# Reliable High Speed Internet In Tijuana



## GimpLostAndLovinIt

Hey guys!

So, I've been here a couple weeks now. Loving it so far. Got my apartment in Playas, and have my second visa appointment in a few days in Seattle. (Trying to get a copy of my rental contract to show them is another story, since my landlord is on vacation ) LOL

But, it's coming time for me to choose an internet provider. The landlord insists he loves Izzi/CableMas but I have heard nightmare stories about their customer service, and also that the service is unreliable. 

I can't go days without internet or something which seems to be a thing with them... so I was wondering if anyone else had other suggestions. I keep seeing the TotalPlay package which looks awesome, whenever I go to Walmart, but I know nothing about them and my Spanish is not great enough to listen to the reviews of each company on Youtube in the way I would like. 

So, who do you use in TJ, Telnor, Izzi, TotalPlay, someone else?

Thanks!


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## NCas

To put in my two cents none of of the ISP have good customer service. I don't live in Tijuana yet, but I'm hoping to move there from Queretaro within the next month. I've had both MegaCable and Telmex for ISP while here in Mexico. 

With MegaCable you get more bang for the buck. First time I signed up it took them two weeks to actually get me set up. After that I rarely had an issue though it did go out but not more than a couple of days at the most. Be aware that MegaCable if you don't give them a credit card to bill to you'll have to go to a branch or pay your bill at an OXO. In the third house I've move to I had a faster installation. However, I've been having issues where the speed of my internet has decreased significantly for several hours once or twice a month. I've had the technicians come in on 3 separate occasions, but they have not been able to figure out what causes it. 

I had TelMex in the second house I lived in because MegaCable was did not provide service in that area. They are much more expensive, but are usually better at customer service. However, they were only able to provide DSL speeds 5 MB for $350 per month. I was paying $450 for 20MB with MegaCable. 

Both companies will provide a modem with wireless capabilities. I would recommend that you get your own WiFi modem to hook up as I don't feel they are all that great. I've heard much like yourself that TotalPlay is decent, but as far as I know they do not have any branches you can go in case you have an issue. Axtel advertised as one of the fastest and more reliable ISP's. I've been wanting to try them as they seem to have an all fiber optic network. They are also more expensive and you'll have to see if they provide coverage in your area. Hopefully this will help you get a better idea on ISP down here. 

Hey I'm tying to figure out what would be some good neighborhoods where I can rent a house. I'm not really looking for anything fancy, but I would also like to live in a fairly safe area. How do you go about finding a place to live up there?


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## GimpLostAndLovinIt

Thanks so much for letting me know your experience! I've been using the wifi hotspot on my phone with t-mobile which still works, roaming on TelCel, and that's OK but I only have unlimited data on my phone itself and not through the hotspot feature... and it won't last the whole month because my job is kinda data hog-ish. 

I may try TotalPlay just because they advertise the highest speeds I have found and it's fiber optic, but idk. I also will be setting up TV service and Izzi has a DVR feature whereas TotalPlay does not.... I dunno how much that kind of thing will sway my decision though. 

In terms of finding a place to live, well it was kind of a saga... I looked online for a few weeks before I made the jump to come down here, but wasn't super happy with what I found unless it was basically out in the middle of nowhere. Once I got here, I made a reservation on Expedia at a hotel cheap but nice in Centro and stayed there about a week figuring a few things out. 

I took UberEnglish a lot, and started telling the drivers and everyone I came into contact with that I was looking for an apartment. Most people didn't know of any at the time really, but a few gave me some leads and we talked about various neighborhoods around TJ. 

The area I was in was not horrible, but it wasn't really my scene. Playas de TJ kept coming up and it was one of the places I had in my sights anyway. One of the guys here had previously recommended this cute hotel there, but I had been afraid to just show up in case they had no availability like some other places in the area, and then I forgot the name. 

One day, I just said "screw it" and got another Uber driver who was up to taking me out there and driving me around. I fell in love with the area, it was super relaxed, beautiful and much cooler temperature wise. He called some of his friends who knew of some other off the beaten path hotels, and we went to those, most of which were also full, but our last stop was...right on the main road into Playas and.... the cute little place that was recommended to me here... which I recognized from prior pictures. 

They had availability, and let me basically put down a good faith deposit on my room in spite of not needing to check in until later in the week! Awesome. Once I got there, the son of the owners accidentally changed my room assignment and put me in their worst room which got basically no wifi signal, and he could not remember the wifi password to the one network that room did get a signal to. 

