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TlxcalaClaudia

Mar 23, 2006, 3:11 PM

Post #1 of 12 (4034 views)

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Internet via cell phone

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An International student here in the USA told a fellow instructor he uses Internet service through his cell phone. The student is now gone and I have looked with my carrier for this but found nothing of this sort of service. If you heard of this, which cell phone service provider has this? Have you used this yourself and if so, was it reliable? Looking for a way to take my laptop with me anywhere I go in Mexico and still have Internet service. (was told the cell phone connected to the laptop. I do have wifi wireless too, so Internet cafes might be my solution. any ideas?)

Claudine

Papirex

Mar 23, 2006, 4:19 PM

Post #2 of 12 (4023 views)

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Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Internet via cell phone

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I’m not sure about wireless Internet access via a cell phone in Mexico, it might be available, I have just never looked for it. If it exists it will probably be expensive.

Connecting your own laptop at an Internet café here is a viable alternative if that service is available at an Internet café in your location. I have done that in Ajijij at the CIA when visiting there. I don’t remember the cost now; it wasn’t high, probably about the same as using one of their computers.

Another possibility is to connect wirelessly at Internet Hotspots. There are fewer of them in Mexico, and just like in The United States, most of them are not free. There is usually a daily or sometimes monthly fee for using one of them. The fees, while not particularly high, are not outrageous either. For instance at most of the Starbucks in The US the fee is US$9.95 per day.

Here are some links to search for Hotspots in Mexico. Some of them will list the amount of the daily fee, or show if they are free, extremely few are free.

http://www.jiwire.com/hotspots-hot-spot-free-directory-browse-by-country.htm?cid=34696&kw=free+internet+access&se=OVERTURE2

http://hotspot-locations.com/modules.php?op=hotspot_query&name=HotSpots&hsl_countryhs=MX&hs_state=&hs_city=&hs_operator=&hsl_type=&hs_access_box=&hs_roaming=&externalquery=&more=%3E%3E&moreFrom=15

http://www.boingo.com/

http://www.ezgoal.com/hotspots/wireless/

It’s been a few years since I found all these links using a Google search. There may be more of them now.

Finally, you might want to consider getting a Todito Card. It is dial up access, not wireless. They have access numbers all over Mexico, check to see if there is a number in the areas where you will be. You will need to have access to a telephone, remember not all Mexican hotels will have a telephone in your room, and often there is a per minute charge for making local calls from a Mexican hotel.

I always carry a Todito card in my laptop case when we travel down here as a backup. I buy the cheapest card they sell, $100 Pesos for 900 minutes, or 15 days unlimited access after you activate it. If I don’t activate it or use all the minutes, it expires in about 18 months. They are sold in various values, all the way up to $950 Pesos for 360 days of unlimited access. There are many places that sell them, including OXXO stores. They are like the 7-11 stores NOB and they are everywhere here, almost.

http://www.toditocard.com/tcard/00.html

I hope you find a solution in these links, Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

sfmacaws

Mar 23, 2006, 5:54 PM

Post #3 of 12 (4010 views)

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Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Internet via cell phone

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Are you sure they were talking about doing this in Mexico? I use my cell phone to connect to the internet in the US, in some areas it is very fast. It's also commonly done in Europe and Asia, I haven't heard of it in Mexico. It may well exist here but only in cities of some size. I use Verizon and my plan allows use in Mexico but the internet function has not worked when I tried it.

What you are looking for probably is a plan with text messaging or a way to send pictures from the phone. That implys that the phone can send data only calls and is technically able to connect as usually those calls, pictures in particular, use the internet to transfer the data. There are a lot of info groups and forums in the US on how to hack the phone or the connection to allow free internet use, usually they are looking at using the free night and weekend minutes for this. I haven't seen a mexican plan with free nights/WE so it wouldn't be as useful if you were watching the minutes. Telcel may also sell a data card for a pc, also popular in the US, which allows unlimited internet for a monthly fee.

Caution. My experience with cell phones in Mexico is that they work sometimes and all the features don't always work. I'd imagine that if you got this working in one location in Mexico, it would not do well roaming or moving to another location. It can take my phone days or longer to get recognized and registered on a roaming network, ie when I change cities.

I think it would be alot easier to use internet cafes which are everywhere. Most of them will let you connect your laptop to their network and some of them have wireless. Definitely bring a wireless card for your laptop. I've even found open wireless networks driving around, in Guadalajara for instance. Also in many malls now I see signs that they have wireless internet in the cafes. My friends got on one in a mall in Chetumal recently, no charge as long as you were ordering coffee and snacks.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

johanson / Moderator

Mar 23, 2006, 7:12 PM

Post #4 of 12 (3998 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] Internet via cell phone

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Jonna you are right on the mark as usual. As she said Verizon does offer such a program. I know several local ISPs that are looking at this same technology for distributing their signals, not nation wide like Verizon in the US, but in Guadalajara and perhaps lakeside. This technology is not here yet, at least that is what I was told, but should be here soon.

