TelCel dialing when in the U.S.A.

[Oatsie]

If I want to use my TelCel phone when in the U.S.A.- Dallas Airport to be exact - what number(s) do I dial?

[johanson]

If I remember right Oatsie, I dial like one does in GTA, I would dial 1 and the US or Canadian area code and the number I was calling. And I was told a couple of days ago at the Telcel office that the roaming charges are 90 cents per minute US when calling a local US number. The lady did not know if that was only for a local number or long distance as well. I don't know about Canada. I never phone MX using my cell phone when up north because it's so much cheaper using my or a relatives land line when I am in either WA State or in BC on Vancouver Island.

My landline carrier in my Condo in Seattle, CenturyLink allows me to call a Mexican Telmex # for 10 cents US per minute. I pay $2.00 US per month extra for that discount to CenturyLink when calling Mexico.

[Joco]

How do you get a connection using Telcel in the U.S.? I didn't know you could get a signal at all. Telcel doesn't have service that I know of in the U,S,

[Oatsie]

Thanks Pete... I would only use it in an emergency, but was just wondering... in case.

Joco - when I turn it on, I get a signal/connection. I can't remember what U.S. carrier.... AT&T I think.

[Explorador]

Last time my Amigo Telcel phone was in the states I was able to call and send SMS messages to a Verizon pay-as-you-go phone by dialing +1xxxxxxxxxx, that is "+1" followed by the 10 digit number. I forget how I got the "+" symbol but it's there somewhere (and signals the country code).

The Verizon PAYG was able to call the Amigo Telcel with +52, 10-digit number, also. I'm sure it's expensive in both directions but it does work. Strangely, the Verizon would think it sent an SMS message successfully but I never received it on the Telcel. (I tried it twice.)

The Telcel phone selected a roaming carrier automatically. I looked into the menus and found that I could set a preference as to which carrier, but the two I tried both behaved the same, as described above.

Given that my Telcel keeps racking up a balance, in order to keep it active, this is a viable way to have an emergency cell phone in the states, and use some of an overly high balance in the process.

[johanson]

Yes, Oatsie, in the states it is AT&T for me, be I at the airport somewhere between Guadalajara and Seattle and when in Seattle

[Hernan Santiago]

I bought the cheapest cell phone that I could about six years ago from Telcel and have to put 100 pesos in every 60 days to keep it alive. Took it to the States and much to my surprise, it works just fine for both local and long distance calls in the States. I have no idea how much it costs per minute up north and do not really care, as I have given 200 pesos to my gardener's cell phone several times, just to get rid of the build up of pesos that I have.