MEXICO

In the case of Mexico there is a significant incentive to consider the global SIM card offered on SIMphoneE.com. the 09 Mobile rates are better than the rates of local SIM cards, for both incoming and international calls.

The cellular billing system in Mexico is a little more complicated than the systems in the US or the Europe. The call rates depend on your location and on where the call was originated from. Telcel as an example charges for incoming calls just over USD 0.40 except for calls originated from Tijuana and that reached you while you were in Tijuana. Calls originated from international countries will cost you between USD 0.30 and 0.45 depending on your location.

Getting a local SIM card is relatively easy and available in the shops of the cellular providers and authorized dealers. Reloading these cards is also made very easy. Scratch cards with prepaid credit can be purchased in most any kiosk, tabac shop, convenience store, post office, etc.

If you choose to get a local prepaid card make note of its service life / expiration. These cards have a very short life time when inactive. In some cases, if you don’t recharge your card for two months your remaining balance on the card will be lost. So unless you travel six times a year to Mexico, you can say goodbye to any unused credit on your card. Factor this into your minute rate and you will find that it becomes pretty expensive to use the local cards as a tourist.

Mexico GSM cellular providers and networks

Your cellular options in Mexico

The following table maps out the various alternatives and their estimated costs.

All rates are presented in USD currency per minute

1 Estimated, may vary between providers
2 Ranges represent differences between local and international SMS
4 Represented are the ranges of roaming rates offered by North American cellular providers
5 Not including the cost of the incoming call to the cellular phone, if any.

If you are a visitor to Mexico for leisure or business and you don’t plan to have significant outgoing airtime to local numbers, the global SIM card is by far your best option. It’s the only SIM that offers you free incoming calls throughout Mexico.

Amongst the North American cellular providers that we reviewed, we found that Cingular has the most competitive roaming offer to Mexico with USD 0.59 per minute, and a monthly fee of USD 3.99. All others we reviewed are way higher ranging up to USD 4.00 per minute! Cingular's best offer is similar in outgoing rates to 09 but is not remotely as good with incoming - free with 09.

Local SIM cards in Mexico are nicely promoted as the way to go if you are on your way for a vacation, but don't really offers an exciting deal. Their incoming rates are the second best alternative to the 09 global SIM cards, but the outgoing rates are really not that hot. The most important thing is the small letters.

The fine print on the local SIM card deal relates to the term "Service Life" or "Expiration". These are prepaid cards, meaning that you already paid for your future calls. However, your remaining and unused credit will be lost if the card is not recharged in 2 months. Unless you are a very frequent traveler to France you are most likely to loose all unused credit remaining on the card. Factor this into the cost of you card and calls and you will find that your effective rates are higher than presented. Note that if you don't use your card for a period of 8 months, your card will completely expire, including the initial fixed cost of the card (approximately $30).

Renting a local phone will probably turn out to be the wrong way to go taking into account the monthly airtime plans and rental fees. The monthly plans in many cases offer you a bulk of minutes for a fixed monthly fee. Additional minutes are charged at a higher rate. Just because your local carriers do it doesn't mean you have to fall for this again – you never use your exact quota, you either under-use your minutes and loose the remaining balance for that month, or exceed the quota and pay a "fine" for the additional minutes. Anyway you look at it you loose. The industry average for renting the phone alone (device only without airtime) is $30-50 per month. If you couple that with the monthly minute plans, you are probably better off buying a new phone and using a global SIM card than renting. You will most likely pay off the phone and card after your first or second trip, just based on the difference between the two options (and the phone is yours to keep). the rental rates as presented may reach ridiculous figures of $1.50-2.00.

The global SIM card rates offer the best deal for Mexico, even better than the local SIM cards. They also don’t impose the two-month service life restriction so you can re-use your remaining credit on the card. This global SIM card will offer similar savings in many other countries without roaming, so you can trot the globe with it and still benefit from the same great rates.

For additional savings you can use calling cards or callback services when at the hotel or near a fixed line phone. Doing this may cut your costs of outgoing calls to a third of what the lowest cell rate would offer you.

To have option of choosing your service and SIM card you need to have an Unlocked world GSM phone. Click the following link to learn more about ordering global SIM cards. If you want to learn more or subscribe to our calling cards and callback service, visit our Re-routing section.