Back in the connected world

I've been trying to get back into the connected world since I moved to my house outside of Melaque where there is no telephone or Internet. Two weeks ago I got my first cel phone, the Nokia 1616 below. That's the cheapest phone and for $350 pesos you get the phone and $100 pesos of airtime.

First cel phone in this day and age ... yes I know, I should have had one before. Had to have a neighbor teach me how to use it. Pretty easy really and things went well for the first week.

In the mean time I was evaluating my Internet options including a radio type transmission from a nearby community. That would have involved building a tower and buying sending and receiving dishes. Quite a bit of money for only a shared signal that may not be around next year.

Everyone said Iusacell was cheaper but the signal was weak in our area so I finally went into Telcel last week to see what was available. What a surprise to find they had an unlimited Internet service with a USB modem and an IPhone for $700 pesos a month. That package does require an 18 month contract and a credit check ... but I was approved and it's not much more than a 2meg service from Telmex.   And no I didn't have to pay extra for the Iphone or USB .... it's included in the contract price.

I'm now using the USB modem with my desktop and was quite excited to start using the Iphone to browse the web and check email. Sadly Telcel messed up the activation and neither one of the phones work even tho I had $100 peso credit on the Nokia. The messages say my SIM cards are not registered. I can guess at the problem but this will require another trip to Telcel in Manzanillo.

Oh well, at least I have Internet on this computer and will report what the mis-configuration problem was later this week.

Seems the SIM cards were reversed so problem solved. Another correction is that the USB connection thru this computer has a 10 gig limit. Only the Iphone has unlimited Internet time and gigabites.

I added the Speed Test image which is from a server in Guadalajara. The servers in the US gave me .85 megs and 1.2 megs. The service is rated at 2.5 megs.

Cell Phone Scams

So what are you going to do with a small town Mexican woman even at age 54

Mari won a cel fone in the local school lottery (Nokia no less) and it works fine. I don't know how universal these things are but it was originally Telcel. Soon after winning this thing she gets a message or call stating she has won a new Volkswagen and just needs to deposit $3100 pesos in an account at Elecktra. Supposedly this extra fee was because she didn't respond to the original message and caused a delay.

She asked for the $3100 and I told her they were just rateros on a scam. She called back and they said if she would buy $1000 pesos of MoviStar Cel time she could also qualify. We don't have MoviStar service here and no one sells it. Next it was Telcel so we bought the cards, she gave them the numbers .... and expects to have a new Volkswagen delivered tomorrow.

I figured a lesson of $1000 pesos is better than $3100. I expect no car and her cel cards are or soon will be useless. A shiny new Jetta tomorrow I doubt

-

P.S. -- No car as of yet but she is working on it so diligently that she almost has me convinced she may get one. Supposed to be talking with a lawyer in Guadalajara. There's lots of stories of this same scam on the Internet

P.S.S -- Mari had to admit finally that was only a lesson. A bit embarrased she was ;)