SIM card options for Mexico
 

SIM card options for Mexico

What company sells the best SIM CARD in Mexico (with prepay).

In the US, I chose T-mobile, because it was easy, cheap and nationwide, including anytime minutues available at any 7-11 in the form of a top up voucher.

What would the Mexican equivalent be?

I use amigo telcel ---easy to get and recharge is pretty simple -- coverage is good---

plus you can get good deals...like buy 500pesos worth and get 400 free -- so you get a total of 900pesos at one time....

amigo telcel? where do i get its SIM CARD (in tj)?

I hear Telcel from a lot of people is the best bet, but is that really the best option for around the country travel in Mexico?

I mean I don't need a company that specializes in long distance rates or focuses on calls back to the US.

Instead, I'm looking for quality and price, and to use my phone only to make local Mexico to Mexico calls and send local SMS.

Is my best bet still TelCel?

Or would the other options do better? Movistar? Iunacell?

Does anyone know if you can buy a local SIM card in a shop at the Cancun Airport?

Or if anyone has been to Cancun recently, or is going soon, perhaps I could take your no-longer-needed SIM card off your hands. :)

Sorry for the thread bump... is this the case?

I don't recall seeing a booth as you exit customs. There are a ton of vendors of different products inside security but that probably won't do you any good as you can't access once you land (assuming international flight). We will be going through in a few days on a domestic flight (connecting via MEX) so I'll let you know if I find anything useful.

I don't know if there's a reseller at the CUN airport (it's been many years since I've been there), but since nobody has responded yet figured it might be helpful to provide a list of Telcel customer service centers in Cancun for your reference. Note that the second one (Cancún II La Isla notes that it is in the hotel zone)

Cancún I Tulum
Av. Tulum S/N esq. Lluvia Manzana 1 Supermanzana 4, Planta Baja Hotel Oasis Cancún, C.P. 77500, Cancún, Q.Roo.
Open:
Monday - Friday 9:00 to 18:00 hrs.
Saturday 9:00 to 17:30 hrs.

Cancún II La Isla
Blvd. Kukulcán Km. 12.5 Local I-7 Centro Comercial La Isla en zona Hotelera, C.P. 77500, Cancún, Q.Roo.
Open:
Monday - Sunday 10:00 a 19:00 hrs.

Cancún III Chichen
Supermanzana 62 Manzana 7 Lote 6-A Av. Chichen Itza, C.P. 77500, Cancún, Q.Roo
Open:
Monday - Friday 9:00 to 18:00 hrs.
Saturday 9:00 to 14:00 hrs.

Cancún IV Gran Plaza
Ave. Nichupte Mza.18 Lte.1-4 Local 28 SM.51 Gran Plaza Cancún, entre Ave. Chilam Balam, calle Tepich y Ave. Tecnológico, C.P. 77533, Cancun, Q. Roo.
Open:
Monday - Friday 10:00 to 20:00 hrs.
Saturday & Sunday 10:00 a 19:00 hrs.

You can find the latest info on the Telcel website here. Follow the link on the bottom right to "Centros de Atención" and then select "Quintana Roo" as the state in the drop down menu in the middle of the page.

There are loads of places in the airport terminal to buy a SIM card. Both Telcel and Movistar have big offices there in T1. The prices and service are pretty similar, though in my experience Movistar runs more aggressive promotions.

SIM card numbers expire after two months of not using it, so if anyone gives you one old one it probably won't work. They're usually 200 pesos and come with some minutes loaded already. Top it off with more and you'll probably get some freebies on top of it. 2-for-1 deals are common.

are you talking about MEX or CUN?

I have been to Mexico this past week, and found a great SIM card on ebay. It costs only 25 cents a minute, and it had my local area code on it.

It doesn't have incoming calls free, but we all know that this is only a gimmick, reaching a Mexico cell phone is very expensive.

