# Making calls from Mexico to the US - what is the best way?



## GrayFal (Jan 13, 2009)

I am taking a trip to the grand mayan resort in Nueva Vallarta and will need to call the US 1-3 Xs per day.
What is the easiest (but also inexpensive) way to do this?
Pre-paid calling card? - purchased where?
I have phone service at home thru my cable company - optimum online - and my cell service is thru Verizon.
Can I call from the room and access an outside company or will there be a big surcharge?
TIA


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## CatLovers (Jan 13, 2009)

Magic Jack and an Internet line - I use it to make client calls from Aruba and Mexico back to the U.S. and Canada.

I believe the Magic Jack is free and the annual subscription is very inexpensive.  Then you just have to find an Internet connection (wired or wireless).  And it's very easy to use.


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## GrayFal (Jan 13, 2009)

The Grand Mayan does not have internet access in the room - I will not be bringing my laptop.


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## pjrose (Jan 13, 2009)

CatLovers said:


> Magic Jack and an Internet line - I use it to make client calls from Aruba and Mexico back to the U.S. and Canada.
> 
> I believe the Magic Jack is free and the annual subscription is very inexpensive.  Then you just have to find an Internet connection (wired or wireless).  And it's very easy to use.




We just got Magic Jack - I didn't realize it worked from outside of the US.  Do we have to sign up for an international subscription to use it from Mexico?


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## CatLovers (Jan 14, 2009)

pjrose said:


> We just got Magic Jack - I didn't realize it worked from outside of the US.  Do we have to sign up for an international subscription to use it from Mexico?



No, you can use it from anywhere in the world to call back to the U.S. and Canada.  I take it everywhere with me now, on business or on vacation, and use it to call back home and clients located in the U.S. and Canada.


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## Karen G (Jan 14, 2009)

GrayFal said:


> I am taking a trip to the grand mayan resort in Nueva Vallarta and will need to call the US 1-3 Xs per day.
> What is the easiest (but also inexpensive) way to do this?


Can you text message? That's the cheapest way to communicate via cellphone in Mexico, I think.


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## readyalready (Jan 14, 2009)

I don't think Magic Jack is free anymore, they will give you a 30 day trial then charge 36.95 if you don't send it back in 30 days, or am I missing something?


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## easyrider (Jan 14, 2009)

I was told the Grand Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta has in room internet for $64.00 per week. We use Skype for our calls back to home from Mexico. www.skype.com  We make 3 -5 calls daily to keep in touch and to answer our messages on our other phones.


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## pjrose (Jan 14, 2009)

readyalready said:


> I don't think Magic Jack is free anymore, they will give you a 30 day trial then charge 36.95 if you don't send it back in 30 days, or am I missing something?



You're right, the device is not completely free.  It's a free trial for 30 days, then the ~$40 charge.  But that's for the entire YEAR of phone calls!  No additional per-call bills.

We live in one of those suburban areas where the next town over is long-distance, so we've now substituted the Magic Jack for all those calls that SHOULD have been local.  

Knowing that it also works from Mexico makes me doubly happy that we just bought one.


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## KatrinaG (Jan 25, 2009)

"Can you text message? That's the cheapest way to communicate via cellphone in Mexico, I think."

I have AT&T and pay $4.99 a month for international service.  Calls on my cell are $0.59 incoming and outgoing.  Text messages are $0.50 apiece, plus extra internet fees if pictures are attached.  Texting versus calls depends on how many messages would need to be sent versus how long the call.


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## DianneL (Jan 26, 2009)

*Calling Card*

When we were in Mexico a couple of years ago, I used a prepaid card to call back to the US.  I can't remember for sure, but believe I purchased it in the US.  I did the same when we were in Canada, however, purchased the card in Canada for that trip.  It is so expensive to use a cell phone.  If you do purchase a prepaid card, remember that most expire in about 18 months.  So, don't purchase a lot of minutes you may not use in that period.


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## easyrider (Jan 26, 2009)

We have Magic Jack and Skype. Magic Jack works great to call the USA from Mexico and Skype works great to call Mexico to Mexico.


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## Kay H (Jan 26, 2009)

When I had Cingular for my cell phone, I had no service in Mexico.  Last week I had service.  I don't know if now being ATT had anything to do with it.  I called home and had a great connection.  I forget the exact amt but it was under $5 for 3+ min.


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## readyalready (Jan 26, 2009)

I say skype, calls to the us from Cancun are 2.1 cents per minute, must buy a $10 credit but when my mom signed up last week she got an email with a $10 try us free.


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## pammex (Jan 26, 2009)

skype works just fine for calls to and from US and Mexico...I use it all the time....

You can buy pre paid phone cards in Mexico and use on pay phones.....or maybe someone can post if there are any internet cafes that offer free calls near where you will be staying...I know in PV, there are many restaurants and cafes that offer free calls to US upon purchasing...

There is also a skyp or other brands of phones Wi-Fi that will make calls at hot spots....but not sure of those as have not tried and they are costly...

I believe Verizon and AT&T offer international calling plans for cell use....not sure of price but hubby uses one of them.....


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## Deer Path (Feb 5, 2009)

I purchased a Mobal World Phone 2 years ago and it works great. I purchased the phone for $99 and it is mine to keep. (you would want at least the $99 phone for MX. and it also works in US.)
 I have our account lined up with a credit card and only use it when we go to MX. (about 3 times a year)  They use a UK phone number for it so the cost is not too bad. We do not make to many calls so the cost is not a problem. There may be cheaper ways to do it. (I think we pay $2.95 per min. and also about $1.75 for incoming calls. For us it is the easiest way to do it. If you have other options this is not the cheapest way to go.
http://mytimeshareadventures.com/ 
Judy


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## nazclk (Feb 5, 2009)

*Phone service*

I have an ATT phone and pay the $5.99 for two months when I go to mexico
and then it is just 59 cents a minute and just do important calls.  So that's not to bad.  The person from ATT told me something last week that I didn't know about.  You must have the mx plan when the billing from mexico comes in, usually about 2-3 weeks after you leave. Otherwise you get billed at the normail rate.


