# Telcel recurring billing



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

So as of a couple months ago I have a phone with a Telcel chip and Mexican phone number, and I've been pre-paying it every month on the SL200 plan. That works fine for me, but it's kind of a minor hassle to keep recharging it manually, even once a month. The last time I didn't notice it was time until I was out away from home (and my wifi connection) and had no connectivity. Fortunately there's always an OXXO close by.

But what I'd _really _like, if they offer it, is to just have them ding my Banamex debit card for 200 pesos automatically (until I say stop) without me having to push the transaction each month. Is there a way to get that?

I didn't see much at the telcel store about subscription/post-paid plans. I get why Telcel prefers pre-pay. I don't care whether I'm paying for the month ahead or the month behind, I just want _automatic. _I didn't see any pre-pay for a year options, but I think someone said they have that. Such would be ok for me too but I don't know how to get it. (I don't want to switch from Telcel though).

Anybody got any suggestions or plans they like that would work for me?

The amount of data that comes with the SL200 plan is definitely enough, I'm not a big user of air data (I can't remember whether it's 2 or 3 GB, but 2 is enough for me).

Maybe they have this on their web site and I just didn't see where to activate it, it was fairly confusing to me when I tried to pay the monthly SL200 online with my card.

All responses appreciated


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I can't comment on TelCel. For contrast, I have an AT&T chip in my phone. It used to be IUSA Cell, but AT&T took it over a few years ago. The monthly rate is 349 pesos, but I pay for 12 months in advance and get a second 12 months for free, so the effective cost is 174.50 pesos/month. It comes with unlimited text and voice for Mexico, US and Canada and 4 GB/month of data.


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

TundraGreen said:


> I can't comment on TelCel. For contrast, I have an AT&T chip in my phone. It used to be IUSA Cell, but AT&T took it over a few years ago. The monthly rate is 349 pesos, but I pay for 12 months in advance and get a second 12 months for free, so the effective cost is 174.50 pesos/month. It comes with unlimited text and voice for Mexico, US and Canada and 4 GB/month of data.


One of our phones has the exact same plan you describe. (The price has gone up to 374 pesos this year). AT&T is just fine, but I do miss IUsaCell at times. I didn't like that AT&T was encroaching. When that switch-over occurred I had an old CDMA flip phone which worked great. AT&T changed coverage to GSM (rendering my phone obsolete). I also had maybe a few thousand pesos credit balance which disappeared. We took AT&T to profeco AND WON our case. That was an interesting experience. AT&T restored our credit balance (with no expiration) and they gave me a new GSM phone !! It is not a good idea to 'over-play' it, but the word profeco can be very powerful.


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

We also have a Telcel phone. Same plan as mentioned above. 199/month except one month when it is 399 pesos.

We have debit cards and credit cards. I have only ever used a debit card at an ATM. However, I do make heavy use of the 'bill pay' feature offered by our banks. Personally, I prefer to pay my own bills rather than having some company pull my money away - but to each his own. Having said that - when I set up a 'beneficiary' I can place a peso amount for the 'relationship' AND I can specify if the transaction will be "recurrent". I have never used that feature...


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

I’ve had this for quite a few years, for $199 a month. It’s billed to my credit card – I don’t know whether a debit card would be accepted. They keep changing and chopping the plans, so I don’t know what mine is called – let me check.

Ah, here we go. It’s called *TELCEL MAX 1000 L*, and it gives me 1.5 GB a month. If I go over, I can be billed extra (doesn’t happen often). If my home wifi goes off and I just need a couple hours of data without it eating into my monthly allowance, I can send the code ILIM30 to the number 5050 (as an SMS) and I get 2 hours unlimited data for 15 pesos.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Thanks! I'll ask to see if that's still available for new customers. Sounds perfect.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I downloaded the mi telcel app, and made a login with my phone number, and bought a one-month package. I think it replaced my current package, which would have expired on the 7th at 00:00, so I lost a day and a half, but oh well. Should have done this tomorrow but I was thinking today was the last day not tomorrow.

Buying with my card through the app, I got an email and it said next time I can activate "scheduled purchase". So I think that was what I was looking for, I need to do it manually one more time and check that box and they'll keep charging me 200 pesos a month. 

For amounts that small and nonvarying and regular, I don't mind having them 'pull' money rather than having to go into my bank and push. I looked in the pay services section of my banking app, and got telcel registered, but it wanted an account number (besides the telephone) that I didn't have - at least not till I went through the process above with mi telcel. So I think from here I could do it either way, because I now have the account number in addition to the telephone number. 

