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I would guess that in many areas in Mexico that Telcel has superior coverage. So depending on if you travel in Mexico more or USA more it would be different. I have free cellular in USA so for me in the states no problem. Free calls on Whatsapp on both phones

ATT is a familar name but in Mexico they are far behind on the number of towers.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just signed up to AT&T unlimited plan to test drive it, I also have had the Telcel unlimited plan for a while now and plan to keep it until AT&T either proves itself, or for access to the Telcel towers set up in the more remote parts of Mexico. AT&T plans to start offering towers by the end of this year. They are still battling Slim on some legal technicalities though. Slim is not giving up his monopoly without a fight

When traveling with Telcel, I discovered you have to call before you leave and let them know when and where you will be traveling to outside of Mexico, be it other North American countries or anywhere else. They would then set up a plan and everything was supposed to work. Instead I found that making or receiving calls was hit or miss, working somewhat better in the USA(via T-Mobile) then it did in Canada (via Rogers which is also AT&T). In general, texting was completely frozen and  emails were only available connected to a WiFi hotspot somewhere. It didn't work at all on  my last trip to Europe, admittedly a while ago now. I am afraid I never had the patience to deal with such an obtuse system so I usually used a local sim on my unlocked phone.

AT&T promises a seamless experience while traveling anywhere in North America, they are the largest US carrier and bought out or bought into Rogers, one of Canada's largest providers. When traveling anywhere else where they do not have ownership rights they too revert to the call first before you travel system. I was told this is because they have contractual agreements with other providers in other countries that they need to activate on a case by case basis. They also said they were working on improving that (I wonder if that means they are on the hunt for more M&A in Europe too, like they did with Iusacell/Moviestar here?). So far the new Moto X force I bought with my plan (I paid extra for it of about 4500pesos on their 499 pesos per month plan as I wanted that phone and I use lots of data and needed the extras - the phone is shatterproof and water resistant among other benefits). Their website is www.ATT.com.mx, Spanish only so far, and they are cheekily opening up their offices right next door to the Telcel client service centers downtown. So I would check Laguna's soon to see if one opens there too.

I did compare Telcel service with AT&T before signing at Andares yesterday. AT&T is right beside Telcel at that mall. Telcel has matched all of AT&T rates since they lost the court case that illegally blocked competition and AT&T is the first back into the country, with Sprint and Verizon soon to follow apparently (their phones are already on sale here). Despite Telcel price matching AT&T, you still have to call ahead to use their unlimited international services. Given my past experience with that I am guessing it remains as unreliable and obtuse as ever.

Also, while Telcel have matched the plan prices, they do not offer top of the line smart phones with their plans, for example I mentioned I was interested in a Moto X Force, Nexus 6P or a Samsung Galaxy S6 or the latest Apple, but they did not offer any of these with their plans. They did offer an older version of the Samsung, the S5 with 8Mb, not enough for my needs. Other models were offered that I have never heard of, none of them top of the line. On a 2 year plan they still wanted me to pay about $10,500 pesos for the older Samsung S5. Compare that with what that phone costs on eBay today (US220 aprox, new) and with the top of the line newly released Moto X Force I got for about 4500 pesos on a 2 year plan with AT&T and you can see where Telcel is failing to compete. Newer models were available at Telcel for direct purchase at a significant mark up from what buying one NOB would cost. I expect that too will change soon at Telcel but for now AT&T is offering the better deal. The people I spoke with at Telcel yesterday were decidedly down in the mouth and frustrated by not being able to compete.

The test run of AT&T in GDL is working great so far. I am astounded by the internet velocity and ease of use. I sure never had that experience with Telcel. I will report back as I travel outside of major centers to compare both the Telcel and AT&T performance on highways and in remoter parts of Mexico.

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  • 1 year later...
On 5/18/2016 at 9:09 AM, Semalu said:

I just signed up to AT&T unlimited plan to test drive it, I also have had the Telcel unlimited plan for a while now and plan to keep it until AT&T either proves itself, or for access to the Telcel towers set up in the more remote parts of Mexico. AT&T plans to start offering towers by the end of this year. They are still battling Slim on some legal technicalities though. Slim is not giving up his monopoly without a fight

When traveling with Telcel, I discovered you have to call before you leave and let them know when and where you will be traveling to outside of Mexico, be it other North American countries or anywhere else. They would then set up a plan and everything was supposed to work. Instead I found that making or receiving calls was hit or miss, working somewhat better in the USA(via T-Mobile) then it did in Canada (via Rogers which is also AT&T). In general, texting was completely frozen and  emails were only available connected to a WiFi hotspot somewhere. It didn't work at all on  my last trip to Europe, admittedly a while ago now. I am afraid I never had the patience to deal with such an obtuse system so I usually used a local sim on my unlocked phone.

AT&T promises a seamless experience while traveling anywhere in North America, they are the largest US carrier and bought out or bought into Rogers, one of Canada's largest providers. When traveling anywhere else where they do not have ownership rights they too revert to the call first before you travel system. I was told this is because they have contractual agreements with other providers in other countries that they need to activate on a case by case basis. They also said they were working on improving that (I wonder if that means they are on the hunt for more M&A in Europe too, like they did with Iusacell/Moviestar here?). So far the new Moto X force I bought with my plan (I paid extra for it of about 4500pesos on their 499 pesos per month plan as I wanted that phone and I use lots of data and needed the extras - the phone is shatterproof and water resistant among other benefits). Their website is www.ATT.com.mx, Spanish only so far, and they are cheekily opening up their offices right next door to the Telcel client service centers downtown. So I would check Laguna's soon to see if one opens there too.

I did compare Telcel service with AT&T before signing at Andares yesterday. AT&T is right beside Telcel at that mall. Telcel has matched all of AT&T rates since they lost the court case that illegally blocked competition and AT&T is the first back into the country, with Sprint and Verizon soon to follow apparently (their phones are already on sale here). Despite Telcel price matching AT&T, you still have to call ahead to use their unlimited international services. Given my past experience with that I am guessing it remains as unreliable and obtuse as ever.

Also, while Telcel have matched the plan prices, they do not offer top of the line smart phones with their plans, for example I mentioned I was interested in a Moto X Force, Nexus 6P or a Samsung Galaxy S6 or the latest Apple, but they did not offer any of these with their plans. They did offer an older version of the Samsung, the S5 with 8Mb, not enough for my needs. Other models were offered that I have never heard of, none of them top of the line. On a 2 year plan they still wanted me to pay about $10,500 pesos for the older Samsung S5. Compare that with what that phone costs on eBay today (US220 aprox, new) and with the top of the line newly released Moto X Force I got for about 4500 pesos on a 2 year plan with AT&T and you can see where Telcel is failing to compete. Newer models were available at Telcel for direct purchase at a significant mark up from what buying one NOB would cost. I expect that too will change soon at Telcel but for now AT&T is offering the better deal. The people I spoke with at Telcel yesterday were decidedly down in the mouth and frustrated by not being able to compete.

The test run of AT&T in GDL is working great so far. I am astounded by the internet velocity and ease of use. I sure never had that experience with Telcel. I will report back as I travel outside of major centers to compare both the Telcel and AT&T performance on highways and in remoter parts of Mexico.

How did the test run turn out for you and did you stick with ATT?

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