Mexico prepaid SIM

[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