I have free wireless access at the local Mexican airports but only because I am a subscriber of Prodigy Infinitum. I think a dialup customer has to pay $10 US for the same service.

Rex gave you the same information I would. I can only add that the CIA's connection speed is 768 kb/sec up and down and the ISP they use, Lagunanet, is one floor directly above them. No signal loss there. Oh and the CIA station master, Harry who speaks English, Spanish and Farsi, has great food to include a few interesting Persian dishes.

TlxcalaClaudia

Mar 24, 2006, 1:44 PM

Post #5 of 12 (3968 views)

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Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Internet via cell phone

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well no luck here on my end either as for finding this service. The student I mentioned in the original post was from Brazil and used these services while in USA. I am going to Mexico a month early so to scout out things like this and establish myself before getting wrapped up in the school season. Thanks for the replies.

Claudine

sfmacaws

Mar 24, 2006, 3:23 PM

Post #6 of 12 (3958 views)

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Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Internet via cell phone

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Yes, you can easily use your cell phone for fast internet in the US. Verizon has the easiest (and cheapest if you don't buy their data plan) system but all of the major players have one. As I said, those services don't work off the Mexican towers.

If you want it for the US, you want to get a phone capable of sending pictures, thus a phone w/camera, to other phones or email addresses. With that phone, and a little inside info, you can get online at pretty decent speeds. With the true data plan and in an area with EVDO service you will get online faster than many DSL or Cable connections.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

TlxcalaClaudia

Mar 24, 2006, 4:45 PM

Post #7 of 12 (3950 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] Internet via cell phone

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interesting. Thanks for the tip.

Claudine

Papirex

Apr 11, 2006, 1:36 PM

Post #8 of 12 (3880 views)

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Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Internet via cell phone

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http://www.iusacell.com/

Claudine, I just found out that Internet access is available here through Iusacell, a cell phone company in Mexico. Everything on this site is written in Spanish, click on the link above, then click on the “Soluciones Personales” button at the top of the page, then click on” BAM” which is on the drop down list. An image of a PCMCIA card with an antenna will appear, click on the image for more info.

I just stumbled onto this info when looking at my own Iusacell bill online today. I don’t know what the monthly charges may be, or where their coverage areas are.

I have no clue as to whether you must use their cell phone service, or if the PCMCIA card is a stand-alone device.

I just thought I would let you know that the service is available, at least in some parts of Mexico. Possibly other cell phone companies have a similar service.

Rex

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

johanson / Moderator

Apr 11, 2006, 2:17 PM

Post #9 of 12 (3874 views)

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Re: [RexC] Internet via cell phone

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I knew that several companies were looking into this in Jalisco. The PCMCIA card, sometimes with a small external antenna, plugs into the side of your laptop. The cell phone isn't involved. It's just like in the olden days before Laptops had 802.11b/g units built into them. Today some of the newest laptops offer the new electronics included therein, eliminating the need for the pcmcia cards. As I recollect, the newest Dell laptops offer the electronics built in that formerly was only available over, for example, a Verizon PCMCIA card.

TlxcalaClaudia

Apr 11, 2006, 9:14 PM

Post #10 of 12 (3851 views)

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Re: [RexC] Internet via cell phone

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Thanks- doesn't surprise me you guys here found this. Hope it will be my link to maintaining Internet while moving around in Mexico come August.

Claudine

johnv

Apr 12, 2006, 10:29 AM

Post #11 of 12 (3837 views)

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Re: [RexC] Internet via cell phone

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I am also very interested in this UsaCel cellular broadband, but after reviewing their site, everthing is a tad unclear to me. I would like this for travelling or as a backup, or if I ever had an isolated mountain house with no phoneline, but available cellular signals. If anybody knows, I'd like to know what it costs, what the "card" costs, when the card is nessesary, will a laptop already equipped to connect to wireless connections work, where the service works, and where it doesn't , etc etc ?? Any futher explanation, or information, is welcome.

Mike McD

Apr 24, 2006, 2:36 PM

Post #12 of 12 (3795 views)

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Re: [TlxcalaClaudia] Internet via cell phone

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Claudia, This might be what you are looking for.

I have a Trio 600 PDA. My cellular provider is Cingular (AT&T) in the States. The device has what they call Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). It is built into the PDA. I'm in Mexico use the roming service agreement between Cingular and TELMEX not only to make and receive voice calls but to access my email and the web (if I want). The coverage is excellent in the central Bajio. You might have trouble in the country side but that's a function of your mobil phone service provider.

If you buy the PDA directly you can subscribe to a Mexican mobile service and just plug in the SIM card that the carrier gives you.

McD

try these links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

<http://web.palm.com/>