It didn't seem to make any difference that it was a debit card vs a credit card. Or that my name isn't actually on the debit card - they just needed the numbers and my zip code.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Looks like you’re going to be all set. I started the plan long enough ago that I had to go in person to set it up, and there was no Mi telcel app at the time.

Another way I just recently learned about for getting extra time was when our home internet went out and it looked like it was going to be out for days, so I was going to be using up a lot of data. I got a Paquete Más Datos 1GB for $99. However, it seems that only lasts from the time you activate it until the end of the current billing period.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Yes, thanks very much for all the help and suggestions.

PS: the plan I have is paquete Amigo Sin Limites 200 (SL200), it gives 3 GB plus unlimited text/SMS & voice including US & Canada, unlimited "national social networks" data (facebook, whatsapp, etc), and 500 MB of music through claro-musica app, for 30 days

I wish it was one month instead of 30 days, the billing cycle will keep changing back one day for 31 day months, but eh.

I also saw the 15 peso deal you mentioned for 2 hours of unlimited data, that was available through the app.

Overall it's such a great deal compared to US plans.


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## MaxAlex (Oct 7, 2021)

eastwind said:


> So as of a couple months ago I have a phone with a Telcel chip and Mexican phone number, and I've been pre-paying it every month on the SL200 plan. That works fine for me, but it's kind of a minor hassle to keep recharging it manually, even once a month. The last time I didn't notice it was time until I was out away from home (and my wifi connection) and had no connectivity. Fortunately there's always an OXXO close by.
> 
> But what I'd _really _like, if they offer it, is to just have them ding my Banamex debit card for 200 pesos automatically (until I say stop) without me having to push the transaction each month. Is there a way to get that?
> 
> ...


Were you ever able to get this to work? I haven't been able to setup the recurring option either. I also don't really understand how the Friend Balance works together w/the package. Every time I click on the recurring option I get an error message. Please let me know how it worked for you. Thanks.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I got it _thoroughly _screwed up, with multiple packages activated simultaneously. I still get a message _every day_ at precisely 19:32 that my packet has expired. That was because I selected a one-day extra data package (Internet Amigo, as opposed to Internet Amigo Sin Limits or SL) on top of my regular one that had run out of data, told it to repeat, then wanted to stop it. I can't! Except that there's no balance, so the recharge fails. Daily.

I did get something set up through the 'Mi Telcel' app that seems to be repeating, it moves 200 pesos from my bank to my balance on the 2nd of every month. It takes a couple months to set up, you have to do it manually once, and as you finish select the option to tell it to save your credit card information, and have the charge succeed. Then the next month you can use saved credit card information to do it manually again, and that time at the end you can select a repeat function.

But the repeat function supports weekly, two-weekly and monthly. It doesn't support every 30 days, while the packets run for 30 days, not a month. Argh!

And the key is that's _only _to recharge your balance. It's a two-step thing, to get money into your telcel balance and _then _to use it to buy a package.

With a balance, you can buy a package, and there was something I did (forget what) that has it renewing the packet when it expires - if you have the balance already there to do so. (It may be that they send you a text message to which you reply Si to enable the auto-renew, or it may be something in dialog to buy the first package via Mi Telcel, I just don't remember now.

The repeat functions went off correctly this month, the package was 'vigencia 1/10/21 (this was reported by the 'mi telcel app'). On 1/10/21 I looked and it said the package was vigencia 1/10/22!. But it kept working, the bank account got dinged on 2/10 and the package renewed, and now says vigencia 31/10/21. 

So unfortunately it's not going to work next month because the package expires 3 days before my balance will be topped up. So maybe I will do a manual one-time move and then the balance will be there, and money will continue to flow in at 200/month, on the wrong day, but ahead of when it's needed.


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## tulumvx898 (11 mo ago)

I am having this exact same challenge. Question: If I deposit $1,000p with Telcel, with the Unlimited Amigo 200 plan take the $200p automatically from my "friend balance" each month to renew the subscription? And at what point for non-payment do they take away the number? It's all extremely confusing.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

tulumvx898 said:


> I am having this exact same challenge. Question: If I deposit $1,000p with Telcel, with the Unlimited Amigo 200 plan take the $200p automatically from my "friend balance" each month to renew the subscription? And at what point for non-payment do they take away the number? It's all extremely confusing.