Thanks,

Travelpro2008

Here is the link

sim card at ZIH airport
 

anybody knows if I can pick up a prepaid MICRO SIM for iPhone 4 in ZIH,... or should I buy/cut one ? looking for internet usage... no phone calls... thanks

Giving this thread a bump.
We're spending 2 months in Mexico (Isla Mujeres mostly). Can I get a sim card from Telcel to work in my iphone3gs? Or iphone4? (may upgrade my phone before we go)...
Also has anyone used the telcel wifi? (I think it's the amigo?)

TIA

Since this thread is still getting views five years later, I thought I’d add a little information that people may find helpful.

Full disclosure, I’m posting under my real name and am Director of Marketing for Brightroam.com. We’ve just launched a Mexico SIM Card.

A lot has changed since the original question in 2006, and there are many new features. (We’re not the only ones offering them.) You can get free calls to other people using the same SIM, which is great if you’re travelling as a family. Free incoming text is also available.

I think it’s also a good idea to consider data rates. We offer data back to the US and Canada for $3.10 per megabyte. That works out to about 7 cents for an email with no attachments, 60 cents for a webpage and $1 to upload a small photo. So if you really want to upload vacation photos to Facebook in real time – or check the score on ESPN.com – it’s not necessarily going to bust your budget.

Also, all the discussion so far seems to be about prepaid cards. FYI, post paid SIMs are available. Some people like post paid because you only pay for actual usage and your call –or upload – is never interrupted while you “top up.” You can also get a Mexican SIM card delivered to your door before you leave and 24/7 customer support is available in English.

Bzbdewd, you’re probably back from your trip already, but I’ll answer your question anyway. I’m not sure about Telcel but we do offer MicroSIMs for the iPhone4, 4s, iPad and all the other great products Apple may launch if people continue to read this thread for 5 more years. (Obviously, pricing may change some time in the next 5 years too.)

Finally, we are launching our Mexico SIM card for free, until December 31, 2011. (You still need to pay for shipping and usage, but you save the normal $39 fee.) If anyone wants to try our SIM card and share their opinion, I’d love to hear what you think.

Doug - Where can one buy your card if it's too late to have it shipped? We're going to CUN tomorrow....

Thanks for your question Rob
 

We offer next business day shipping anywhere in North America, so if you place an order by 3:00 p.m. we can deliver before 10:30 a.m. next day. (And if you place an order between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. we can't guaranty we'll get it to you in time, but our Customer Service team works very hard and almost always satisfies last minute requests. In fact, I've seen them running down the hall at 5:15 pm with freshly activated SIMS as the courier is trying to leave.)

A few people stop by our office on the way to the airport, but that only works during the week and obviously if you're in the same city as us.

Sounds like you're flying out on a Sunday. Sorry I couldn't help more. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip.

(I should mention we also offer some cool business solutions. We can provide a pool of active SIMs so employees can grab one any time they are called away on a last minute flight. If you're traveling on business, that could help you next time. )

Hey Doug.

I noticed on your website, the minimum airtime package is $45. I'm going to Cancun in December for just 4 days and won't possibly be able to use up all that time. Do you sell them in lower denominations or do you know if I'll be able to refill locally from Moviestar? Other than that I'd be happy to take you up on your kind offer if it's still available. Thanks.

Thanks for your question. Our cards are post paid. You only pay for what you use. Our rate for phoning the US is 39 cent a minute. So if you make one phone call for ten minutes, the cost is only $3.90.

(The air time credits allow you to save an additional amount if you pay in advance. So the initial package allows you to save $5 on 128 minutes of calls. Your 129th minute - and every one over that - is still .39.)

One of the things I'm wondering is if the air time credits are confusing and maybe we should stop offering them. I'd appreciate your opinion. (And anyone else's.) Would it be simpler if we didn't offer them. Or do you like the idea of extra saving, but just think that I should I rewrite the website to explain the option more clearly.

Hope that helps MN. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. If you do try the card, please let everyone know what you think.

Oh, OK, so one is billed after the call is made! How exactly does it work? Does one link it to a credit card or is there another way? I guess it is a little confusing, even though your website clearly states that it's postpaid. Maybe that's because I have an attention span of a 5-yr old, but so do many other consumers from what I hear. :) Thanks for your quick response.

