AT&T GoPhone roaming in Mexico
 

Apparently AT&T quietly reduced roaming rates in Mexico for their prepaid GoPhone cards. The airtime rate is now US$0.25.

https://www.paygonline.com/websc/rat...ateplan_en.jsp

Now lets see if they offer this rate to contract subscribers. They just gave GoPhone users an unlimited talk plan that is $30 a month cheaper than contract subscribers.

Just remember that GoPhone has less coverage as there is no domestic roaming allowed, not to mention there is no decent data offering available.

Im planning on trying this out this next weekend when I goto Monterrey. Im planning on forwarding all my Tmobile calls to the gophone and see how it works. at 25c a minute its completely reasonable.

money69: any luck using your GoPhone in Mexico? Can you confirm the rates?!

I've used it in Mexico, and it charges $0.25/min., and furthermore, I tested it by not answering the phone, and it went to voicemail, but it still didn't charge like other providers do......And ATT does it in other countries.


11/10/2009 08:01:35 AM CST Roaming Outgoing Call -$ 0.25
11/09/2009 09:53:25 AM CST Roaming Incoming Call -$ 0.50
11/09/2009 10:19:54 AM CST Roaming Incoming Call $ 0.00
11/05/2009 08:34:19 AM CST Roaming Outgoing Call -$ 1.00

I just copied and pasted a few examples, where I did outgoing/incoming and I didn't answer....

This is great... Did you happen to place any calls to Canada or other countries?

No, Only called to USA. But that is an interesting question...You can still overwrite it by calling through a USA calling card......

Is that rate all-in?
 

Thanks for the info about roaming in Mexico. I have called AT&T several times and they really don't know much about their own plans. I am going to Cancun in a few weeks and don't want to be without a phone. I want to order a prepaid GoPhone from AT&T because it appears to be the cheapest alternative. I am hoping the coverage is good.

Is the $0.25 / minute roaming fee while in Mexico the all-in price? Ie. Is airtime extra? If I call Canada while in Mexico, are there additional long-distance charges?

Yes, but if you sign up for a Google Voice account, you can call Canada for free via Google Voice. You can also use a number of really cheap calling cards to relay the call back to Canada.

I know a little bit about Google Voice, but overall I am a newbie. Can you please explain?

Doesn't T-Mobile roam in Mexico too? It's a lot cheaper to keep it going ($100 first year, $10 a year thereafter) and it works in Canada too as an emergency phone. AT&T does not roam at all in Canada on prepaid.

It does indeed, but isn't it about 1.49 $/minute? I know it's much higher than their Canadian roaming rates.

I hadn't checked on that. It could well be.

Good News Canada Is Included.
 

Just verified it. Here is the Line...



Account History
Item Detail for Wireless Phone Number XXX-XXX-XXXX


Call Information:

Type Roaming Outgoing Call
Nature of Call International
Number Called 15147901212
Calling Number XXXXXXXX
Call Date 02/11/2010
Call Time 02:06:34 PM
Timezone GMT
Call Duration 0min 17sec
Total Amount -$0.25
Feature Package -
Unit(s) Charged -
Call Location -,-,Mexico
©2008 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
AT&T, AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. Service provided by AT&T Mobility.

That's a good deal
 

Sweet. Thanks for testing. I just bought 2 GoPhones for my trip to Cancun. No other provider seems to come anywhere close to $0.25 per min.

At&t
 

My wife just got back from Cancun and the AT&T 0.25/min worked great.
A bit of a hassle adding money from Canada as the GoPhones don't roam here.

You can add money using the AT&T website.

I have mine auto-top-up by $25 every three months to keep it alive.

At&t
 

I made a mistake by activating it online from here so they messaged the account password to the phone which dosen't work in Canada! I picked up an online voucher and phoned them and they added the money but said they will charge $5 next time. Forgot to get my wife to get the password while she was in Mexico and the phone was working. Next time we are in the US will get it set up properly. I think they have a $100 topup that is good for a year?

You should try to get your AT&T top-up vouchers from a reseler such as BabbleBug or Callingmart. The usually run a 8-12% discount scheme and charge no sales tax.

Got back from Cancun last week. The Go Phone worked flawlessly and as advertised, I only paid $0.25 / min.

Was long distance to Canada included in the $0.25/minute?

Yes, I called both the U.S. and Canada and it was always $0.25 all-in. Received text message after each call telling me what the cost was.

Has anybody used the Go Phone to call a Mexican number (landline or mobile), from within Mexico?

I'm assuming it would cost the same as calling from the US (25c + a surcharge for an "international" call), is that correct?

And the roaming coverage is on Telcel only, not Movistar?

For many of the gringos around here it could make more sense than a Mexican phone (especially as they can operate it in English!).

Is a dual band (850/1900) GoPhone adequate for Mexico roaming, or is quad band needed? I'd be using it in Mazatlan, Puerto Vallerta and Cabo San Lucas. Was hoping to get by with a Nokia 2320 -- voice only, don't need data.

Thanks!

(850/1900) should be adeaquite.
 

