kirkswig
Jan 17, 2005, 6:39 PM
Post #3 of 31
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Re: [Caarina12] Working remotely for US Company
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Yeah, if what you do can be done on a computer and the work product can be conveyed over the Internet, Mexico is as good a place (or better) as any to do the work.
The big requirement is DSL. I've had mine now for approx. five months and with the exception of one outage which lasted a couple of days (would've been less had I known in advance who to call) the service has been excellent.
I have a Vonage router ready-to-go should I decide I need a phone number, but for now the service provided by iConnectHere.com has been more than sufficient (it lets you dial out, it works, and it's cheap.)
I've only had the occasion to log into a couple of corporate systems remotely and in neither case did my Mexican IP address prove a problem. However, I do not have a static IP, so in one case I had to have them configure the firewall to allow me a one-time access (after I provided my current IP address out-of-band), and in the other case they were willing to allow a range of IP addresses. If you require a static IP then be prepared to pay as it is very expensive here: Prodigy wants $1000MX per month (contrast that with the $10US a month I was paying NOB.) Ouch.
Before coming down here I was planning on leasing a server NOB and using it as a proxy for banking or for when the static IP was essential, but it hasn't been necessary and I've since forgotten about it.
As for employer reaction, well, that depends. The one company I was under contract with at the time didn't really care for it at all. I think there's a concern that they have less legal recourse should someting go awry if you're in Mexico, but I patiently explained to them that the project I was working on was a disaster no matter from where I worked on it (not my fault) and they sort of gradually accepted that view, albeit grudgingly. The other company doesn't seem to care. And of course, with a NOB mailing address and Vonage you could actually make it appear that you are anywhere you want.
I've had to take one business trip since arriving. Tip: DO NOT let somebody else arrange travel in Mexico for you. They can pay for it, but you should make the reservations. On a trip from Mazatlán to New York City, they put me on a connecting flight with a DIFFERENT CARRIER through MEXICO CITY. It was the most brutal travel experience in my life, for reasons I will not go in to. Basically, what you want to do is avoid MXC like the plague and arrange for a direct flight, or if you must connect, do it in someplace like LA or Houston.
MXC does provide free wireless if you're a Prodigy customer however, so it wasn't all bad.
The only other change you need to prepare for is in ordering stuff online, esp. computer stuff. This can be really challenging. First you have to find a place that will even ship to Mexico, then you have to pay an arm-and-a-leg for shipping, and then it's anybody's guess when the stuff actually arrives, to say nothing of what Aduana will make of it. I've received stuff in a week-and-a-half without paying aduana. I've received stuff fully two months after ordering it, and having to pay aduana more than what I paid for the original item (although admittedly it was a cheap item, $10US I think.)
I started out with three computers. I'm now down to two (oh yeah, another thing to keep in mind... coming up with a solution on how to get clean electricity for your computer, bearing in mind that, apparently, very few outlets are grounded down here.) If you have a deadline and you come here with only the laptop and it suddenly stops working, you're going to be in a bit of a bind. There is no next-day Fedex (well, there sort of is but you're paying amazing sums of money for it.) And the computer stores down here are at best limited in selection, esp. if you're using a Mac. But even PC's don't fare much better... I've done a fair bit of hunting and so far I've seen exactly TWO graphics cards since coming here, ONE sound card, ONE power supply... I see a lot of signs offering computer repair but I don't see any computer parts, so it is something of a puzzle.
So... make sure where you're going has DSL, buy a Vonage router BEFORE you come down and sign up AFTER you arrive, and bring at least TWO computers with ALL of the accessories and software you think you'll need (or be prepared to buy one from DELL upon arrival.) Then immediately get your outlets grounded, and put a UPS between everything that costs more than $100US and the Mexican electrical utility.
That being said, I've never been more productive in my life than I have been over the last three or four months.
To boldly go where no wig has gone before.
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