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## easyrider (Feb 5, 2009)

Last week at the Grand Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta our Skype worked better than the Magic Jack. I thought a person could use the resot phone for Magic Jack but the resort phone has a different end that wont plug into MJack. We did bring a cordless phone and it did work with M Jack but it did have some issues. Skype worked perfect. It could be an issue with the cordless phone.


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## GrayFal (Feb 5, 2009)

easyrider said:


> I was told the Grand Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta has in room internet for $64.00 per week. We use Skype for our calls back to home from Mexico. www.skype.com  We make 3 -5 calls daily to keep in touch and to answer our messages on our other phones.


'Yes, they did have internet - and I ended up using my verizon phone for $0.99 per minute.....worked great!

I am looking at skype for my next trip.


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## cmbellavia (Feb 8, 2009)

If you travel to Mexico regularly, this might be a good idea. I purchased an inexpensive (about $35) phone from Movistar (in Mexico). You can buy cards for this phone in any denomination. Calls to the US from this phone are about 11 pesos for up to 30 minutes. That's about $2 per hour. If you are calling locally in Mexico it is about 50 cents per minute, so that's not what I use it for. I simply carry my phone back and forth and my family text messages me on my verizon (.25) and I call them back on my Movistar phone. You might check that Movistar has a location where you are going. The cards are sold everywhere.


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## jules54 (Feb 8, 2009)

Most cell phone companies now have what is called North American calling plans. Mine is 20.00 more per month then my other plan and I get 450 anytime minutes with added 1000 nights and weekend minutes. I can switch my plan anytime I wish. I changed my plan in Dec. when I traveled to Cabo for 18 days for the holidays it worked very well. The only problem I had was receiving incoming calls these calls would go directly to voice mail.  I could call out all I wanted and I did. I will be leaving for Playa Del Carmen in 2 weeks and have called my carrier and been promised that I won't have any problems as long as I update my phone program before I leave the country.


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## sg0578280 (Feb 8, 2009)

I have Vonage Companion on my laptop, so I went to the internet cafe at the Grand Mayan and paid 5.00 and talked through Vonage for a long time. No extra charge on your vonage bill. Beats 99cents per minute with my ATT Cell phone


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Feb 8, 2009)

We bought a prepaid card through Costco and it was very reasonable.
Liz


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## janes259 (Aug 26, 2009)

*Best Connection To Mexico!*

For someone like me who has relatives in Mexico, it was very important for me to have a cheap way of contacting them.  I highly suggest you all check out Tracfone.  They have one of the best international programs.  There is no additional costs for their international service and they have a program called Tracfone International neighbors that allows you to get at no charge three Mexican or Canadian phone numbers, which your family and friends in those countries can dial to reach you in the United States, without them paying for an international long distance call.  I just had to share this with you guys because it has been a life saver!


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Aug 26, 2009)

janes259 said:


> For someone like me who has relatives in Mexico, it was very important for me to have a cheap way of contacting them.  I highly suggest you all check out Tracfone.  They have one of the best international programs.  There is no additional costs for their international service and they have a program called Tracfone International neighbors that allows you to get at no charge three Mexican or Canadian phone numbers, which your family and friends in those countries can dial to reach you in the United States, without them paying for an international long distance call.  I just had to share this with you guys because it has been a life saver!



A first-time poster on a timeshare BBS, making a post about a non-timeshare topic that reads as if it could have been copied from an advertisement.  Hmmmmmm ......

Perhaps this is a legit post, and if so I apologize to the poster.  But we do often have shills posting here, and this post has a lot of the elements associated with shill postings on various BBS.


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## Passepartout (Aug 26, 2009)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> A first-time poster on a timeshare BBS, making a post about a non-timeshare topic that reads as if it could have been copied from an advertisement.  Hmmmmmm ......Perhaps this is a legit post, and if so I apologize to the poster.



Steve, this put my BS detector on full alert too, but Googling, or Bing-ing this, it _looks_ legit.  Now, I didn't check to see what the handsets cost, or the per-minute rate, just that all calls are the same price, domestic or Int'l. 

Might bear looking into.... Jim


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## T_R_Oglodyte (Aug 26, 2009)

Passepartout said:


> Steve, this put my BS detector on full alert too, but Googling, or Bing-ing this, it _looks_ legit.  Now, I didn't check to see what the handsets cost, or the per-minute rate, just that all calls are the same price, domestic or Int'l.
> 
> Might bear looking into.... Jim



Jim - I'm pretty sure Tracfone is legit, but what set of my baloney detector was a first-time post on a non-BBS topic about a commercial service, and the post sounds like it's an ad.

The only thing that gives me pause to think the post might be legit is that the post didn't contain a link with a referrer ID.


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## pjrose (Aug 26, 2009)

I'm with you, Steve.  I noticed the same thing.  Some of the wording in the post is identical to that on other sites.


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## Karen G (Aug 27, 2009)

T_R_Oglodyte said:


> The only thing that gives me pause to think the post might be legit is that the post didn't contain a link with a referrer ID.


That's precisely why I haven't deleted the post although several Tuggers
have reported it.  The post in question is really not much different from lots of other posts that recommend goods and/or services.


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