut down on the number of calls you must make from Mexico and makeit easier for those who call or fax you.
Some of us road warriors have discovered some tools which can be used by those who are traveling or living in Mexico. Here are some examples:
1. Be sure you have an internet provider.
Shopping around is now possible in Mexico for internet providers. Even in areas not directly serviced by internet you can dial up and get your email quickly if you use software like Eudora or other programs that download the email.
Obviously internet is the cheapest way to communicate with others but now it is also opening avenues for you to communicate with non-internet users more cheaply. For your non-internet friends I suggest you take a look at http://www.jfax.com/. This system allows you to open a fax number at a fairly wide area of places, even to foreign cities like Sydney Australia, Paris, London, Vancouver. You can have friends fax you there and it converts the fax into an email and sends it to you. But a neater thing is that it allows you to have a voice mail box, which will forward your voice mails to you via email and you can play them out on your laptop (if it has a sound card). You can see what this does for you... you can figure out if the call needs to be returned or can wait. There is no reason you can't continue your professional/private life anymore.
JFAX has a neat system where you can send emails from them and it delivers them as faxes for about 5 cents/page. Cheaper than dialing up from Mexico to check your mail, or your friends can fax you quite inexpensively. Best of all, it costs only $12.50/month for your personal fax/voice mail number in the city of your choice. This allows you to have a fax number, but not to have to pay for an extra telephone line for it. I use it extensively for people I correspond with who aren't on email yet. It is already possible to send a fax to NYC, SF, Washington DC, Toronto, London, England etc. for free from your computer anyway. Info on that is at http://www.tpc.int/tpc_home.html.
I suggest you also keep up with some of the new developments in computers. The technology is fast coming where you can use your computers sound card to make phone calls cheaply in other cities or countries. For more information take a look at the web site at Net2Phone. The quality of calls obviously depends on your internet provider also but the software is fast approaching that will allow us all to benefit from this technology.
2. Mail Forwarding Services
Mail forwarding is available at places like http://www.mailnetwork.com and also available at many PostNet and other private mail companies. There is no reason you can't communicate effectively with friends, family or coworkers. In San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic, for instance, you can go to a Mailboxes Etc. store and signup for a mail forwarding and sending system.
3. Cellular phones and regular phones
Both telephone systems are becoming less expensive. AT&T Wireless now has a program that allows you to make phone calls to and from anyplace in the US for 10 cents/minute (USD) in the US, and 60 cents/minute (USD) from Mexico or Canada from your cell phone. This can be a savings if you must make a phone call and are traveling or even living in parts of Mexico.
However, there are now telephone companies in the US that have even cheaper rates. There is no reason to be isolated. Sometimes those in Mexico must help their family or friends learn how to most cheaply call you.
The bottom line is that no longer must you be isolated by traveling or living in Mexico, if you need to be in touch. Learning how to use the resources available will make it easier for you to live or travel, and more importantly, help you to continue your work if you must work while in Mexico. You may even create a new job from your home in Mexico (look at the people behind Mexico Connect for an good example!).
If you have moved to Mexico to get away from the phone and fax, please disregard my article and just tell your contacts that you will contact them when you can.
Mexico is a country that can allow you that luxury.
Dean and Yoly Hughson live in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Dean is a consultant in the egg industry worldwide and Yoly studies languages. They can be reached for travel advice at dean@primenet.com
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