# U.S. cellphone service-- Minimal options?.



## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

After having moved here over a year ago, now spending perhaps a total of 6 weeks NOB yearly, I’m wondering what to do with with my U.S. cell phone service. I'm getting little value paying $60 a month for something I rarely use, with U.S. friends and family finally having figured out Mexican dialing codes. 
Still I don’t want to ditch it entirely or my number which is on lots of documents. I now use my son’s address because it’s often best to not declare you’re living OOC, and having a U.S. number is crucial to maintaining that façade. Or perhaps it’s just a need for another psychological connection. 
I’ve heard of “number parking” combined with call forwarding to my Mexican line for around 7 bucks per month, along with a limited number of call outs. Pretty sure some of you veteran expats have been down this road. Anybody comments or suggestions?


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

Why don't you buy a MagicJack device on Amazon (they will ship it to Mexico) and transfer your US cell phone number ? Cost about $35 USD for the device which includes 1 year free service.

We have both AT&T (100 pesos prepaid) and Telcel (199 pesos prepaid) mobile phones which provide unlimited calling to US/Canada/Mexico (I think - I only use them for Mexico).


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

horseshoe846 said:


> Why don't you buy a MagicJack device on Amazon (they will ship it to Mexico) and transfer your US cell phone number ? Cost about $35 USD for the device which includes 1 year free service.
> 
> We have both AT&T (100 pesos prepaid) and Telcel (199 pesos prepaid) mobile phones which provide unlimited calling to US/Canada/Mexico (I think - I only use them for Mexico).


I have an AT&T mexico cell service. I pay monthly but by paying a year in advance, I get 12 months for the price of 6 months. I own my own unlocked phone. So the net cost is 200 pesos/month. It is unlimited voice and text in the US/Canada?Mexico and 2 GB/month. I use it in the US on the rare occasions when I am north of the border. You have to allow roaming, but there are no extra fees.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

perropedorro said:


> After having moved here over a year ago, now spending perhaps a total of 6 weeks NOB yearly, I’m wondering what to do with with my U.S. cell phone service. I'm getting little value paying $60 a month for something I rarely use, with U.S. friends and family finally having figured out Mexican dialing codes.
> Still I don’t want to ditch it entirely or my number which is on lots of documents. I now use my son’s address because it’s often best to not declare you’re living OOC, and having a U.S. number is crucial to maintaining that façade. Or perhaps it’s just a need for another psychological connection.
> I’ve heard of “number parking” combined with call forwarding to my Mexican line for around 7 bucks per month, along with a limited number of call outs. Pretty sure some of you veteran expats have been down this road. Anybody comments or suggestions?


I also use my son's US address for some things. And I have a google voice US phone number for when I really need one. They turn text messages into an email to me. So it works for two factor identification.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

TundraGreen said:


> I have an AT&T mexico cell service. I pay monthly but by paying a year in advance, I get 12 months for the price of 6 months. I own my own unlocked phone. So the net cost is 200 pesos/month. It is unlimited voice and text in the US/Canada?Mexico and 2 GB/month. I use it in the US on the rare occasions when I am north of the border. You have to allow roaming, but there are no extra fees.


But if you have a lifetime of relations who know your US phone number (as was an original requirement in this post) - how do you handle that ? (We also own all our phones - and I am particularly happy with my new Samsung rugby flip phone ).


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

horseshoe846 said:


> But if you have a lifetime of relations who know your US phone number (as was an original requirement in this post) - how do you handle that ? (We also own all our phones - and I am particularly happy with my new Samsung rugby flip phone ).


That is a problem. I have the opposite situation. My son recently asked me which numbers he could get rid of. I had a T-Mobile US number, a Virgin Mobile US number, a Google Voice US number, three Telcel Mexico numbers, a Guatemala Claro number, a IusaCel Mexico number and a AT&T Mexico number. I am trying to simplify.


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## sparks (Jun 17, 2007)

Telcel covers all of Mexico and US and Canada. A 40 minute call to my bank in Seattle cost me less than 30 pesos


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## perropedorro (Mar 19, 2016)

horseshoe846 said:


> But if you have a lifetime of relations who know your US phone number (as was an original requirement in this post) - how do you handle that ? (We also own all our phones - and I am particularly happy with my new Samsung rugby flip phone ).


