Anyone can tell me.... I am going to (manana :roll: ) get my phone line with internet for the studio... and I will probably have to accept a Mexican tenant (so, very legal and very aware of their rights). I would like to prohibit the outgoing calls, but still allow Infinitum. I went to Steren, Gonzalez, Maxicom etc... they don't seem to know or have a device. I have a key on the phone.... they just have to put another one to make their calls. I worry about the debts I will be responsible for Thanks
How about putting the connection box in a lock box. That way you have wires going in and wires coming out but without a key you can't rearrange the connections. Jamie
If your tenant is not someone whom you can trust not to abuse the phone, then how can you trust them at all? As far as I know the ONLY way the Telmex will let you block outgoing calls of any type is with a commercial phone line, otherwise they will not do anything to control the usage from their end. If you truly only want the internet, then you could either use Cablemas internet, or as was said, secure all of the lines so that the only thing connected is the modem, although it would still be easy to "split" it and plug in a phone, which again leads back to the issue that you have to trust whoever you allow to live with you. Further, there is no right that says they can run up a phone bill and not pay just because they live there, unless the phone is in their name. Buying a fancy phone or other device will not stop them from getting a $70 pesos phone at walmart and plugging it in.
Can't you just cancel the long distance service and set the account so the phone won't make calls to cell phones? I know you can do this with Telmex. Then all the tenant could do would be to make local calls. But you should also be requiring that your tenant provide copies each month of the receipts showing the bills are getting paid.
Thanks for your answers. You should know, Life, that trust is.. for friends, but certainly not in business, with someone whom I have never heard of before. It is better to control that "trust". And the phone is what they can abuse most. If they don't pay the electricity, they will remove the meter, and I can withdraw the amount off the deposit. But they can leave a 5 or 10 thousands pesos phone bill before I realize. Telmex are 2 months behind for the long distance calls (the best company in the world!). I cannot get Cablemas, it doesn't reach my apartment. It goes ONLY to the apartment next door :evil: For what I know I cannot cancel the long distance calls, it is what Telmex makes more money with. They invented (?) a service called Multifon, where people had to pay with a card to make any call. I got one, and my previous idiot tenant didn't feed it so they canceled the service, and as they didn't make enough money they canceled that kind of line. There was no rent to pay, it was great for the owner. No debt possible! But no more Multifon!!! Not sure how I can lock a box at the connection. :?
For the lock box at the connection, any small steel box would do. Like those little receipt boxes whose lid is hinged and has some sort of lock on it... wish I could draw on here... anyway you cut a hole in the back to fit over the wall outlet and one on the side to allow the cable connection to come out. Then you screw it to the wall and lock it so you have the locked box with a cable wire coming out. Make sense or should I go hunting for pictures? You should see my hands, they are making all kinds of pictures in the air and it's hard to type while you are doing that. Jamie
My neighbor informs me that you CAN get cell phones blocked on a residential line, however, he doesn't know about long distance. I do know of at least two occasions where friends tried to have long distance blocked and telmex refused. The second was told it was only an option on commercial phone lines. As for RiverGirl's friends, is it possible that after numerous disputes with telmex about long distance bills that they had their long distance service disabled as "punishment" maybe? Also, if your next door neighbor DOES have cablemas perhaps you could arrange to have a line run to your house and get the internet on their bill or some other similar arrangement...
I got the info yesterday that now you can get an internet connection with a cell. Not sure yet how it works, but a friend confirmed me they received a message from Telcel about that service. I will know more tomorrow, that would solve my headaches. :lol: I will cancel my order with Telmex. I hope that can help many of you in the same boat on this board.
