cheap trac phone US & Mexico

telecel has a cheap Smart Phone for under $100 US. There is a pay as you go plan that has unlimited calling to Mexico,US and Canada. Included is 500mb of data. Valid for 23 days and cost is $100 pesos!!. You can recharge it at any OXXO. That is less than 5 pesos a day. Any telcel store can sell you the phone. They can also activate everything in English. One can also use that phone in Canada and the USA with the same package. If you buy and activate in a border area you will likely find a clerk that speaks English.

Moisheh

What about the advise for a dual band unlocked phone?

Just something you can change the sim card in, and you are set. Maybe/probably your flip phone will do!

I'm a cell phone Luddite - a bag phone in 1995 and flip phones since 2004. Any more suggestions would be most welcome...

Any decent Telcel store cab unlock your phone for about 200 pesos.

Talleyho69 wrote:
Here in Mexico, you can buy a TelCel sim card for 26p. Drop it into any phone and you are up. For use in country, you can just add money as you go, and do it just about anywhere. We add 100p a month, and typically have a balance of several hundred pesos. If you want a "plan" that covers unlimited US calling, it's 100p every 24 (I think) days. All very very inexpensive.

I wish I had known that. Many phones are "locked" which, as I understand it, means that one cannot change the SIM card and expect the phone to work.

When shopping for a cell phone, I specifically asked for an "unlocked dual band" cell phone. (Not cheap)
That is a cell phone which will work on the US "CDMA" networks and the
"GSM" network used by the rest of the world.

With the dual band phone, one can simply change out the SIM card. Our Telcel SIM cost about $5.00 USD (unlimited calling) and a 1 gig data package was an additional $5.00 USD

The data package did not work when I returned to Skyharbor Intl. Airport (although the phone showed that roaming was in effect, I did not try calling anyone).

After picking up baggage and clearing customs, I stopped at an airport restaurant table to switch back to the phone's original Verizon SIM card. It took all of about 90 seconds and it was back in US business.

Here in Mexico, you can buy a TelCel sim card for 26p. Drop it into any phone and you are up. For use in country, you can just add money as you go, and do it just about anywhere. We add 100p a month, and typically have a balance of several hundred pesos. If you want a "plan" that covers unlimited US calling, it's 100p every 24 (I think) days. All very very inexpensive.

I hope you mean "inexpensive" rather than expensive, if not I have a gold plated phone that works with a satellite and you can have it for a song and a dance, a couple of thousand dollars will work, as for the phone working that is unknown no one has ever used it.

I do not have info but I would guess that any good phone at a reasonable price should work, the important item is not the phone but the carrier service, we have AT&T and have had good service, some of the Mexican towers and contracted carriers are some times iffy on the service provided to AT&T.

Find a carrier that service all the way to the destination that you need.

navegator

This one is pretty expensive but if you want even more I'm sure you can find one. Not sure if Walmart stocks it though. :B
Expensive phone