Any personal relations or anybody else I care about knows my Mexican number and has figured out how to dial it so there's no problem there, and Telcel has great affordable plans that include roaming in the U.S. even for data. I was thinking more about the business end, banks and such, who sometimes insist on a U.S. address and phone. Anybody here park their number with Google Voice? Again, thanks to all for the suggestions and comments.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

perropedorro said:


> Any personal relations or anybody else I care about knows my Mexican number and has figured out how to dial it so there's no problem there, and Telcel has great affordable plans that include roaming in the U.S. even for data. I was thinking more about the business end, banks and such, who sometimes insist on a U.S. address and phone. Anybody here park their number with Google Voice? Again, thanks to all for the suggestions and comments.


A person can have 'personal' relations as well as 'business' relations. I understood your need to be to move your US phone number without the need to update a lifetime of relationships. That is why I suggested a MagicJack device ($35) with a year's free service. (There may be a small fee to move your current US number - maybe $7USD). Our MagicJack in Mexico has a (561) area code. I don't think it can call Mexico for free (but we don't use it for that purpose). I believe you could even forward an incoming call to your Telcel phone - but I have no need for that feature and have not tried it.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I did things the other way around. I kept my US number on T-mobile, with a US billing address, and have a plan that allows free roaming in mexico (it's a $50/month plan). I don't have a mexican number. I use whatsapp to communicate with people here in mexico using the US number.

I do have a mexican phone number associated with my CATV/internet/VOIP package, but I haven't given it out to anyone.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

eastwind said:


> I did things the other way around. I kept my US number on T-mobile, with a US billing address, and have a plan that allows free roaming in mexico (it's a $50/month plan). I don't have a mexican number. I use whatsapp to communicate with people here in mexico using the US number.
> 
> I do have a mexican phone number associated with my CATV/internet/VOIP package, but I haven't given it out to anyone.


Having lived in South Florida for 30+ years - through numerous hurricanes - we have come to appreciate the value of a 'land-line'. That is why we have a Telmex fijo. (Something to consider in Cancun). The most reliable service by far was the telephone service. We went sometimes weeks without electricity - and even when we had it there was no internet connectivity. At one point I went out and purchased a cheapo analog modem and the phone company gave me dial-up information.

The original post on this thread was looking for a way to avoid the current $60 USD/month fee. I have to laugh - there is a commercial on the US tv channels we watch where some guy is extolling the merits of his company's plan for $45 USD (each) for up to 4 lines - he keeps dropping microphones on the ground to make an impression. Are there really people in the US who pay $180 USD/month for phone service ?


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## Orfin (Sep 26, 2016)

I have an App on my iPad called "Uptalk".
It is a free app and you get a US based phone number with it that works from anywhere in the world over WiFi/internet.

You can set up for free on the app and be assigned a US number that stays. Although i had the first number expire on me once with the free service. I forget what the circumstances were but i set up the account again and paid for minutes and as long as i have active paid minutes, the account and number stays intact.

The free service means free calls between Uptalk user to Uptalk user. But to call land lines and cell phones or other internet phone apps outside of Uptalk, you have to pay for minutes.
The plans come as low as $2.99 if i recall and i bought around 1300 credits which is general use outside of a plan. Was $22 for 1300 credits that add up to 400 minutes but it is less minutes if you call international beyond Mexico and USA.
calls between Mexico and USA on landlines only, are unlimited on the $2.99 & $9.99 plan. And the credit purchase option is for calls to any kind of line anywhere and the credits are charged based on where you call and what kind of line. Up to 400 minutes for 1300 credits for $22.

So, if you can work out the downside of changing numbers or find a way to get uptalk to use your old number, then you can keep an Uptalk USA number on your wifi connected Mexican smart phone or on your computer/tablet. It does voice messages, text messages and more. I use Uptalk to call far flung places like Africa where regular service would be very expensive. 
I pay $25 a month Mexico Wifi bill and then the cost of uptalk credits is as little as $0.99(40credits)or as much as $22. 
I think it is 1 credit per minute to call Mexico and about 2.5 credits a minute to call USA. I have 247 credits left and account says i have 96mins to USA, and 247mins to Mexico. less than 2cents a minute to mexico. 

If it is just to have the USA number, you can spend just $0.99 for 40 credits and i think wifi bill with infinitum Telmex is as low as $15 a month. And the wifi is great for so much more than phone calls. Maybe you already have wifi and you just need to fork over minum of $0.99 a month to "Uptalk".


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