I don't know anything about pre-paying- I don't find it any big deal to go buy more Sin Limites at an Oxo when it runs out.

But losing your number doesn't seem to have anything to do with paying. I have an old dumb phone I used to use exclusively, but now have a smart phone with a different number. I have not renewed any paquete on that old phone but keep it charged up because some clients from years ago try to get in touch with me but only have that old number. So I get calls and texts on it maybe once or twice every couple of months, I just can't use it to call or text out, only answer.

As I haven't put any money on that phone in about 3 years, and the number is still active, it seems that as long as some activity is happening on the number (people calling or texting me), you don't lose the number.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

tulumvx898 said:


> I am having this exact same challenge. Question: If I deposit $1,000p with Telcel, with the Unlimited Amigo 200 plan take the $200p automatically from my "friend balance" each month to renew the subscription? And at what point for non-payment do they take away the number? It's all extremely confusing.


The Telecommunications Law Peña Nieto instituted has a provision that the phone number has to be saved for 6 months after non payment.


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## Bobbyb (Mar 9, 2014)

The disadvanage would be that they have special deals. In November and December you got double the data for the 199. You can only get those deals online or at a telcel store. Not at Oxxo.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Bobbyb said:


> In November and December you got double the data for the 199. You can only get those deals online or at a telcel store. Not at Oxxo.


 Wrong. I got those double data deals when paying for Sin Limites at Oxxo.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

I don't understand why people are trying to do these complicated pre-pay things. If you don't want to pay at OXO, you can pay for Sin Limites, Amigo Internet, whatever, by dialing *133#, then following the prompts and paying with your bank app or credit card. I did this when I was in Canada and my Sin Limites ran out. It took all of 5 minutes.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

People just want it to be automatic - there's no technical reason why it should have to involve personal manual operations each month, or waiting in line at an OXXO. It's a desire for it to function as smoothly as it does in the US.

Well, I can say that when my car broke down in the middle of Yucatan, _and_ my phone plan ran out of validity the night before without me realizing it, it would have been much less inconvenient to have been on an automatic payment plan. Another time I paid 200 pesos at OXXO but only got a week's service before it was "out" again. The guy didn't give me a receipt, and doesn't seem to work there any more, so I suspect he had a thing going where he'd skim customer's payments and give them only a cheaper plan.

I would advise against loading up the amigo balance with 1000 pesos, because I believe I had a balance I didn't use for a while and I "lost" it. Not sure how that happened, but it disappeared, and it had only been on there around 3 weeks.

I finally got rid of my recurring billing, there was a way buried deep in the menus in a non-obvious spot I ran across.

I now have to do two operations, which I do one immediately after the other each month so as to not risk the money disappearing. One is to do a one-time load of my amigo balance with 200 pesos from my bank, the second operation uses that balance to buy SL200. I can do both on the phone if I have an internet connection but no current plan.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

eastwind said:


> I now have to do two operations, which I do one immediately after the other each month so as to not risk the money disappearing. One is to do a one-time load of my amigo balance with 200 pesos from my bank, the second operation uses that balance to buy SL200. I can do both on the phone if I have an internet connection but no current plan.


Eastwind, there is no need to do 2 operations.

Dial *133#. (This doesn't require that you have time left on your phone)

You will get a screen that lists the various things you might want to do (check balance, purchase, etc.) . Click on the number designation for one you want (Comprar).

You will get another screen that lists the various options (Sin Limites, Internet, etc). Click on Sin Limites. Another screen appears with the various amount options. (There is also an "other" if you don't see the 200 peso one there, which will show you yet another screen)

Then choose your payment option. You will then get a message saying you will get a phone call. You get this call within seconds- it's an automated call that asks you to input your credit or debit card number.

That's it- there is no need to put $ in Amigo and then transfer it to Sin Limites.

It sounds complicated when writing it out like this, but it's really quite simple once you do it the first time.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

My 'month' is up next week, so I'll give that a try. While the way I do it is two operations, somebody (I think it's the mi telcel app, not telcel themselves) has my card stored, so I don't have to re-enter it each time. Whether that's for better or worse is up for debate, I had it stored in an attempt to get all this automatic.
I have tried the *133# thing in the past and could not get past 'your balance is zero'. I am able to use it if I have an amigo balance. 

