Mexico prepaid SIM

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by petkow

I have not used my Telcel SIM since around mid Jan 2010. It was bought around the 30th Dec 2009 but apart from the startup credit, it was never topped up. A friend is off to Mexico this week, and wants to use my SIM again. Will it now be completely dead due to inactivity, or can it be topped and reactivated?.

Each time you recharge (for 100 pesos or more), 60 days is added to the validity of all the balance (new and old, if any). I'm not sure if the initial balance has the same rule. Using the phone does not extend validity.

So your initial balance would have expired at the latest at the end of Feb. But, you should be able to simply top it up some time in the next 2-6 months to reactivate it (most people say 6 months, some say a shorter time, maybe varies by region). You'll only get the new balance of course, not any remaining starting balance.

I have received 4 calls initiated from Europe using SMSDiscount access number in France and I have been charged 8 pesos per minute to receive these calls.

Very odd. Are you checking the balance before and after each call (sure it's not .88 pesos which is the call checking cost)? Is the caller calling with +52 1 892 ... or +52 892? (the latter shouldn't work as it's for landlines only but maybe there's a glitch which allows it and charges the called party?).

Rob

[petkow]

That is bad news. Something seems to have changed for the SIM's they are selling now. I wonder if this also applies to older registered SIMs like mine, though judging by RTuesday's experiences this is not the case.

Perhaps when you go to the Telcel office you can ask them for a copy of the Terms and Conditions where it states this charging of international calls for Amigo (prepaid) SIM's. Maybe it is also on their website. It all seems very odd though!

[petkow]

By the way, I had a look online if I can find any info about this. It's hard finding any info on telcel tariffs at all, let alone this condition. Their own website is terribly slow at the moment, but I have been reading a few blogs and forums in Spanish. Nobody seems to mention anything about your particular issue.

However, they seem to have had a tariff change recently. The best summary of all rates is:
Nuevas tarifas telcel

No mention on there about incoming charges for international though.

[petkow]

RTuesday. Another slightly unrelated question: I read on their website that they have Internet on Amigo Prepaid SIM's at 1 Peso per MB. I presume this is mainly GPRS. Does this need to be activated in some way? Do you have any idea what the APN, username and password are, along with the block size?

As usual this sort of information is hard to find. It usually refers you to needing to visit a Telcel Shop to get these sort of simple questions answered. When I was last in Mexico, I never managed to get Data activated. I had to use my o2UK SIM in roaming to send the few bytes necessary to trigger my callback requests. I would like to set up my friends phone so that this sort of stuff works properly with my SIM on her upcoming trip.

Thanks!

[petkow]

Just did some more research and managed to answer some of my own questions, but am still not sure about whether this needs to be activated. Here is what I have found:

APN: internet.itelcel.com
Username: webgprs
Password: webgprs2002 (??? Maybe this is now webgprs2010 ??)
In GPRS the cost is M$0.02 (IVA incluido) por KB o fracción

I am assuming therefore that data gets charged in tiny 1kB chunks! Nice!!

[babble]

Don´t forget to register your prepaid and postpaid mexican mobiles in the RENAUT database. COFETEL, the Mexican Telecoms Authority, is advising that unregistered mobiles may be disconnected after April 10 2010.

More info about the registration process here: 17/2010 (Spanish pdf)

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by babble

Don´t forget to register your prepaid and postpaid mexican mobiles in the RENAUT database. COFETEL, the Mexican Telecoms Authority, is advising that unregistered mobiles may be disconnected after April 10 2010.

This only applies to sims first used before April 2009 (sims since that date were registered when activated). Mexicans can text in their CURP number (bit like a social security number), foreigners need to take a passport copy to a company store (or some major dealers).

Only 46% of phones have been registered so far! The phone companies are lobbying hard to extend the date, since they expect to lose tens of millions of customers in a few weeks...

[RTuesday]

Originally Posted by petkow

Just did some more research and managed to answer some of my own questions, but am still not sure about whether this needs to be activated. Here is what I have found:

APN: internet.itelcel.com
Username: webgprs
Password: webgprs2002 (??? Maybe this is now webgprs2010 ??)
In GPRS the cost is M$0.02 (IVA incluido) por KB o fracción

I am assuming therefore that data gets charged in tiny 1kB chunks! Nice!!

That looks right, should be all you need (the password is still webgprs2002). I texted ALTA to 789 once at the beginning but I believe that just sent those settings to the phone. The on-demand data is 0.02 pesos/kB.

The 1 peso per MB deal is a special kit (i.e. new sim), limited time offer promo.

If you're using any serious amount of data (especially 3G), the day/week/month access is best - I'm using it now. It's limited to an average of 100MB/day. Prior to this month when the 3GB limit for a month was reached it switched to a slower speed for the rest of the month (with no way to restore the high speed until the end of the month). Now, it's apparently a hard limit (I'll find out in a couple of weeks...) which is OK if I can then start a new month at 3G speeds. I use it as my primary internet connection, speeds up to 3Mb/second are not bad in this unwired rural location.

So if you need a lot of internet one day, the 49 pesos for 100MB is a better deal than the 2 centavos/kB (20 pesos/MB) pay-as-you-go if you expect to use over 2.5MB (not hard!). For longer trips the weekly and monthly amounts are very flexible, I wish the US had something similar!
Details at Telcel: Internet Telcel Amigo

Rob

[petkow]

Thanks Rob. That is all very good news. In any case for my friends useage, I only plan on setting up the data for connecting the Voipbuster Java client to its server for triggering callback calls. That will only be a few Kilobytes at a time max!

The other info will be very useful for my next trip. I wish I had configured it earlier on my trip. When I asked about GPRS data useage and APN configuations in the Telcel shop, the vegetable behind the counter told me that GPRS useage in Mexico gets charged by the minute and not by the kB and it costs something in the order of 10 pesos per minute. I didn't believe this for one second. But as I was pushed for time I ended up using my UK o2 SIM in roaming, which wasn't too expensive actually for the tiny amounts I was using.

[RTuesday]

The deadline for registering phones is being extended by a year (to 2011).

What a surprise. Must be pure coincidence the phone companies are owned by powerful people.

Rob