If you’re traveling to Mexico you have to know how to coverage around the country. As you would with any place that you travel to. American Wireless service providers are offering more and more open options if you will. To ensure that their customers can just go on ahead and use their regular plan in Mexico. For the most part, this actually works out pretty well. Just as long as you don’t overstay your welcome in the country. We’re not saying that Mexico is going to be the one that’s going to kick you out, but your service provider might cut you off! That’s when you’ll wish you had picked a data plan in Mexico that lasted for more than 30 days.
The reason why we wanted to point out the fact that as an American user you’re only going to be able to use your phone for 30 days abroad is because we feel that’s one of the little nuggets not everyone knows about and takes into account. Like that tiny detail there are quite a few more to account for. Particularly if you want to get a data plan in Mexico that’s effective for your travels. In this article we are essentially going to be covering different scenarios. Since, we understand that the type of coverage that you’ll need can vary from person to person when you travel. Depending on your data usage and the kind of trip that you’re looking to make while you’re in Mexico. Here are the topics that we’re going to be covering in this article.
- Data Plan in Mexico Stick With Your Regular Plan
- When You Should Start Looking For Alternative Options
- Mexico’s Best Network
- Data Plan In Mexico – Having Realistic Expectations
- How Much You Can Expect To Pay
- Before We Forget …
Data Plan in Mexico Stick With Your Regular Plan
The title on this section isn’t necessarily a direct suggestion of what you should be doing. We do want to talk about, though, what it would look like, for you, if you did so. For American travelers to Mexico it can totally make sense to stick with your regular plan. Particularly if you’re just going to be traveling a couple of days. You have to meet certain criteria though, for this to be a good option for you. Do you currently have an unlimited plan with either of America’s top three service providers? (T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon) If so then there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to use your plan virtually as normal in the country. At least when it comes to data.
Even if you have an unlimited plan the thing you have to watch out for is calling when in Mexico. A data plan in Mexico can be lenient on the data side of course. However, that doesn’t mean that you won’t get hit with extra fees when you’re trying to make calls. Your best bet for making calls could be making calls through apps. Since the data that you’ll have will be “unlimited”. Even when your data is “unlimited” most service providers will lower the speed of that data after you’ve used x amount of it. The amount of high speed data per day that you have available varies depending on your service provider.
When You Should Start Looking For Alternative Options
We’ve essentially already thrown in some nuggets in the previous paragraph to lead to what we want to talk about here. Even with unlimited data you can experience low-tier coverage. There are two main reasons for this. Number one is the amount of data that you use. If you’re accustomed to using your phone a lot when you’re home and you want to continue the same level of data usage you’re going to see that the speed of your data is going to drop off. So that means videos, maps, and web pages in general may not even be able to load at a certain point during the day. If you need more speed, you can buy a day pass from your regular service provider. Of course, if you’re going to be in Mexico for a lot of days that can get expensive.
The other reason why you may want to consider other coverage options when you’re in Mexico is if you keep finding that you don’t have coverage where you’re traveling. A lot of people go to Mexico to try and experience the outdoors and some of the many natural beauty spots that the country has to offer. International phone coverage in rural or remote areas is usually bad. Heck, even local coverage can be subpar in certain areas. More often than not though, you’ll have a better shot getting decent coverage from a local SIM card if you’re looking to visit remote areas.
Mexico’s Best Network
If you want to get a local SIM card to obtain a data plan in Mexico, what’s the best network that you need to look into? There are essentially 3 main networks in Mexico. Their names may not be all too familiar to international audiences so we’ll mention them here. The 3 main networks are Telcel, AT&T, and Movistar. Arguably, both AT&T, and Movistar are the two most recognizable names. Since both companies have coverage in different countries. It may be shocking to find out by the way that AT&T coverage for example from an American plan doesn’t necessarily transfer to Mexico’s AT&T network all that well.
From experience we can say that Telcel is Mexico’s best network. The main reason for this is that it was the first network. Plus, it’s owned by Mexico’s most powerful telecommunications company, and one of the richest men in the world Carlos Slim. No need to dive deep into the politics of the ordeal. The Slim family though has been known to cozy up to local governments to be able to get preferential treatment to obtain and build their communications network. Long story short, they’ve been able to build the most advanced cell network in Mexico. Why would you care? Well, because Telcel is more than likely going to be the network with the best coverage. Particularly in and near rural areas.