You can also do something like text SL200 to 5500 (I'm not sure I have that correct, check it) to buy a package. And you can add an 'R' at the end to make it recurring, SL200R, but you have to have balance in your account to pay for it. 

So I almost had it set up right for fully automatic, because I had a recurring monthly movement set up of 200 pesos from my back to my amigo balance, and I had the recurring SL200 going, but they won't stay in sync, because the SL200 is for 30 days and monthly means on the same date each month. (TIM!)

I had the deposit to Amigo going a couple weeks ahead of the SL200, and that worked for a month or two, and then my balance disappeared in the two weeks it sat unused.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Eastwind, when you phone *133# the first thing you see on the box that appears is your Amigo balance. Under that it says Comprar Paquetes, under that there are four numbered options. The first is Amigo Sin Limites. So you enter 1 on the line provided and hit Send. Then another screen appears. The first option is the one you say you want, the 30 day $200 paquete. So you enter the number 1 on the the line, hit send. And so on. 
Hope it works for you.


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## frederick6h9 (11 mo ago)

eastwind said:


> My 'month' is up next week, so I'll give that a try. While the way I do it is two operations, somebody (I think it's the mi telcel app, not telcel themselves) has my card stored, so I don't have to re-enter it each time. Whether that's for better or worse is up for debate, I had it stored in an attempt to get all this automatic.
> I have tried the *133# thing in the past and could not get past 'your balance is zero'. I am able to use it if I have an amigo balance.
> 
> You can also do something like text SL200 to 5500 (I'm not sure I have that correct, check it) to buy a package. And you can add an 'R' at the end to make it recurring, SL200R, but you have to have balance in your account to pay for it.
> ...


Sorry to be a bother, but the missus seems to have inadvertently set up one of these recurring packages and doesn’t want it to recur. Any idea on how to cancel the recurrence?
Many thanks


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

I'm not sure this is the answer to your specific question, but, my wife passed away last year and she had one of these Telcel plans which ran something like 200 pesos / month. Every month I used my bank's 'billpay' feature to re-up. So my wife was gone. I put my AT&T sim in her iPhone and discarded the Telcel sim. To finally "cancel' her plan I had to physically walk into the Telcel office, death certificate in hand, and ask them to close the account (it was a month to month plan !). Make no assumptions in Mexico that things are done logically. (And be sure when you do make a change that you walk away with something in writing). For a few months after I cancelled her account I was still receiving calls from them that I owed them money. They have since stopped.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

frederick6h9 said:


> Any idea on how to cancel the recurrence?
> Many thanks


I’ve been able to do things like that over the phone – by calling Telcel and telling them I want to cancel it.


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## frederick6h9 (11 mo ago)

MangoTango said:


> I'm not sure this is the answer to your specific question, but, my wife passed away last year and she had one of these Telcel plans which ran something like 200 pesos / month. Every month I used my bank's 'billpay' feature to re-up. So my wife was gone. I put my AT&T sim in her iPhone and discarded the Telcel sim. To finally "cancel' her plan I had to physically walk into the Telcel office, death certificate in hand, and ask them to close the account (it was a month to month plan !). Make no assumptions in Mexico that things are done logically. (And be sure when you do make a change that you walk away with something in writing). For a few months after I cancelled her account I was still receiving calls from them that I owed them money. They have since stopped.


Right you are, I shall inform her of the necessity of her death 😂


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## kphoger (Apr 22, 2020)

frederick6h9 said:


> Right you are, I shall inform her of the necessity of her death 😂


Actual death is not required. Just a death _certificate_.


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

Ok - ha ha ha. I suppose I brought along the death certificate to help make the case. Around here anyway most companies don't like to let customers go. That can be said for our Telmex service (now cancelled) or our Sky service (now cancelled) etc. Even to close a bank account can take a half day visit. Yes - and to close my wife's checking account I believe I was asked for her death certificate. 

Perhaps it has something to do with me (even though I was her husband) was not the 'titular' of the account.


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## kphoger (Apr 22, 2020)

I remember when my grandmother died, and my mom was the executor of her estate, everything was still in my grandpa's name, and he had died 25 years earlier. And out of everything, the hardest thing to cancel was the JC Penney credit card.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I tried the *133# method, but when they called me back they were speaking in spanish with no 'press 1 for english' (unless I missed it), so I gave up on that approach, my spanish isn't up to real-time listening even of a clear recorded voice, but I can do ok reading and understanding printed spanish. I might have been able to figure out enough of what she was saying, but didn't want to misunderstand, make a mistake and screw things up.