Billing is pretty straight forward and most people seem to like the system. When you sign up for the SIM card, you enter your credit card. We store it secured and encrypted. Once a month we bill your card for what you used. You can log in and see all your calls, texts, any data usage, line item charges and total charges.

Doug, if you still visit this thread I tried to place the 2-day order yesterday, but received the email requesting a photocopy of my ID. Now, that request made me scratch my head because in all my years of placing internet orders I have never been asked to do anything like that. What does that all mean? Thanks.

I'm still here. As long as I'm with Brightroam.com I'll be here. (I've already learned a lot from everyone who has reached out. The forum is learning a lot about post paid SIMs.)

With post paid, you never need to "top up." You can phone America as much as you like for .39 a minute. Because of that, we intervene any time we see unexpectedly high usage and we are extremely security conscious of credit cards. Much more security conscious than an etailer who is sending you - for example - a $20 item. I can't publicly comment on any individuals account, but if - for example - even one letter in an address is accidentally mistyped we won't activate the SIM and will confirm the identity of the individual. (I'm sure everyone can understand why a company in the Mexican SIM card business needs to be more concerned about identity theft than the average online company.)

I looked at the automated email we sent you. The wording isn't as friendly as it should be. It's not crystal clear that problem is almost certainly relatively minor and that we should be able to clear it up quickly. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I'm going to rewrite the email. I will also take a look at all the automated emails we send out and see if they can be improved.

Hopefully, the real-life human being who contacted you did a better job of explaining the issue and resolving things to your satisfaction. If not, please let me know.

Doug

Doug, thanks for your response. I've already cleared this matter with Kellie S. (who by the way is wonderful!). I believe what caused the confusion in the first place was that I accidentally put the name of my business in my home address. So it was probably my mistake after all--nothing to worry about on your end.

I'm looking forward to using your product, and I will make sure to report how it's worked out for me in Mexico. Thanks again.

Thanks. Kellie is wonderful. I let her know you said so. Have a great trip.

Doug

I'm Canadian and what I'm really interested in is micro-sim card for my IPhone 4 with a good data and txt plan. I don't need to make phone call nor receive any. When/if you guys offer this let me know. I'm sure lots of IPhone owners would love something similar.

Hi Michel:

I just put a little info on the site about Rogers roaming rates in Mexico that might be of interest to Canadians. Interesting thing about MicroSIMs is that almost any SIM can be turned into an iPhone/iPad ready SIM. But it is very hard to do yourself. We have a little machine that cuts our SIMs. The machine is not expensive so just about everyone who sells SIMs should be able to provide a microSIM.

Your note couldn't have come at a better time. We were just discussing today whether or not we should offer a text package. (In most countries, including Mexico, incoming text are free.) How many outgoing text would you like to have in a package: 10, 25, 50, 100, more?

Also, we're trying to get data plans in all countries but some are harder than others. At the moment, our best data plans are in Mexico. (Or they will be when the holidays are over. One of the first things I'm going to do in the New Year is put the Mexican data plans on line.)

We offer a gigabyte, 3 gigs and a 10 gig plan.(Which is an enormous amount of data.On my next trip to Mexico I think I'm going to try an experiment and see how long it takes to actually use 10 gigs. I'm going to upload a bunch of photos to Facebook and try watching some ESPN highlights on the beach.)

If you send me a private message I'll send you pricing info. Also let me know when you're leaving. If I have a little too much Christmas turkey and am a little slow updating the website, I can still manually add a data plan for you.

Doug,

Sent a PM. I would also be interested in seeing your data costs for a SIM for my iPad. I'll be traveling to the Cancun area in about 16 days for a week.

Thanks for your PM Lee. (Sorry I'm a little slow responding. I was at the dentist when it came in, but I'm happy to help now.) I'll address the timing of your trip in a PM, but since I've received a couple of pricing questions, I'll share the answers with the community. (This is pricing for Jan, 2011, taken from the websites of different companies. Of course, it may change.)

The largest US cell company - at their standard roaming rate - charges $15, 669.64 for 3Gs of data in Mexico. (For Michel and other Canadians, the largest Canuck carrier would charge $94,371.84.)

