Cell Phones in Mexico

If you are planning to live in Mexico for awhile, you will probably want to buy a cell phone (the regular phone service is actually quite expensive). Most companies give you the option to buy a service plan or to buy phone cards to add credit to your account. If you buy phone cards, you will need to add minutes at least every 30 days or you will lose ALL of your credit. I found out the hard way and lost 2000 pesos of credit (US$200), despite the fact that I had a card sitting in front of my computer for a week (but entered it one day late).

Choosing a Cell Phone Company in Acapulco

It can be difficult deciding which company to choose, so here are some of my thoughts on the various companies. Note that I am not an expert on cell phones, nor do I have any vested interested in my reviews.

Unefon: I now use Unefon. It seems to be the cheapest and the most popular in Acapulco. You can call other Unefon customers for 1 peso/min. Unefon used to have problems with reception, but my Nokia phone works just fine.

Nextel: I believe that Nextel only has plans available (no phone cards). They have plans that include abundant pager minutes to talk to other Nextel subscribers. My friends that use Nextel seem to like their service.

Telcel: Telcel supposedly has the best reception, but it comes at a high price (around 5 pesos, or US$0.50 per minute) when not dialing other Telcel customers. Plus, one of my friends had a Telcel phone, and whenever he was out of credit the company would give him an automatic reminder call EVERY 15 MINUTES ! Not recommended.

Iusacell: I had a Iusacell cell phone for 2 years. I bought a top-end phone, but reception was awful and got worse every month. Definitely not recommended.

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