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Cell Phone service in Cabo

Karen G

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Before I left home a couple of weeks ago I called Verizon to see if I'd have cell service in Cabo and to see how much it would be. I was able to switch our service plan to the North American plan, which includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico on a pro-rated basis just for the time we'd be in Mexico. I also upped the total minutes on the plan since it wouldn't include the IN Network feature of free minutes on calls between Verizon customers or the normal free minutes between family members on our family shared plan. Supposedly, this is going to cost me only about $13 more than my regular plan at home.

When I got back home Verizon switched us back to our regular plan. I haven't gotten the bill yet, but I think I stayed within the total minutes I had to use. It was really important to me to be able to call home because my husband wasn't able to go with us on this trip because of some complications from a recent surgery. It was great to be able to talk to him every day and for him to be able to call us, too.

I found the service to be excellent from the airport and all the way down to Cabo, except for the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach area. The big hill that separates that resort from Pedregal and town interrupts the cell signal. I experimented a little and found that if I walked down to the road in front of the developers personal residence I could pick up a strong enough signal to make a call, but it was kind of spotty. My phone also worked briefly when I went over to the new PB Pacifica Hotel.

The customer service guy who helped me at Verizon did an outstanding job with very complete instructions by email on how to make calls from Mexico back to the U.S. and within Mexco. He also gave me his office phone number and extension to call him with any questions. I was very impressed with Verizon and hope I still am when the bill comes! :)
 

california-bighorn

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Karen, thanks for the information. That will be extremely valuable to us as we will be at PBSB in 2 months and you saved me from asking the question. We had great service with verizon in PV and glad to hear it works in Cabo. Question; when you were "out of service" while at Sunset, then went over the hill and received a signal again, did you have the capibilty to retrive messages?
Again thanks, Marty
PS We had no surprises on our bill when we returned from PV. The costs were just what we were told.
 
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Paula

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KAREN G. thank you for an interesting post on Cell Phone in Cabo. I have copied and pasted to an msn message to my girl friend who lives in Seattle, she was asking me about cell phone useage and costs only last week when they were in Vancouver visiting. They also go for extended time to PV and Cabo and has just got a new Verizon phone and she was wondering about connection while there. My friends from NY also had made that change last year while in PV for 2 months and it worked great for Rachel as she wanted to call her kids each day in New Jersey. ALSO, I would like say I sincerely hope hubby is recovering fast from his complications with surgery, it must have been hard on you going to Cabo and he in Seattle, good luck to him for a speedy recovery. Paula :)
 

Karen G

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california-bighorn said:
did you have the capibilty to retrive messages?
I actually forgot to try to retrieve messages. The process was to be a little different from doing it in the U.S. where you just dial *86. You had to dial 001 + your 10-digit cell phone number and then enter your password. My phone didn't ring to signal that I had a message and I can't remember if I noticed the little icon that signals a message.

Since I was going into town most every day from Sunset Beach, I just waited until I got back over the hill and then I used the phone.
 

Karen G

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Forgot to mention this additional information:

Since you have to dial 001 + area code + number when calling the U.S. from Mexico, I entered all the phone numbers I intended to call the most beforehand. I put the letter "A" in front of each number, such as "Ahome", "AJohn", etc. so that those numbers would be the first ones in the list of numbers on my phone book to make it quicker to dial.

Sometimes on the first try I'd get a message in Spanish and the call didn't go through. But on the second try it would go through.

Note to Paula: Thanks for your kind message. My husband is doing better, but we all wished he could have been with us on this trip.
 

tmartin1

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Ok, I'm confused :)

I tried to make the same switch to the North American plan when I went to Cabo last month and even updated my phone to make sure I had the latest satellite service.

The entire time I was in Cabo (staying at the PBSB), my phone never left 'roaming' service. I talked to other people who had cell phones, and all of their phones were also roaming. This meant that every phone call was 69 cents per minute, no matter what plan I was on.

The reason I stated that I 'tried' to make the switch to the North American plan, was that something got lost in the communication with the Verizon rep and she never made the change. She tried to call me while I was in Mexico, but since I was 'roaming', I never received any messages until I got back to the states.

Verizon ended up removing all my phone charges while in Mexico because of the mix-up with the plan change.

What am I missing? How did your phone work?
 

