# making local calls



## werchanm (Jan 27, 2016)

Hello, I will be moving to Isla Mujeres this summer and am curious about the best way to make local phone calls. I will have my iPhone for calling and texting back to the United States via Viber and Wifi. However, I will not be able to do use that App for making calls locally. Can anyone offer suggestions on how you have handled this? Do I buy an inexpensive cell phone and prepaid sim card (similar to a Go Phone in the States) once I am in Mexico? I simply want to be able to make phone calls to local friends, restaurants, my landlord, etc. I am estimating that I will use it 15-20 times per month for a couple of minutes at a time. Thank you in advance for any suggestions and pricing information that you might offer.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

By a cheap phone and cards . One problem with the 200 pesos phones is that the sound is not great. Also check which company works better for you. In many area the co to go with is moviestar but if you plan to use it in various areas in Mexico tel cel has better coverage so check with locals after you arrive.
By the way telcel has a plan where you can make local calls but also have time to call the States at a cheap rate....


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

werchanm said:


> Hello, I will be moving to Isla Mujeres this summer and am curious about the best way to make local phone calls. I will have my iPhone for calling and texting back to the United States via Viber and Wifi. However, I will not be able to do use that App for making calls locally. Can anyone offer suggestions on how you have handled this? Do I buy an inexpensive cell phone and prepaid sim card (similar to a Go Phone in the States) once I am in Mexico? I simply want to be able to make phone calls to local friends, restaurants, my landlord, etc. I am estimating that I will use it 15-20 times per month for a couple of minutes at a time. Thank you in advance for any suggestions and pricing information that you might offer.


If your iPhone is unlocked, you can buy a SIM card for Mexico for it. If it is not unlocked, you might be able to get the company to unlock it telling them you will use it outside the US. If neither of those works, then buy a cheap phone in Mexico and a SIM card as suggested. You can add time to the card in any corner store.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> If your iPhone is unlocked, you can buy a SIM card for Mexico for it. If it is not unlocked, you might be able to get the company to unlock it telling them you will use it outside the US. If neither of those works, then buy a cheap phone in Mexico and a SIM card as suggested. You can add time to the card in any corner store.


At least with Telcel, you can also add time online.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

You should be able to use Viber to call Mexican phones. Since you're moving and not touring, get the iPhone unlocked and get a Mexican SIM.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

We have 2 phones : one is a fancy Galaxy s4 which is almost always turned off, The other is a $3 USD lg flip phone with IUsacell prepaid, Interestingly enough - in addition to our Telmex fijo we also have Vonage. Vonage gives us something like 250 minutes US AND Mexico per month. They also have this rather neat feature where if someone calls our US number - it will ring through to our IUsacell number,


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## ClinSpan (Feb 26, 2016)

It seems like almost everyone in Mexico uses the "WhatsApp" phone app. It also offers VoIP calling between two users.

If calling landlines is important to you, Skype is another good option, where you can buy a plan for Mexico. Of course, you'll need reliable Wi-Fi in order to use it.

Otherwise, a local mobile number is also a good and fairly inexpensive option. As previously mentioned, check the reception/signal strength once you get to your destination before purchasing the SIM card. You'll need an unlocked GSM phone.


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

Places you can add time to your local Mexican cell number: corner stores, all supermarkets, online, at ATMs (if you have an account in the corresponding Mexican bank).

In Mexico, a SIM card is most commonly called a “_chip_”.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I have used hangouts and made a number of video calls to Iowa. using wifi, the video and audio were excellent and free.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

According to their website, Movistar has good coverage on Isla Mujeres. They also have some good plans. Last year my husband and I did the prepaid chips and "recarga" route where you load e.g. $200 (pesos) at a time, but it seemed we were always running out of minutes faster than we should have. That was with Unefon, which was part of Iusacell. This year my husband got a plan with Movistar, again using his own unlocked phone. Since he's using his own phone, there is no mandatory contract term. For $199 monthly (approx US$11) he has unlimited calls and texting in Mexico, the US and Canada, unlimited Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, and 2 GB data. He did have to put an extra month deposit when he opened the plan, but that was it. He can cancel it at anytime. Where our house is in the mountains, all the cell signals are iffy, so using 3G for browsing Internet can be painfully slow, but for calls and WhatsApp we had no problem. Anytime we were in an area with a stronger signal, browsing was good, too. It's been great since I'm back in Canada and he's still in Mexico, and we can talk as much we want without worrying about using up his minutes.


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## stanburn (Jan 19, 2009)

Go to telcel and get a sim for your phone. The new telcel plans are soo good and so cheap, I don't know why anyone would go with a pay as you go phone.

