woman wearing dress and sunglasses standing in front of cactus and pink wall

What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage in Mexico

woman wearing dress and sunglasses standing in front of cactus and pink wall

There are a couple of things that people essentially need to understand about how politics in a sense work in Mexico. Also, cell coverage in such a large country is not easy to even out. There are still many parts of the country that don’t get the best cell service. There’s a good reason why even the best cell phone company in Mexico has taken so long to roll out its 5G network. We say all of this to say that we’re not only going to be crowning what cell phone company has the best coverage in Mexico in this article. We are also going to be talking about why that’s the case. As well as going into what you can expect from cell coverage in Mexico even if you keep your regular plan. 

Even if you go to Mexico with your US plan the local coverage network that you’ll be under dictates the cell service you’ll get. For example T-Mobile doesn’t have a Mexican network so to get you coverage in Mexico they most likely havve to piggy back on another company’s network. Most of the foreign companies that offer roaming services for their users in Mexico piggy back off of the Telcel network. Unless you’re a Movistar user and they can provide you with coverage through their own network in Mexico. We pretty much gave away the answer to what cell phone company has the best coverage in Mexico, the answer is Telcel, here a couple of reasons why that’s the case. Also, why it’s set to potentially remain the case moving forward. 

  • What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage in Mexico & Why It’s Telcel
  • Would It Still Make Sense To Seek Coverage From Another Company? 
  • What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage in Mexico – Best Ways To Get A Local SIM Card
  • What Network Am I Going To Be Connected To If I Sitck To My Regular Plan?
  • What To Expect From The 5G Roll Out In Mexico
  • What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage In Mexico – Some Areas Still Don’t Get Coverage       

What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage in Mexico & Why It’s Telcel

We gave this answer away already, and there’s really no point in hiding it. The thing is Telcel has the largest network because of the simple fact that they’ve setup more cell towers than the other wireless service providers in the country. Really the thing is, the company behind Telcel is one of the most important wireless service providers in the world. They own brands all over Latin America, and when it came down to it they had the most cash to be able to expand their network when compared to other brands. In fact, some of the main competitors that they had going back to just 10 years ago had to sell their networks to foreign companies because they didn’t have the cash to be able to continue upgrading their technology. 

Iusacell for example was one of the main competitors that Telcel had for a while, and it was owned by a very wealthy mexican family of the high society and old money in the country. However, in 2015 they realized they couldn’t keep investing in the company to upgrade their network and so they sold the business AT&T. The Movistar story in Mexico is very similar. The thing is, Telcel has been building on its network from the very early stages of cellphone technology in Mexico. This has allowed them to keep a large client base, but also to expand their network to lengths that other companies just haven’t been able to match. 

Would It Still Make Sense To Seek Coverage From Another Company? 

We want to clear this up right quick, just because we can admit that Telcel has the largest network doesn’t mean that other companies should just give up and close up shop. Also, it doesn’t mean that you as a potential customer should not seek out these other companies. You can find better deals in some of these companies, even on prepaid plans in some cases. For the most part, the coverage that you’ll get from them in the main cities in the country is going to be equal to what you can get from Telcel. We have to be honest here as well, once the 5G network fully rolls out for Telcel it could certainly make it harder to argue for some of its competitors. 

If you’re not familiar with the way that cell coverage works, or cell networks work for that matter you may be surprised to learn that it’s a very primitive concept. Networks are still supported by actual cell towers that are set up in different parts of the country, in this case Mexico. What we are trying to get at here, is that it’s still certainly posible to get better coverage from some of the Telcel competitors in very specific areas. Now, Telcel has a larger network so it’s usually going to be the other way around. But you may come to a town with awesome AT&T service so why not get a SIM from them? 

What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage in Mexico – Best Ways To Get A Local SIM Card

When writing some of the other articles that we’ve written about coverage in Mexico we realized that Telcel was offering some more expensive deals online than they do in the street. There’s just no other way that we can put it. There’s also Virign Mobile adds now popping up in Mexico, and we may do an article on them at some point. Anyway, we were really surprised by the fact that Telcel was advertising 30 dollar plans and things like that for tourists. What can we say, what they are trying to do is literally sell more expensive products to people who they feel are willing to pay more. There’s really no way around that idea.

