Phones And Cell Phones In Mexico, Long-Distance phones in Mexico
Phone Service In Mexico Has Improved
Phone service generally in Mexico is better than ever. Cell phone service is good and reasonably-priced. Long distance calling to Mexico or from Mexico is cheaper, calling cards (Telmex calling cards or CogniCall) to or from Mexico are less expensive and long distance service (including broadband phone service, VOIP) like Vonage have made calling to and from Mexico much less expensive than a few years ago.
Many US cell phone companies now offer a Mexico calling plan. For about five bucks a month, you can call back to the States for a dime a minute. I do not know about Canadian cell phone companies.
To call a Mexican cell phone number, add an extra "1" to the number when calling from the States.
Broadband Internet and phone service is available in all major cites and many smaller towns. Cell phones are more reasonably-priced in Mexico than they were a few years ago. You can also buy "throwaway" prepaid cell phones at convenience stores. Costs per minute are about the same as in the States for cell phones in Mexico. The newest edition of Live Better South of the Border has complete details about long distance phones and cell phones in Mexico.
Many of you come to this page directly. If you are all interested in Mexico, you will find much of interest on this site: spas, hot springs, driving, maps of Mexico and eclectic items you won't find elsewhere. Please peruse. If you are moving to Mexico, or driving to Mexico, remember, I am available for consultations.
Your best deal for residential long-distance phones in Mexico or in the U.S. is a VOIP phone. One advantage is that even if you live in Mexico, you can have as many US phone numbers as you want so family and friends can call you with no international charges. Calls TO Mexico (even if you live in Mexico) cost as little as a penny (Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara) to 8-12 cents for the bulk of the country. Calls to cell phones are 23 cents a minute.
Thanks to competition, you can now get a new phone line from Telmex in a matter of a few days -- in some cases -- and more often within a week or two-- if there is not already a phone line installed in your new home. If there is, the info below still applies.
While you are still in the States, you have two main choices to get inexpensive long distance to Mexico and the world, as well as U.S. long distance.
When you rent or buy a habitat, if there is an existing phone line, the phone line comes when you buy or rent an abode. Seriously. I don't mean the physical instrument (you can use your own, providing you have one that is switchable from tone to pulse. In cities and some smaller towns, tone is now becoming more common. The actual line and connection to the phone company. (Continued at bottom of page).
Casetas de larga distancia (long distance offices) in every city, hamlet and truck stop where you can have a real, human operator would place a call (or send a fax) for you. Doesn't that take you back in time? Alas, they are a dying breed. Try one if you can find it just for the heck of it.
Today, to make a call in public you need a phone card to use the new phones.Today, the public phones work darn near all the time. It used to be that when you saw a line of people standing by a phone, you got in line. Now it's not an issue. There are more of them and they work better than public phones (if you can find one) in the U.S. There is directory assistance in Mexico, but don't count on it. I must always call when the operator is on a siesta. Calling home can be expensive unless you have a phone card from Telmex. The thieves at ATT, MCI or Sprint charge you an arm and a leg. There now are prepaid phone cards sold by private companies in Mexico. They used to be rip offs, but now many of them are okay -- just watch for the connection charges.
To make calls from Mexico to the rest of the world via a pay phone you can use either a Telmex card (expensive but available everywhere in Mexico) or plan ahead and get one of the several calling cards from the company above. There are several different calling cards and palns.
Telmex only bills in full-minute increments and is more expensive than any other option (except for hotel phones).