It was funny, but I had to work that night and needed internet... so after some conversation he rigged me up with an extension cord through the front of the place, and I sat outside in the courtyard all night working while enjoying the night/beachy air. 

Then he got interested in what I do for a living, and in talking about that it came up I was looking for an apartment in Playas. He thought for a minute and then it came up that he had an apartment at a building he and his parents own that I might like... 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, decent kitchen, decent area, ground floor, and close to the beach... and he could probably give it to me for around $450 or so. 

I went to look at it as soon as I could, and immediately said yes. It's not perfect, but the setup is great, it's spacious, I finally have a room for an office which I could not afford in LA, I'm 2 blocks from the beach, and a short ride/walk from Walmart and pretty much everything I could want, my landlord speaks English and is super chill so far and it's really great. Since then I have heard of places that are similarly nice for even a little cheaper but it really depends on who you talk to. 

As an aside, there is a guy advertising studio apartments in the same area roughly as me, for the same price that I am paying for my 2 bedroom, but that was on CL so just be vigilant. I did find some groups on FB to be a bit more reasonable in what they were asking for various properties since they weren't necessarily targeting gringos... so you may want to start there, but many people would post things that were not even remotely in the neighborhood, in a group specifically about Playas, so you have to know where you are.... And as everyone has mentioned, word of mouth won out for me.


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## NCas

Thanks for sharing your experience. I was hoping that I would have to relay less on luck. I'll have to move up there in less then a month due to a new job I'll be starting. Wish me luck and let me know what your experience is with the ISP you settle on. Soon I'll have to start deciding on an ISP myself.


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## perropedorro

Internet is always a bright spot for American expats because the U.S. has the most abusive ISP costs in the world so just about anywhere you move you'll be paying less and/or getting more. In Mexico, the standard is Telmex Infinitum, usually the only game in town for rural areas and small or mid-sized cities. At 380 pesos/month I get the same speed and reliability I was paying over 3x for (60 bucks) for from Charter in SoCal. In larger Mexican cities like TJ there's competition so you might find an even better deal.


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## drewjones

Hey,

I live in Playas and Telnor is the best internet.

What you do is go into the office and tell them you want service and a few days later the installer will show up to install the service.

What I had to do when I first got here is get telephone and dsl service. The plan i got and still have is 20mb upload and 5mb download for 35 a month. I do not know if they still offer that but its the fastest plan down here for residential.

Since then, I have moved and got fiber. The fiber is nice because you can drop your phone service if you want. Same speeds, not much difference.

Here to help!

BTW T-Mobile is the best cell service down here because of the free roaming and the wifi calling while you are down here.


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## drewjones

For apartment hunting here in Playas is to take a few hours and drive around. There are plenty pf apt's here in playas available for rent.

My first apt was 1 block from the beach for $230 with a balcony overlooking the beach. It took me about 2 hours of driving around to find the place.

People are always willing to help ya out getting situated down here.

Best thing to do when driving across the border is applying for the sentry pass. It will save you tons of time crossing the border, driving or even walking.

Apply online. It will take up to 6-9 months to get approved.
https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/sentri


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## NCas

drewjones said:


> For apartment hunting here in Playas is to take a few hours and drive around. There are plenty pf apt's here in playas available for rent.
> 
> My first apt was 1 block from the beach for $230 with a balcony overlooking the beach. It took me about 2 hours of driving around to find the place.


Wow $230 I hope I'm as fortunate to find something like that in that area. I'll definitely try my luck.


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## GimpLostAndLovinIt

Man today has been interesting on the "getting internet installed" front. I met my neighbor in the apartment next to me, and he had service with the company I'd been considering the most. 

Told me he had a good experience with them, and that they came quickly to install, so I contacted them and they said they could install today... between 9 AM and 2 PM... so I waited.... and waited... and waited... chatted with their support and was advised of delays... my window of installation got stretched out until 4 PM... then 5... then 6... then 8... then 9... which is when they stop. During this time, their offices for phone support closed. Their chat support went offline as well... and no one showed up to install my service. 

I should probably maybe be a bit more upset than I am considering I wasted all day at home waiting for them, but meh, whatever I guess I will try again tomorrow. 

This is only made slightly more annoying by the fact that I broke my smartphone recently, so unless I am tied to skype on my home computer, they have no way to reach me if needed... until I replace my smartphone.