Data Plan In Mexico – Having Realistic Expectations
There are two very important factors that you want to account for when traveling to Mexico while sticking with your local data plan. For one, the data speed that you’ll probably be getting will max out at around 3G speeds. That’s even with a day pass and other add ons that you can buy to get better coverage. The other thing is, that where you travel in the country can heavily dictate the quality of the coverage that you get. If you’re traveling to the big cities, like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, even Tijuana and Laredo, or other border towns you’re going to be ok. You can expect to get decent coverage from your regular service provider in these cities.
What wouldn’t be realistic is traveling to Tulum, or Isla Mujeres and expecting quality coverage. We mentioned these two places because, although they are heavy tourist spots you still have to remember that they are pretty remote locations. If you’re into eco tourism, or anything that’s going to see you venture out into the wild so to speak, what type of coverage can you really expect? There are certain that can be considered big tourist spots in Mexico, where you may not even be able to find great coverage from a local SIM card or a full data plan in Mexico. Just keep that in mind when you’re wondering what to expect.
How Much You Can Expect To Pay?
The answer to this question is going to depend on how much you want to use your phone, and what type of Data plan in Mexico you’re going to choose. The cheapest option that you’re going to have is actually with an unlimited plan by T-Mobile. That’ll give you 2G coverage, and unlimited data at those speeds. If you make no calls when you’re abroad and you stay in Mexico for less than 30 days you potentially would not have to pay a dime over what your fee is. If you want to stick with your American service provider, but you want faster speeds, and no risk of getting hit with roaming fees, then the day pass option may work best. You’d pay around 5 dollar per day per line for every day that you’re in Mexico.
If you want to go with the local SIM card route as your data plan in Mexico then you can get very reasonable for around 10 dollars on the Telcel prepaid plan. You can get a local SIM card at your local Oxxo, and hop on the prepaid. There are even cheaper prepaid plans going as low as 5 dollars. If you’re going to be in the country for about a week the 5 dollar option may suit you just fine. Particularly if you’re mindful of the amount of data that you’re using while abroad. Once you get your Mexican number you can recharge your account and get more coverage if you run out for as low as like a dollar!
Before We Forget …
In writing this we don’t want to scare anyone or derail the vacation idea that you had to Mexico. Since people on our team were victims of extortion in the country we feel it’s our duty to inform people of what could happen if you get a local SIM card in Mexico. Essentially thugs from prison make calls or send SMS or WhatsApp messages to virtually any phone that they can find. They’ll tell you that they are from some cartel and they’ll probably threaten to kill you at some point. If this happens when you get a local SIM card try not to panic. For the most part, these people have no idea who you are or where you are. Hang up, block the number and calm down, you’re fine.
What happened to us was that we gave our number to a hotel clerk. There was no phone in the room so you had to send a text via Whatsapp to get room service. Long story short, the clerk used our number, names and location to blackmail us, in what was the worst experience of a lifetime. Therefore our advice is never give the phone out to shady businesses. If you’re forced to write a phone down, write your local number, don’t give them the tip on how to dial and you’ll be ok. Just share your Mexican number with people that you trust. That should keep you safe! It’s better to be safe than sorry right?
Data Plan In Mexico – Conclusion
Hopefully we didn’t scare you off from a dream vacation in Mexico with what we talked about in the last paragraph. You certainly can get coverage in Mexico at very low rates from a local SIM card. Now that you know some of the do’s and don’ts then you can really make sure that you stay safe while getting cheap coverage. In many ways, getting a data plan in Mexico from a local SIM card makes sense when you’re going to be in the country for about a week or more. If you’re just going to be in Mexico for a couple of days. At least, as an American you can stick to your regular plan. Just be mindful about the amount of data that you spend when you’re abroad.
Essentially the other thing that we can say is that we stand by the suggestions that we made in this article. Telcel is the largest network so you’ll have a better chance of getting decent coverage, even in some of the more remote places that you may want to visit. That being said, don’t expect too much if you’re thinking about roaming through the jungle or something like this. Be safe, and be smart about the type of coverage that you get. With those two things in mind you’ll surely be able to have a great trip to Mexico.