Well I finally got it and used it last weekend.I have both Cox and Qwest in Tempe and this thing is faster than both---in the right location. I have fairly thick concrete walls in my home in Mexico and it operated slower than usual in some. Runs alot faster near windows.I have used Telmex's Dsl line down there and it's faster than that too. Really suprised me.The total cost was $94 US for 3 months. I should be able to surf while wating in line at the border. The downside is you can only use it on one computer at a time, unlike a dsl and modem setup. The magicjack works on the 3G setup better than anywhere else down there ,and that setup requires alot of bandwidth.You do have to disable yourwireless on the laptop or it's constantly searching for a provider and it slows it down. That's just a push of a button though. All in all I'd say it's a good alternative to a landline setup.
Telcel wireless 3G internet card
- Thread starter ernesto
- Start date
rockyptjoe
Guest
What did you have to do to get the 3G card....deposits?, etc. Is it USB?
I didn't take it down the beach, but it should work wherever you get a good cellphone signal.
There was a guy that was "renting " internet to gringos in Encanto and Las Conchas, I assume he was renting the 3G chip. Anyone know for sure?
There is a really ugly cell tower they put up in Las Conchas back near the dunes by the Estuary so we get a real good signal . I've used my cellphone all over down there, even out fishing and never lost the signal so in theory it should work all over, The only problem I see is inside buildings with no windows like I said earlier.
And yes ,I have to pay in 3 month increments. They said if I had a Mexican bank issued credit card I wouldn't have had to jump thru all those hoops to get it.
There was a guy that was "renting " internet to gringos in Encanto and Las Conchas, I assume he was renting the 3G chip. Anyone know for sure?
There is a really ugly cell tower they put up in Las Conchas back near the dunes by the Estuary so we get a real good signal . I've used my cellphone all over down there, even out fishing and never lost the signal so in theory it should work all over, The only problem I see is inside buildings with no windows like I said earlier.
And yes ,I have to pay in 3 month increments. They said if I had a Mexican bank issued credit card I wouldn't have had to jump thru all those hoops to get it.
GringoZona
Guest
Ernesto--
Did you have to buy the 3G card/antenna at all or was the $94USD price including a rental fee of some sorts for the device?
When I was researching those wireless 3G plans in December (trying my best to translate the contract small print) it seemed like you had to purchase the antenna...or maybe that was without an FM3 card. Does that sound about right?
Do you recall how much the plan was if you didn’t have an FM3 card? And would they still give the 3-month plan to someone who couldn’t show a utility bill? (Renting from an all-inclusive residence.)
Or if you had a link to how and where you ordered yours, it’d much appreciated.
Thanks!
Oh, one more thing, was it about 1200-1300 in pesos? Exchange rate is changing so quickly, just wanted to nail that down for future reference.
Did you have to buy the 3G card/antenna at all or was the $94USD price including a rental fee of some sorts for the device?
When I was researching those wireless 3G plans in December (trying my best to translate the contract small print) it seemed like you had to purchase the antenna...or maybe that was without an FM3 card. Does that sound about right?
Do you recall how much the plan was if you didn’t have an FM3 card? And would they still give the 3-month plan to someone who couldn’t show a utility bill? (Renting from an all-inclusive residence.)
Or if you had a link to how and where you ordered yours, it’d much appreciated.
Thanks!
Oh, one more thing, was it about 1200-1300 in pesos? Exchange rate is changing so quickly, just wanted to nail that down for future reference.
It was an 18 month plan and the card was included in the price. The $94 was for the first 3 months.They said I had to have an FM3, which ,fortunatelyI already had.The requirements I stated in my earlier post were rigid when I went in but who knows? It's Mexico. Maybe a 20 under the desk would do it.I went to the Telcel superstore across from the Circle K by the railroad tracks on the main drag. It's the old Jim Bur supermarket next to Sun N Fun dive shop.I think it was 1200 pesos.I'm digging it though, you can surf or use the phone when you're stuck at the border too.It allows me to spend more time at the beach because I can do some business while I'm there.