I wouldn't say it was necessarily a bad experience either, nor does it really make me not want to use the service... I got to test their speeds on my neigbors connection and they're true to their word about what they can provide... plus their support people did their best to try and keep me informed when I did reach out, but man... to be installing 12 hours a day and still not get to everyone on their appointment list... dang. LOL


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## NCas

Hang in there GimpLost. Hopefully they'll get it up and running at your place before the end of the week. If they are able to install it tomorrow great, but prepare yourself to have this scenario again tomorrow.


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## GimpLostAndLovinIt

They actually showed up today, and ultimately I had two technicians fighting over who was going to install for me, but one had arrived a bit earlier before the other one called, so he was already in the middle of the installation process. 

The guy who finished it did quite a good job and took great care to make sure the cabling was nicely laid and all of that. I'm getting about 50-60Mbps from my 100Mbps plan, but the upload speed is right on target and I'm on wifi instead of hard wired in... so if I were hardwired in, I'd be getting the full capacity.... regardless, I'm happy, and it's a consistent speed and still fast which is what was important. 

They almost ended up not installing today though, because when the guy showed up, he was not happy with the documents I provided (my ID, as well as a letter from the landlord with the reason for why I/we do not have my housing contract yet/and why I don't have a bill to show yet... 

The guy next door said when they installed for him, they did not even ask for this (and he is not Mexican) but the guy called my landlord and my landlord sent him a digital copy of something via SMS message that appeased him and he continued with the installation. I found the whole thing quite amusing, especially because the company was adamant they needed a copy of my visa too, but did not even ask to look at it in the end. Haha.


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## NCas

Great to hear that you got your internet set up. Yeah, I don't think there is a whole lot of communication between the people you schedule the appointments with and the technicians who do the actual installation. That is weird that they would ask you that, that has not happened to me. I' am Mexican American so it's easy for me to blend in, but a friend of mine here in Mexico who is Korean also did not have to provide that kind of info. 

Were you able to bring a wireless router from the states down with you? This will likely help with the poor signal you get with the router they gave you. I would also recommend checking you speed at fast.com and changing your DNS server to Googles. Sorry I'm starting to get a bit technical, but I also demand good ISP reliability and speed. Today I'm having issues with the speed of my internet fluctuating. It's driving me a bit nuts.


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## NCas

Hey GimpLost, hope things are going well and you're settled up there. I was wondering if you could help me out with the name of the ISP's that provide service up there in Tijuana? I'll be flying up there in a few days to look at a couple places to rent and I would like to check with the ISP's if they provide service to that particular area and at what speeds. I don't want to make the same mistake where I moved to a new place where they had really slow internet. Thanks in advance.


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## GimpLostAndLovinIt

I used TotalPlay. They came to install the quickest, and have live chat support and a nice online payment interface. Plus they had a nice promotion going on. I got the 100MBPS triple play package, but they have speeds up to 300Mpbs, and you don't have to get a combo pack. 

It's reliable, and generally fast. I do get a bit of degradation as I mentioned below, but their router is actually decent, in comparison to say.. TWC stateside routers. 

People also recommend Telnor/Telmex, but when I went by the store, the line was out the door and I easily found a TotalPlay rep in Walmart and then finished the appointment setup online. 

Izzi/CableMas also has supposedly great speeds, but EVERYONE says they are bad and unreliable. My building has 6 units. 3 have TotalPlay, 2 have Telnor and 1 has Izzi.


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## NCas

Thanks for the info. I think I found a great place in Rosarito just south of playas TotalPlay doesn't seem to have coverage down there. I'll check out the other two mention in your post.


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## desilvacouple

I believe you meant 350 pesos right?


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## TundraGreen

desilvacouple said:


> I believe you meant 350 pesos right?





NCas said:


> …
> I had TelMex in the second house I lived in because MegaCable was did not provide service in that area. They are much more expensive, but are usually better at customer service. However, they were only able to provide DSL speeds 5 MB for $350 per month. I was paying $450 for 20MB with MegaCable.
> 
> …


DeSilvaCouple: Were you asking about the post by NCas? If so, yes those prices are in pesos. The symbol for pesos, "$", is the same as the symbol for dollars. Some people make it clear which they mean, but it is generally obvious from context.


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## RickS

But also be aware that the Post you responded to is almost 3 years old.....


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## NCas

desilvacouple said:


> I believe you meant 350 pesos right?


Yes, prices were in pesos. Here is the link to where they announce new speeds and prices if you would like to check for yourself:

https://www.totalplay.com.mx/paquetes


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