The largest US carrier carrier does offer three Mexican data plans:

$30.00 Monthly Access: 50MB ($.005/KB or $5.12/MB after allowance)
$75.00 Monthly Access: 150MB ($.005/KB or $5.12/MB after allowance)
$125.00 Monthly Access: 300MB


We offer 3 GBS (or 3,000 MBs to make the comparison a little easier) for $59 a month.

Also, I've noticed there are a few companies out there charging extra for a Microsim for iPhones and iPad. I expect those charges will disappear, because there is no signifigant extra cost for providing a microsim, but until they do, in my opinion, there is no reason that you should be paying extra for one.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

- Doug

In Mexico, Telcel has the broadest coverage - typical GSM SIM chips, worldwide standard. See more about Telcel here - it is a monopoly, and the owner is the richest man in the world (Carlos Slim), so it does work.

My family in Mexico tell me to not expect Sterling customer service, but expect the ubiquitous Telcel to work in most of Mexico. ;)

My wife and I are from Canada and planning an extended driving trip down the eastern US coast, across and down through Texas (about 2 weeks), then into Mexico. Mexico for about a month, then back into US at Las Vegas, then follow Route 66 to Chicago (another 2 weeks), then back to Canada. 2 months in all.
I would like to be able to use my phone on the trip, for phone, text, AND data. It is a HTC Sensation, currently with VirginMobile (Canada). Looking into getting it unlocked.
Can you please offer advice as to what would be the most economical way to accomplish this.
PS Doug - I tried to PM you, but I don't know if it went through or not.

Unlocking
 

I didn't get the PM, but that's okay. I'm sure lots of people are interested in unlocking. The best kind of unlocking is to get your carrier to unlock it for you. That doesn't jailbreak or root the device. Unfortunately, many carriers won't do it if you're still in contract. Others will charge you a fairly significant amount of money. Others say they will do it, but don't tell their customer service people that they do it, so it can be somewhat frustrating trying to get it done. (I believe that Rogers in Canada will unlock a phone for $50, but only if your contract is over. I'm not sure about Virgin Mobile.)

There are lots of how-to videos on YouTube. There are a growing number of stores that will jailbreak or root your device. (There's one up the street from me.) A tethered jailbreak is pretty easy to reverse which can be a plus: or a minus because if you want to upgrade to a newer version of iOS, the phone is locked again.

A friend of mine has had an original iPhone jail broken for years and is quite happy. A computer programmer friend of mine was able to jailbreak his iPhone quite easily, but became very frustrated because the battery drains quickly.

We've experimented with unlocking our customer's phones but don't offer it as a service because we've been unable to find a fast, reliable way of unlocking that the vast majority of people like, that doesn't leave them with a phone whose battery drains quickly. We're going to bring in a $199 unlocked Android smart phone that works anywhere in the world. It won't be the latest and greatest, but it will be farily recent, pretty easy to use and perform most of the functions people require. We tested the concept on a couple of iPhone users and they preferred having a cheaper unlocked travel phone to jail breaking. I'm not sure if it will appeal to people with the latest and greatest Android. But if you love your current phone, and your carrier offers it as a service, carrier unlocking is definitely the way to go.

Mexico Data Plan
 

Since I've received a number of PMs about our Mexico data plan, I thought it would be good idea to mention that it is now on the website. Also, it unfortunately, comes with one very major inconvenient quirk. We can only process orders on the fourth of the month. That means if you order on March 3 for a trip on March 20-27, we can help you. If you wait until March 6, we're unable to take your order.

(I'm trying to improve the ordering process, but unfortunately when our Mexico carrier programmed their computer system, they set it up for locals who wanted a monthly local plan. It never occurred to them that visitors might want a more flexible option.) So, for now at least, we're stuck with the fourth of the month date.

Hi Doug,
I was actually asking (not very clearly!), about what plan of attack once the phone IS unlocked. Should I be buying a US and a Mexican sim card? How can I get the best bang for my buck?

Sorry about that. Yes, two SIMs is definitely going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.

As a general rule you should buy a SIM card that gives you a phone number in the country you are travelling to: the local number gives you the best local rates. So that means separate SIMs for the US and Mexico.

