Who said an old IPhone can't zoom

I simply talked myself into thinking that without trying enough

We were sitting around at the monthly old farts breakfast and Steve was showing his fancy Smart-Fone to Don who is thinking about getting one. They were talking about the camera and how well it worked. Nice to have an extra camera around if it's any good. I asked Steve if his would zoom and he sad yes so I tried mine again. The squeeze screen thing didn't work but just dragging your finger made a Zoom Bar show up that looked like volume control.  WaaLaa .... my camera zooms.

When I first got this Phone it was with the full Internet package but I can't stand the Internet on a super small screen with no mouse or keyboard. I had a contract so had to wait it out but changed to a normal pay as you go Amigo plan as soon as I could. Still a Smart-Fone will eat up your minutes if you don't have everything turned off except the Phone. 50 pesos was lasting two weeks instead of a month. I had to get a Telcel store person to find the offending app. I text because it's cheaper and leaves a message and talk and that is all.

Five days without Internet

....... and you can get a lot done around the house

Last Friday my Telcel Modem gave me notice that the SIM card was invalid or did not exist. This SIM was almost 4 years old and was on it's third modem. I have a monthly contract so can't just go buy another because I have to use the same number.  I thought maybe a local Telcel store could help somehow but no, it would require a trip to Manzanillo. 

With Semana Santa and the weekend no way did I want to head for Manzanillo.  Danny and Linda said they might go Tuesday but they ended up not needing to. Glen said he wanted to go so on Tuesday day we went. Turned out to be a quite simple procedure like it happens often. Pay 100 pesos and they program a new SIM to your number. They offered to check if it worked and they did but could not confirm the number was correct. For some reason the number shows as Desconocido or Unknown. Not wanting to drive back to Manzanillo from Melaque if it didn't work we stopped at a computer place to try to figure it out. I finally got the bright idea to send it a text message from my phone using my account phone number and it worked.

Over those 5 days I got lots of painting and yard work done. You can really get a lot done when your mornings are free. Since we are only a little over a month till hurricane season I think I'll keep at it to stay water tight.

A new Huawei E303 modem

I've been struggling with 2 old USB CEL modems .... and unable to help kids with homework or go further with DuoLingo Spanish. Forget Youtube. In our little town the only new modems were at OXXO stores and I thought their price was a rip off but Manzanillo is an hour away to compare. I didn't know it's a different quality modem.

HUAWEI E303 2G 3G USB Modem Data Card 7.2 Mbps

The little Telcel stores couldn't tell me the make or model they might get in in a week or two and homework was building up. The old Huawei just stopped working and the newer ZTE was slower than 2400 baud dial-up. The new Huawei that OXXO sells is a whole new technology with a speed capacity up to 7meg and a web based control panel at 192.168.1.1 like DSL Modems. No software installed on your PC. It is 650mx but worth it so far

Speed test this morning

Web based control panel like DSL Modems

Semana Santa steals the Internet

The huge influx of people to our small vacation town has overwhelmed Telcel to the point that trying to stay on the Internet via a Cellular Modem is all but impossible.  I may reappear next week when things calm down.   That goes for email as well.   Have a good one you all !!

Slim Pickens

And Slim be doin' the picken

I haven't been the biggest fan of Telcel for the last three years but since we have no Telmex phone or Internet service in our little community there aren't any other options.   I've come to realize a CEL phone is the way to go for flexibility but you need the right "plan" and the right phone.   I was taken in with the free IPhone if you pay upfront.  Also taken with the thought of Internet on the run.   Problem is I can't stand Internet on something as small as a phone so a smart phone 1/2 or 1/3 the price would have worked just fine .... and NOT Apple.

My first cheap Nokia died within months and Telcel said humidity voided the warranty.   Second cheap Nokia they gave me a Manzanillo prefix so my time flew off the phone.   Gift to neighbors.

Thinking I needed a real phone I was prepped to spend way more than I needed.  I guess being cool and up-to-date was part of it. So my free phone was an Iphone 3s when the model 4's had been out for about a year.   I didn't know the difference and Telcel was clearing their inventory.   The contract was for 2 years and within 6 months I knew I was wasting money on the extras.  Patiently, patiently I waited until last November when my bill jumped from 500 pesos to 1500.  Figured out that upgrading the Apple IOS turned everything Internet on and was on 24/7.  Not Telcel's fault but proof I did not need an Internet phone.   Finally was able to cancel in December at the end of 2 years with a very expensive final bill.