300 pesos a month gets you unlimited calls, messages and 1.5 gigs a month of data. Includes calls to us and canada. Plus use of whatsapp doesn't count against your data and everyone in Mexico uses whatsapp.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

stanburn said:


> Go to telcel and get a sim for your phone. The new telcel plans are soo good and so cheap, I don't know why anyone would go with a pay as you go phone.
> 
> 300 pesos a month gets you unlimited calls, messages and 1.5 gigs a month of data. Includes calls to us and canada. Plus use of whatsapp doesn't count against your data and everyone in Mexico uses whatsapp.


Movistar "Vas a Volar 0.5" gives all the above with 2GB data for 199 pesos a month.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

stanburn said:


> Go to telcel and get a sim for your phone. The new telcel plans are soo good and so cheap, I don't know why anyone would go with a pay as you go phone.
> 
> 300 pesos a month gets you unlimited calls, messages and 1.5 gigs a month of data. Includes calls to us and canada. Plus use of whatsapp doesn't count against your data and everyone in Mexico uses whatsapp.


I go with pay as you go and spend around 50 pesos a month. Of course I don't make phone calls to the US, but I do use Hangouts for that. Video calls at that. And yes, I use WhatsApp heavily. You can send and receive 10+ whatsapp messages a day for a month and still not break the 5 peso cost of use. With the number of free wifi places, I rarely use data. If I walk to the supermarket which is two blocks away, I run into three free wifi areas. If you do keep data on, be careful of app background usage. Often that uses more data that actual use of the app.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

ojosazules11 said:


> Movistar "Vas a Volar 0.5" gives all the above with 2GB data for 199 pesos a month.


Same with IUsacell. Guess everyone is being competitive. I will say this - where we live (which is near where you live  ) often there have been times when I will be with someone with a TelCel phone who will not be able to make a call - and me with my little IUsacell flip phone have no issues. IUsacell is now owned by AT&T.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

chuck846 said:


> Same with IUsacell. Guess everyone is being competitive. I will say this - where we live (which is near where you live  ) often there have been times when I will be with someone with a TelCel phone who will not be able to make a call - and me with my little IUsacell flip phone have no issues. IUsacell is now owned by AT&T.


As a Telcel user, I have found this to be true where I live. I can see the tower from my yard and still not get a signal. Well, maybe 1 bar, but my neighbor switched to Moviestar and she'll get four bars to my one.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

I switched from TelCel to IusaCell about a year ago. The price is pretty good. By paying for a year in advance, I get 300 min/messages plus 1 GB for about $150 mxn/month. But the coverage is non-existent outside of the larger cities.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

joaquinx said:


> As a Telcel user, I have found this to be true where I live. I can see the tower from my yard and still not get a signal. Well, maybe 1 bar, but my neighbor switched to Moviestar and she'll get four bars to my one.


I was quite impressed with Movistar's coverage - except for that one time in the bank trying to pay the Movistar bill! 

My sister-in-law has Telcel and gets no signal at our place part way up the mountain, not even for phone calls. My husband took us to a remote river for an afternoon - quite a hike up into the hills - and even there we got intermittent signal. Anytime we were in a larger town - Cuernavaca, Cuautla, Yautepec - we had solid 4 bars.


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## ClinSpan (Feb 26, 2016)

It might not be an issue for you, but keep in mind that you need to be a resident of Mexico (either temporary or permanent) to get a contract with Telcel. They'll also ask for references. Tourist visa won't suffice. But again, most expats probably have some sort of residency (or even citizenship) established, so it shouldn't be a problem.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

ThomasLagos said:


> It might not be an issue for you, but keep in mind that you need to be a resident of Mexico (either temporary or permanent) to get a contract with Telcel. They'll also ask for references. Tourist visa won't suffice. But again, most expats probably have some sort of residency (or even citizenship) established, so it shouldn't be a problem.


That is with a plan with a phone. That is a contract plan. No phone, any plan. No contract.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Movie star is not good in some areas. I travel back and forth to Chiapas from Guadalajara and there are many areas where the coverage is very poor with movie star but they seem to have better coverage with internet. A couple of years ago we travelled all over Vera Cruz State, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and CHiapas with a young friend who had movie star and we have telcel there no question tel cel had better coverage but internet was better with movie star..you just cannot have it all..


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

citlali said:


> Movie star is not good in some areas. I travel back and forth to Chiapas from Guadalajara and there are many areas where the coverage is very poor with movie star but they seem to have better coverage with internet. A couple of years ago we travelled all over Vera Cruz State, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan and CHiapas with a young friend who had movie star and we have telcel there no question tel cel had better coverage but internet was better with movie star..you just cannot have it all..


Probably the OPs best bet is to 1) Come with an unlocked phone and 2) Ask people on Isala Mujeres about their experiences with the different carriers in terms of most reliable signal. 

In the meantime use VOIP or texting apps at various places with WiFi (e.g. local cafes).


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