It’s usually best to buy from a North American distributor and have it shipped to your home before you leave. (The SIMs distributed in country are geared towards locals and have high rates for calls back to North America. As a general rule, cards distributed in North America are geared towards us, and have better rates for calling home.)

It’s most convenient if you have a data plan on the same SIM. (Especially if you can tether any devices through your phone.) Most data plans are for a month, although I am seeing a growing number of one day plans. It looks to me like one day plans are geared towards checking your email. If you’re a power user, it probably makes sense to get a one month plan – even if your vacation is only a week or two - since you may blow past the one day limit. (If in doubt of your usage, I’d recommend investing in a larger plan. The down side is that you might pay $20 per month unnecessarily, but overage tends to be pretty high when you are travelling, so that one large email attachment can end up costing you a lot more than you expect. We had a couple of tech entrepreneurs in the office yesterday who are working on a mobile app that would tell you when you are getting close to your data limits – no matter where you roam – but there’s nothing out there that I’m aware of that is currently cheap and reliable for an individual consumer.)

Getting a little more specific, since you are planning ahead, our Mexico plan is a good fit for you. Our US SIM is geared towards Canadians. It has good voice rates in the US and back to Canada. The data rates are below roaming rates, but really only good for checking your email. (We’re working on a US data plan for the power user. )

The good news is that America has lots of SIMs available with good data plans. I’m sure some of the forum members can recommend some options.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Looking for Sim Card
 

Hello Doug and others:

I am looking to get one of your Sim cards for my trip to Mexico on the 25th Feb to 4 March, as you can see I have a problem due to the dates, if there is any way you or one of the other readers can help me out I would really appreciate whatever can be done. I am not against paying for whatever I can get so if someone had a loaded card and only used it for a short time I would be 100% willing to pay for the card.
I need to be able to stay in touch with my 15 y.o. son while I am away.
By the way - I have a Sensation I am from Trenton, Ontario, Canada if that helps.

Thanks and have a good day!

This could be me... send me a PM.

S

Just returned from Mexico (Cabo). I had two Brightroam SIMS one with the 3GB data plan.. will write up a review as soon as I get all my costs in and paid.

S.

I'm traveling to Cabo the first week of April. Looking forward to your review. I'm pondering SIM cards for two phones and maybe data.

Looking for Sim Card
 

Hello Doug and others:

I am looking to get one of your Sim cards for my trip to Mexico on the 25th Feb to 4 March, as you can see I have a problem due to the dates, if there is any way you or one of the other readers can help me out I would really appreciate whatever can be done. I am not against paying for whatever I can get so if someone had a loaded card and only used it for a short time I would be 100% willing to pay for the card.
I need to be able to stay in touch with my 15 y.o. son while I am away.
By the way - I have a Sensation I am from Trenton, Ontario, Canada if that helps.

Thanks and have a good day!

Never, ever, give a pay-as-you-go SIM card to someone else.
 

Scott:

Hope you had a great trip. Thank you for using Brightroam. I'm looking forward to your review. However, please, please never, ever give your Brightroam SIM card to anyone. As I mentioned, it is a pay-as-you-go service. You pay only for what you use. It is charged to your credit card. So, giving your way your SIM is literally like giving away your credit card.

Your SIM with the data plan also has voice activated. So anyone stick your SIM in their phone and call Australia. You would be stuck with the bill. (And even our data plans have overage. So if someone watched a dozen movies, you would also be stuck with an unpleasant bill.)

Please let me know that you have received this message, so I know that there are no problems.

(In fact, if I don't hear from you soon - because you said you returned from your trip - I'll deactivate your card to protect you.)

Avstechx, I apologize for the inconvenience, but international data plans just haven't caught up to the smartphone revolution yet. For example, we are unable to offer a data plan in Germany, which has a very sophisticated cellular infrastructure. We just can't source one.

I'm working on the Mexico ordering problem, but it has to do with the way the Mexican systems are programmed, so I don't even know if we will ever be able to offer a more convenient ordering process for a Mexico data plan.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.