using cell phone in Mexico

[Buck Turgidson]

In the past I just shut off the cell phone when out of the USA, except for ships app.. Now my wife wants to be able to call from Mexico to USA on nine day cruise. We have a straight talk phone, 45 bucks a month. My question is how others use their phone when out of their home country. thank you

[crystalspin]

17 minutes ago, Buck Turgidson said:

 My question is how others use their phone when out of their home country. thank you

We have T-Mobile service specifically for their world-wide service. 

[Charles4515]

25 minutes ago, Buck Turgidson said:

In the past I just shut off the cell phone when out of the USA, except for ships app.. Now my wife wants to be able to call from Mexico to USA on nine day cruise. We have a straight talk phone, 45 bucks a month. My question is how others use their phone when out of their home country. thank you

I have AT&T and have international roaming. Mexico is actualy included in my cell plan plan. Straight Talk is a reseller and they don't have international roaming. You will need to change your cell phone carrier from Srtaight Talk to AT&T, T-mobile or Verizon to call from Mexico or any other country to the US.. 

[ldubs]

We set up our phones for wifi calling.  Basically we can call any US number at no charge as long as we have wifi access.  

 

Your phone would need to have wifi calling capability and it looks like you need to activate it with Straight Talk.

 

 

 

 

[Markanddonna]

11 hours ago, crystalspin said:

We have T-Mobile service specifically for their world-wide service. 

T-Mobile is something frequent international travelers should consider. They use the same framework as the rest of the world. When we arrive in a city or port, we get the "welcome to ______" message.  Unlimited texting and 4G. Extra costs for calling.

[Joebucks]

12 hours ago, crystalspin said:

We have T-Mobile service specifically for their world-wide service. 

 

One of the best travel mates. Soon the thread will be hit by "I use vacation to disconnect". However, it is at least slightly helpful to have phone signal in a foreign country. I once wasted hours trying to find a rental car agency that my phone would have found in minutes. There isn't free wifi hotspots everywhere. 

[Mary229]

Again T-mobile/MVNO so check your coverage with straight talk. I know when I drive very close to the border it automatically starts using Mexican towers.  Straight talk is also a MVNO but I don’t know whose network they use. 

[Markanddonna]

29 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

 

One of the best travel mates. Soon the thread will be hit by "I use vacation to disconnect". However, it is at least slightly helpful to have phone signal in a foreign country. I once wasted hours trying to find a rental car agency that my phone would have found in minutes. There isn't free wifi hotspots everywhere. 

Our last trip (23 days in Europe and Israel) was the most challenging one ever, starting with lost luggage when we got to Rome. You really can't disconnect on vacation. Things happen. We were also able to find our way around Jerusalem for five days with Google Maps!

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, Markanddonna said:

Our last trip (23 days in Europe and Israel) was the most challenging one ever, starting with lost luggage when we got to Rome. You really can't disconnect on vacation. Things happen. We were also able to find our way around Jerusalem for five days with Google Maps!

A number of yerars ago we were able to make our way to  the Jewish Quarter in Venice using Google maps. We discussed it on our roll call  and several were planning to visit there but I was the only one who found it because I used Google Maps instead of a paper map. The others who tried using paper maps failed. 

[klfrodo]

I travel with an international Wi-Fi hotspot that I get from Skyroam. I'm also very happy with the services I receive from T-Mobile. I've used the Skyroam to make Wi-Fi calls. I remember we were in Copenhagen. We just did a walk around after getting off the bus. I pinned the location of the bus stop on my Google Maps app, then off we went with my wife and phone. When the time came to go back to the ship, just followed the map back.

[Philob]

Another vote for T-Mobile. Pre-pandemic SWMBO used her iThing extensively throughout China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Some times the data would drop down to 3G, but that can happen when your in a rural area or on a high speed train.

[9tee2Sea]

On 12/3/2022 at 8:14 AM, Charles4515 said:

A number of yerars ago we were able to make our way to  the Jewish Quarter in Venice using Google maps. We discussed it on our roll call  and several were planning to visit there but I was the only one who found it because I used Google Maps instead of a paper map. The others who tried using paper maps failed. 

I found the Jewish Quarter in Venice  just by walking around and exploring.  May have taken more time, but still enjoyed all the sights along the way.  I usually just look at maps before I leave on the cruise to see the points of interest and the general location.

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, 9tee2Sea said:

I found the Jewish Quarter in Venice  just by walking around and exploring.  May have taken more time, but still enjoyed all the sights along the way.  I usually just look at maps before I leave on the cruise to see the points of interest and the general location.

I went there on our second day and had spent the first day walking and exploring. The second day we had less time and had targets. Quite likely I would have found it with the paper map because I was motivated to go there but with Google maps it was a sure thing. General location could have been a fail in Venice. 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Charles4515

[rjack22]

Straight Talk is on Verizon.

[hallux]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:28 PM, Charles4515 said:

You will need to change your cell phone carrier from Srtaight Talk to AT&T, T-mobile or Verizon to call from Mexico or any other country to the US.. 

Or sign up for Google Fi, which is an MVNO and runs (primarily) on T-Mobile.  With certain plans of theirs, including the Flexible plan which is $20/month and $10/GB of data used, you can use the phone in most of the world.