Karen G

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Every time I made or received a call, it said Roaming. But, my daughter asked her boyfriend, who manages a Verizon store, and he said that was okay. I'll see what the bill says when I get it, but the agent who helped me set it up assured me that I'd be billed just according to the plan. You can be sure I'll be calling him back if that's not the case.

At first he said I'd need to reprogram my phone when I got down there to change from digital to analog, then he said I wouldn't need to make any changes. All that was required was that I call #228 before leaving the U.S. to update the roaming capabilities, and I also had to do that upon returning when they switched me back to my regular plan. In fact, I got a text message each time they had switched the plan on the day I left and on the day I returned.

Note: I just looked at the statement I got showing that we had switched to the North American plan and it says that domestic roaming rates are included. So I'm interpreting that to mean roaming anywhere in U.S., Mexico, and Canada on that plan.
 
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Deer Path

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We will be in Cabo for 2 weeks in November and do not have a verizon cell phone....We have Midwest wireless which does not have Mexican coverage.
Does anyone have a good idea for calling the USA?? What have you used?
Judy
 

Karen G

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I believe some people have reported that they purchased phone cards at Walmart or Costco in the U.S. that could be used in Mexico. Others have bought Mexican phone cards when they got down there. But, whatever you do, don't make calls from the phone in your room at a hotel or resort. I noticed a sticker on the phone at the Pueblo Bonito advertising calls to the U.S. at $2/minute. :eek:
 

california-bighorn

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When we haven't been able to use our cell phones we bought and used the Mexican phone card (MexTel?). The phone booths were all over. For phone booths they weren't bad. When you scan your card, it tells you how minutes you have left. If I remember correctly it costs around 10 cents a minute. A call from one of the hotels or timeshares can run about $20 for a short 2 or 3 minute call when everything is added up.
Marty
 

Karen G

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Follow-up with Verizon cell service in Cabo

I got my bill today and what a shock it was! $658.76 :eek:

I was extremely upset and I contacted the customer service agent who set everything up for me. I'm happy to report that he made everything right by taking off all the roaming charges that shouldn't have been charged in the first place. That brought the bill down to $181.60 (family plan with five phones) and I'm very happy to pay that amount.

So, just a word of warning if you change your Verizon plan to the North American plan--be sure they don't charge you roaming charges. :)
 

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Hi Karen,

Could you break down your phone charges to per minute?? I am considering going to Verizon...at the present time I have Cingular. Even with a Cingular tower in Cabo the per minute charges were still high. As much as I love Cabo the telephone charges are a killer...

Thanks,
Linda
 

Karen G

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Under the North American Family Share Plan, for 2100 minutes to share among five phones, the charge for the main phone is $120/mo and $9.99 for each of the other four phones.

Under the America's Choice family share plan for 1500 minutes to share among five phones, the charge is $90 for the main phone and $9.99 for each of the other four phones.

Calls to each other don't count against the minutes nor do calls to any other Verizon phone count against the minutes. There are unlimited nights and weekends minutes. If you go over your allotted minutes, it's $.35/minute. We haven't gone over our limit of minutes so far.
 

johnfornal

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WOW....Who worked at the Verizon store WOW

I have used the MexTel service three times for :rolleyes: an active Realtor for 10 days and didn't spend more than $100...

About across the street from the McDonald's is a company office....with service people who are very helpful....in the old days they used analog technology so you had to buy a telephone which they programmed with a prepaid minute plan...total cost in 2002 was about $125.

Now you can use an international digital chipset that your phone probably already has...if not buying a $29-$49 phone with a prepaid plan will save you money....should be less than $0.29 per minute.

They are closed on the weekends if I remember correctly....expect to wait about 20 minutes in line...next to the Pemex station...

Glad to see you got the bill lowered....
 
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NTHC

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Just returned from Cabo and we found a little internet cafe called The Corner that charges .35 per minute for calls to the US and Canada. We made several calls while we were there and found that if we had a few cocktails the price actually turned out to be about .20 per minute.

You can also purchase an internet card that allows you 5 hours for $10.

Talk to Coco and she will treat you well.

Cindy
 

california-bighorn

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NTHC, where is The Corner located in Cabo?
Thanks Marty
 

NTHC

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Karen,
The Corner Cafe is located at Lazaro Cardenas y Matamoros s/n Local #1

It is downtown and I am sure one of the locals can put you in the right direction.

Have a great time!

cindy
 
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