If you go to a local Oxxo store in Mexico though, and you ask for 30 dollars worth of prepaid funds on your Telcel you’re potentially getting an unlimited plan, ok not really but close. Actually the most expensive prepaid recharge that Telecel advertises to locals is the 500 plan. That plan is a monthly plan that is going to give you 6GB of data unlimited calls, and unlimited texts. Yes, those calls can be made to the US and Canada. Just an FYI 500 pesos is less than 30 dollars. You can get that plan at any Mexican store. All you need is a little spanish to say “Chip Telcel con plan de 500”.  That will give you a local number and SIM card and the previously mentioned allowance if you will.   

What Network Am I Going To Be Connected To If I Sitck To My Regular Plan?

That depends on who your regular network is. This is something that we kind of touched upon, but for example if you are an AT&T user in the United States then you are more than likely going to be getting coverage from AT&T Mexico subsidiary. If you’re a user of Movistar in Europe and you go to Mexico there’s a massive probability that you’ll be getting hit roaming fees from access to Movistar’s subsidiary in Mexico. When you think about it, it would seem like companies in this situation could certainly eliminate the roaming fees because really they don’t have to pay another company for the coverage per se. They would come back with, it’s the same name not the same company, but really they’re just taking money out of one pocket and putting it in the other. 

When it comes to other cell companies that don’t have a direct subsisidairy in the country they are going to be getting coverage from a third party. For the most part, it’s actually Telcel in Mexico. This is because the company is so large that it does have reach all over the globe. Also, for example T-Mobile is not going to go to a direct competitor in the US market like AT&T and ask them to fullfil their customers roaming needs in Mexico. It just wound’t make sense. Although there are expectations most of the time if you’re on your regular plan in Mexico you’ll have access to the Telcel network.  

What To Expect From The 5G Roll Out In Mexico

cellphone towers
Photo by Eathan Hood on Pexels.com

5G is set to start rolling out in Mexico Telcel is going to be behind the push. At this point it’s not looking prepaid plans are going to be getting access to the 5G network any time soon. Really even people who should be getting access to 5G are limited to 4G in most parts of Mexico. This goes back to what we were talking about with regards to how cell coverage works. Even though technology has advanced a ton the way a network is set up is still through cell towers. By the way there is a cable or wire connection between the towers in the network. It’s really as basic as it can get at it’s core level. 

Why are we spending time talking about this concept again? Well, because it’s going to take time for Telcel to update their physical network in order for them to be able to offer a nationwide 5G solution. A lot of people think that it’s because Mexico is a third world country that these types of advancements are taking longer to arrive. That may have something to do with it, but it’s really the size and the different terrain that exists in the country that makes things difficult. Actually although the US has set up 5G nationwide networks for a while they are no where near being at the forefront of wireless service technology. In large part due to the same issue it’s a massive country with a bunch of different types of terrain, and some really isolated areas.  

What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage In Mexico – Some Areas Still Don’t Get Coverage       

We have to be really honest about this, there are going to be rural areas in Mexico were it’s going to be hard to get coverage regardless of who your wireless service provider happens to be. There are plenty of ecotourism spots in Mexico that tourists love to visit. If you’re going to be visiting those areas it may not even make sense to invest in a local SIM. It all comes down to the amount of time that you’re going to be spending in these areas compared with the total amount of time that you’re going to be spending in the country. Although Mexican wireless service providers do have their coverage maps it can be hard to really pinpoint where you will be able to get coverage and where you won’t.

All that we’re saying with this is that if you’re taking a trip to Mexico and maybe 5 out of the 7 days that you’ll be in the country are going to be spent literally deep in the jungle then it doesn’t really make a ton of sense to buy a local SIM card to be able to get coverage. Since even with a local SIM there’s not going to be much that you’ll be able to do.    

What Cell Phone Company Has The Best Coverage in Mexico – Conclusion

people near mexican flag
Photo by Ricardo Esquivel on Pexels.com

Regardless of what cell phone company has the best coverage in Mexico you can pretty much expect decent coverage from all of the wireless service providers in urban areas. With that in mind, you could take some time to find the deal that’s going to work best for you. The reason why we happen to be Telcel fans is because you can add balance to your plan at any OXXO store. You can also get a SIM card right then and there. If you know just a little Spanish that’s going to be the easiest way to go about things. From there you can add balance to your account through their app.  

If you’re going to venture into more remote areas again, it’s going to be more likely that Telcel will be able to provide better coverage even in the most remote of areas. Just based on the fact that it’s the largest network in the country. If you want to go deep into the jungle though, it’s going to be hard to find coverage regardless of which company you chose to go with. 

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