So about a week ago I received my bills via Email expecting only for this modem .... and sure enough there was my phone bill for January and February to the tune of 1000+ pesos.    Another trip to Telcel in Manzanillo and was told even though I had paid and canceled I was missing another piece of paper which I was never told about.  They also said I was using the phone in February for something but I had thrown the old SIM card away in January and bought a new Amigo - pay as you go plan.   Finally when asking for a supervisor the clerk changed her mind and I have another piece of paper that may be the official thing ???   Just checked my online account and it's still there ??

Also while trying to handle this by phone instead of another Manzanillo trip ..... the 800# only talking to help desk personnel charged my phone almost 40 pesos.   Slim is a pickin'    !!!! 

Trip to Manzanillo

My main reason to go to Manzanillo last Tuesday was to pick up my new 2 year visa. I had received an email the week before saying it was ready. The new cards are very much like a credit card and do not contain a chip but rather a bar-code. The example below is obviously not me and lacks personal info but gives you an idea.

I stopped at the new Home Depot for a few interior lights and was looking for a replcement bulb for my light/dark sensing security outdoor light. Turns out the replacement bulb costs nearly what the whole fixture with bulb costs. I decided to go with a cheaper one that uses standard bulbs. Much better idea.

Next up to Telcel to replace this cel-modem that I think is pretty flakey. They said the techs would have to check it out and I'd come back in a few days. Decided to buy another and using points I had accumulated on my account paid $100 pesos for it. Would spent more on gas making another round trip.

Then to AutoZone for a windshield repair kit. I have a number of tiny chips but had one larger one that looked like it could spread. I can still see it from the inside but almost invisible from outside. Here's hoping with resin in the chip it will be strong enough to prevent further damage. My kit was slightly different than the video but it seems to be a forgiving process.

A day with Telcel

I noticed that Telcel was upgrading their site last week even asking how much I liked to new 'interface' but they didn't have my bill ready.  Not sure if it was too early or they just hadn't finished the web site.   I went in today and couldn't even get to the login page but kept getting errors that their VeriSign security was not correct or had expired.

I went to the Online chat help and got a woman that evidently did not know they were working on the site.   We went round and round with her standard help-desk questions until she took me seriously and put me on hold.   While on hold for about 5 minutes I tried the site again and was suddenly redirected to another page that worked.  I won't claim that my call is what make them wake up but it sure was a coincidence.

Telcel has not sent me a bill in the mail even tho they said they would ... and I can't change their email notifications to an address I can access for a .PDF file which I need to pay at the bank.  I wanted to get the bill paying out of the way this week to avoid the Semana Santa rush ... but finally made it.

Now my Nokia phone on the Amigo Plan seems to be running out of minutes prematurely or minutes are expiring too soon.  I put in the minimum amount today and got service back ... but the web site still says my account has been suspended.  Hopefully their databases will merge soon so I can find out what my balance is.   It should be over 100 pesos.

Local Mexico trivia

The first is I went to my local store one block away wanting some cerveza, Coke and some salad fixings. Our store will sell celery by the stock, cabbage by the 1/4 head and my special today was half a cauliflower. All looked in perfect shape and fresh but cooking for myself I don't often need a full head of anything. At the current exchange rate the 54 pesos equaled about $4.25 US

I forgot to add two nice bell peppers to the foto

My next and ongoing adventure was with Telcel. I've been there (Manzanillo) 3 times since the first of the year. First trip was to figure out my phone number because it was changed from my cheap Nokia to my Iphone. This is my first cel phone and I thought two phones could have the same number .... Wrong, each SIM chip has it's own number.

Second trip was my cel phone stopped accessing the Internet, they said I have the wrong SIM chips even tho they both worked for 3-4 weeks. I didn't bring my modem SIM chip.

This time I brought both my phone and modem and the slightly more technical GUYS I talked to figured out I needed to switch SIMs. I had never installed them but the reverse of the chips worked.

I don't know if my configuration of both USB modem for a computer and a Smart Phone on the same contract is unusual ... but getting me straight wasn't easy.

The last of the phone issues was that my 2 month old Nokia had died. They said corrosion and sand inside nullified my one year warranty. Gheesh ... I guess I need to carry it in a Ziploc bag?

Next week is to pick up my Visa in Manzanillo.  I finally got fotos made at Farmacia Guadalajara but my side fotos show the LOGO of some camera company when they should have a white background.   Ok ... the girls at Farmacia Guadalajara are not pros ... but I will have new side fotos taken

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.

Getting back in the saddle

Still using Internet Cafes while trying to figure out if I want a short or long term contract with Telcel.   Hear you need to go to Manzanillo for a contract with more options.  Still haven´t found if Iusacel is going to work in Melaque.   All these little booths that sell Telcel and Iusacel "minutes" seem to be full of misinformation.

Hope to get back to more frequent posting soon

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 ;)