I bought a Telcel prepaid cell phone. I have some questions, I would appreciate someone who knows answering: How do you check how much credit is left on the phone? Are there more than one way to do this? like on the phone or online? How do you buy credit? do you always have to go to some store or there is some other way? Are incoming calls free?! Any other tips about getting more out of this service?
There will be posters who've made a fetish of understanding the issues with the "Amigo" plan, just as I have with the billing system used by the CFE!, and they will be able to tell you far more than I; but, How do you check how much credit is left on the phone? I always check by dialing "asterisk, 133, pound sign". How do you buy credit? There are probably others ways, but since I'm often in OXXO anyway on other missions, and there is no commission, I find that amply convenient. Are incoming calls free?! In my experience, yes, including multiple calls from the U.S. and Africa.
Thanks for the info, V. I was hoping there is a better way to check how much credit is left, as I hate listening to the recorded Spanish menus. Getting that info by dialing a number is never fun, even in English. Free incoming calls is nice. I was gonna get the phone from Unefon first, but changed my mind. Their rate of 1 peso per minute obviously blows telcel, but I don't currently plan on using the phone for phone calls much anyway so didn't care about that. I keep wondering why telcel seems to be more popular than unefon when telcel is much more expensive. maybe incoming calls aren't free on unefon?! I bought the phone from Telcel mainly because I thought it would have better coverage in more remote areas, but most people probably wouldn't care about that if they don't get out of the city.
You're welcome, and you're in luck, the info you want will appear on the screen, showing just how much credit, and gifted credit you have left (your total credit will be the combination of the two). You won't have to listen to a thing! I always buy 500 pesos of credit at a time, because I then get an additional 400 units of credit as a bonus. With this much credit, it's easy for me to go beyond the 60 days of validity they give on this size purchase. Buying an additional 50 pesos of credit gives me another 30 days, and I can repeat this process as often as necessary until I've used up all of the initial (900) credit; at which time I plop down another 500 pesos. It works for me, but others may have found a better way! For people who don't spend a lot of time on the phone, the whole thing seems incredibly cheap. Those 500 pesos last for several months, with my volume of usage (typically, a few short calls a day, plus text messages, which are next to free).
If you dial *333 and send, it calls an automatic system and you cage change the language I THINK with option 3. I gives you your total credit left and 2 gives you a breakdown of the credit.
Incoming calls from the US are free but not to the caller. A few years ago Telcel made this happen by requiring to dial 011-521 before the 10 digit number. Before it was 011-52, the 011 being the international access code from the US and the 52 being the country code for Mexico. I believe incoming calls are not free if you are roaming outside the local calling area. You are charged as a long distance call.
You might be right, but have you got some reason to believe that, T.J., if we're talking about the Telcel Amigo plan? So far as I can see there has never been a charge against my phone for incoming calls of any kind, including those from the U.S. and Africa, and that's about as far from the calling area as you can get! However, the same is not true for my sister, when I call her from Mexico! But, then she's got a U.S. based plan, rather than an Amigo plan, and in some ways they are sometimes not so generous. My Amigo plan phone allows me to roam, even internationally- at a higher cost per minute of course....
I have called a Telcel phone with a Cancun number, when my friend was in Cabo and she said it was costing her money because SHE was roaming. I am only speaking of cell calls originating in Mexico while the recipient is roaming outside the home area. She is NOT on a plan but I assume this hours for plans as well.
TJ is correct... when you are roaming, you are charged for incoming calls. On a few occasions when my husband has run out of credit while he's in Yucatan and I'm in Cancun, my calls will not go through until he puts more money in. We always have to keep our conversations short so it doesn't eat up his credit. Although I don't believe I am charged for any incoming calls (local or otherwise) when I'm in the Cancun area.
You may be right, G, about the charge on incoming calls, but this example doesn't show that; instead, it talks about what happens when he has no credit on his account, and the account is therefore shut down. Can you offer another example? As for being charged when roaming, it hasn't been my experience, even when receiving calls from abroad.