GringoZona
Guest
Yikes! OK, I misunderstood. It's not 3 months at a time, it's an 18-month contract and you make payments every 3 months. That totally makes sense now. I think the only options I found for short-term usage were for purchasing the USB 3G card outright (for at least $75-100USD) and then paying like $450 pesos a month for unlimited usage. Up to 3 gigabytes of downloads, that is. Then they cut you off and slow the service way down. Otherwise for 8 gigs it was like 900 pesos/month. This was kind of a prepaid service, like in the US.
Problem is, those 3G antennas only work in Mexico and from reviews I've read on Amazon of the cheaper, odd Korean brands of 3G cards that Telcel offers, they aren't very well made. Grrr.
What do you mean by "you can surf or use the phone..."? Meaning you use an internet service (i.e. Vonage) for the phone on your laptop with a headset? Or is this 3G contract the type where you can take the SIM chip out of the USB antenna and place it in a compatible cell phone and it works like a regular phone on the 3G network?
And thanks for the recommendation of where to go! I was also checking out Movistar, but it doesn’t seem like many people use those in RP. Anyone have experience or heard stories about that service?
Problem is, those 3G antennas only work in Mexico and from reviews I've read on Amazon of the cheaper, odd Korean brands of 3G cards that Telcel offers, they aren't very well made. Grrr.
What do you mean by "you can surf or use the phone..."? Meaning you use an internet service (i.e. Vonage) for the phone on your laptop with a headset? Or is this 3G contract the type where you can take the SIM chip out of the USB antenna and place it in a compatible cell phone and it works like a regular phone on the 3G network?
And thanks for the recommendation of where to go! I was also checking out Movistar, but it doesn’t seem like many people use those in RP. Anyone have experience or heard stories about that service?
It works in the US too, not sure what the roaming charge is.You can take the chip out and it came with it's own number but I have other Mexican cel phones so I don't use it that way. The first one I got was Movistar, weak coverage compared to Telcel.I use magicjack with the card to have a 480 area code in Mexico and free calls. Pretty cool, and alot cheaper than anything else I've seen.
rockyptjoe
Guest
If they throttle you down when you go over 3 gigs per month...how does that apply to using the MagicJack? When you're talking on the phone thru the internet, are you still burning "downloads"????
BTW, I use MagicJack down there too...just have to make sure you have decent connection, or one or the other party can't hear the other person....works well if you can tap a decent wifi signal.
GringoZona
Guest
Yeah, that's the thing I'm really curious about, the streaming factor. Watching vids on YouTube or maybe you missed The Office and want to catch it online, or if say your Mexican satellite/cable doesn't have your fave news network, you're gonna' eat up that upload/download usage fast. And just leaving on Yahoo or AIM, running in the background, I haven't a clue how much that adds up to either.
The 8GB level seems to be pretty far out there though, you'd really have to be downloading and streaming multi-media stuff all day to hit the limits there.
Do you know if your limit is in fact 3GB a month, Ernesto? A lot of time these cell phone companies say "unlimited*" and then you read the fine print and they define "unlimited" as 3GB per month. Somehow they're allowed to do this in advertising; so deceptive.
The 8GB level seems to be pretty far out there though, you'd really have to be downloading and streaming multi-media stuff all day to hit the limits there.
Do you know if your limit is in fact 3GB a month, Ernesto? A lot of time these cell phone companies say "unlimited*" and then you read the fine print and they define "unlimited" as 3GB per month. Somehow they're allowed to do this in advertising; so deceptive.
rockyptjoe
Guest
I think the way to go is for a few neighbors to get together, get a Telcel phone and broadboand, get a wifi router, and share the costs. With a "n" router, you should be able to get the signal a 100-200 feet with no problem. I heard from a local that she pays 380 pesos per month for a telephone line and broadband.
I'm tapping into my neighbors broadband (wifi) (share the costs) and MagicJack works real well.
I'm tapping into my neighbors broadband (wifi) (share the costs) and MagicJack works real well.