So reverted to using the mitelcel app, which I've used before. It showed my amigo balance at zero, as expected. There are two purple buttons in the Amigo Sin Limite box that shows the balance, the one on the left is "Paquete sin limite", but I started with the one on the right 'Recargar Saldo' - which may have been unnecessary.

I went through a couple easy screens, specifying one time (the recurring option is there also, but as I mentioned before there are fixed options including 'once a month' but not once every 30 days, which is what's needed), so I just did one time again. The app has my credit card information saved, so I don't have to re-enter it. I do have to punch in the CVV code every time and the amount of course.

That accomplished I went back to the home screen, refreshed it, and had a balance of 200 pesos. Then I used the left hand purple button to buy a packet.

Scrolled down a bit to find the 3GB Vigencia 30 dias $200 MXN one, hit it's purple 'Lo quiero' button. That gave me the option to pay with either a card or my Amigo balance. 

So next month I will try to remember to come straight to that point and see if paying with the card there is just as easy - and bypass the Amigo balance part.

But it's still all pretty easy, assuming you can get a connection. I think the mitelcel app works without service. I tried testing that this time by waiting until my packet had expired (as indicated by both the date/time given in mitelcel and the *133# menu) and turning off my wifi before running mitelcel.

When you buy a packet there are two checkboxes. The bottom one is 'terms and conditions'. The one above that is 'when the packet expires, buy another one the same', I.e. recurring packet - but what I haven't figured out how to do is have that buy charge the credit card - before when I was using recurring, it was taking the money from my amigo balance, so I had to have balance there ahead of time.

MAYBE if, next month, instead of putting money in the Amigo balance I buy the packet using a credit card directly, AND then say I want another one the same when the first one expires, that I'll get what I'm looking for. 

Maybe not.

For anyone else, one thing I recall with this app was the first month I wasn't able to set up recurring. It says you have to use the card one time successfully, then click the option to save the card information as you complete that transaction. Then next month when using a 'saved' card you can pick recurring.

I will update again next month.


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

Yes, I forgot to mention that the Telcel phone call to pay is in Spanish (we are in Mexico ). It basically first tells you what paquete you have chosen, then asks you to input your card number, then tells you it is accepted.
I do sometimes have a hard time understanding Spanish on the phone, as they talk so fast, but those messages are pretty clear and easy to understand. I would find it a real pain to live in a country where I didn't manage to achieve some basic fluency in the language.


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## kphoger (Apr 22, 2020)

When I have to talk to a business on the phone in Spanish, I always start out with _¿Que hable inglés usted?_ If the caller doesn't quite catch what I'm asking, then I double down with _¿Hay alguien que habla inglés?_ Sometimes that does the trick, other times not.


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## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

Yes - when I MUST speak to someone in Spanish on the phone I often lead with "Paciencia por favor, mi español es terrible." That helps.

BUT - in my world WhatApp is used by almost everyone. I have it on my phone, but I also have the client on my Windows 10 laptop. It looks like Telcel uses it as well. Its not perfect - but on Windows I can copy someone's text and use google translate. I can then use google translate to compose a reply. At this point I prefer WhatsApp to a phone call or even an email.


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Another month, another renewal. This time I tried just re-ordering the plan with no balance. The only payment choice it gave me was to pay with the amigo balance, and it offered me a chance to recharge it (since it was zero). When I did, the plan got bought at the same time, and the balance never showed anything other than zero. So not really much different or easier than last month, but anyway, I think I've got the process down to something I can do in 5 minutes each month.


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## rapidjoyride (6 mo ago)

eastwind said:


> So as of a couple months ago I have a phone with a Telcel chip and Mexican phone number, and I've been pre-paying it every month on the SL200 plan. That works fine for me, but it's kind of a minor hassle to keep recharging it manually, even once a month. The last time I didn't notice it was time until I was out away from home (and my wifi connection) and had no connectivity. Fortunately there's always an OXXO close by.
> 
> But what I'd _really _like, if they offer it, is to just have them ding my Banamex debit card for 200 pesos automatically (until I say stop) without me having to push the transaction each month. Is there a way to get that?
> 
> ...


We have ours set up on the mitelcel website for recurring monthly charges on the 20th but it's a little hard to figure out and changing cards throws it for for a bit. Reps tell me you can do it on the app. I must get more bilingual.


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