Yes, it should suffice:
PrePaidGSM: Mexico

Muchas Gracias!

I am currently in Mexico and the gophone is working great. Calls to US or within Mexico (landline or mobile) are always 25 cents. Calls to overseas (Europe) are not possible. However, I am using an calling card service which allows me to make calls to Europe.

Many thanks for the information on calls within Mexico, good to know.

Now this is interesting. 25c/min is only 3 pesos per minute. For incoming calls that is much cheaper than Telcel Amigo prepaid when you are outside of your area, (5 pesos/minute) and much cheaper for outgoing calls within Mexico. Telcel charges between 4 pesos and 7 pesos for this! When I was last there it was cheaper calling USA from my Telcel than calling elsewhere in mexico! They really have silly rates!

Next time I will try pick up a GoPhone!

You should be able to pick up an AT&T Go Phone sim from ebay in the US, otherwise you'll have to fit in a bit of US shopping on your way to Mexico. As you'd expect they're not sold in Mexico.

Remember it'll cost $100 a year to keep the Go Phone active. Telcel costs 600 pesos or $50 a year to keep active, has cheaper data in Mexico, and (the most important point for me) it has a local number that people locally can call. I forward US/UK numbers to my Mexico mobile for much less than Go Phone's incoming charge.

Good point about needing to keep them active.
Yes, I managed for quite a bit cheaper too. The only problem is incoming to Telcel when you are elsewhere in Mexico and not in your LADA. That is quite expensive IMO.

However, just out of interest, who do you use and how much do they charge?

Mainly I now use Localphone US with a US number, with voip on the phone via wi-fi when I'm at home, failover to divert to Telcel mobile when I'm out of range, 8.8c/min for the divert.

Most outbound non-local calls are when I'm at home so they're the same VOIP account (plus some alternatives), can also use Google Voice callback. I have some other incoming numbers in various countries that forward either to the Localphone US number or the sip address, so they work out the same or 1-2c/min more.

I still have a divert on my eKit US/Can. On the dual sim it's probably different, but on my one-number eKit sim it's now 9c/min to divert to Mexico mobile, with no connect charge.

I've very rarely been outside my home Mexican area code (it's 150 miles long) so domestic roaming isn't a factor for me.

An AT&T Go Phone would be interesting for my non-technical neighbours (mostly Americans). Not something I need while my current setup works.

Rob

Thanks Rob. Looks like you have a nice setup!

I had forgotten about localphone for giving me a free DID. I presume there are no problems of diverting incoming calls from your mobile onto a mapped Localphone number are there? e.g. If Localphone give me a Madrid +3491 number mapped to my Telcel SIM, I presume there will be no problems if I setup my Spanish phone to divert all calls to the +3491?

On my last trip to Mexico, for incoming calls to my main UK phone I had no problems of doing a divert via a UK DID and a Betamax provider (I used 12voip.com at 7c/min to Mexico mobile). That all worked grand! However, I had troubles on a friends last trip as I needed to divert her Spanish contract phone to my Mexico number. I used a free Spanish DID provider called Netelip who wouldn't allow a divert to SIP and I was stuck with their rates of 18c/min with 60/60 billing!! I eventually worked around it to some extent by diverting from them via my UK DID.. but the delay was awful!

Does Localphone do free DIDs for Spain, for customers from Spain? On their US site the Spanish numbers cost $3/mo plus $5 setup (and there are no free US DIDs). If you can forward from a Spanish mobile to UK landline or the US for a similar cost as Madrid you could use a number from ukddi.com or ipkall.com - they have worked for me pointing to the localphone sip address.

I can't see any reason why the call coming from a forwarded mobile would cause any difference.

Rob

I will be spending a week in Puerto Vallarta in December with my family. I plan on getting a couple of AT&T GoSims from ebay. The $0.25 to call the US and (may be mexico?) is a good deal. This sounds like my best option for voice. All the other sims I have charge insanely high rates in Mexico.

Here's a question about AT&T Go: My local store here in Chicago says they will give me the SIM along with however much money I put on it.

Let's say I put $15 on and use $14 while I'm in Mexico in December.

I return and after $0 days the GO phone is inactive.

Can I reactivate it in a few months simply by putting more money on? Or do I have to go into the store and get another free SIM?

Also, the people at the store say that I can't top up a card online whilst in Mexico. That has to be wrong. Right?

I believe the credit is lost once the sim becomes inactive. You should be able to topup online from anywhere as long as you have access.

Cancel Date//Account Balance Expiration Date
 

The Cancel Date is two months after the Account Balance Expiration Date.
But what happens if you run out of money before the Account Balance Expiration Date????

Now that I have been to Mexico.
 

My cruise ship stopped at Ensenada Monday. Yes it does charge 25cents a minute. Now the wierd issue. When I did *777# for my balance it would send a message that the last transaction cost $3.00. I did that three times. When I got home I checked the online account info. It did not show the $3.00 charges. But adding the $9 and my usage and the current balance equals the $25 I put in at the start of the month. A call to customer service got me a credit for the $9. So if you happen to go to Mexico. Don't check your balance too often.