How good is the Internet access from the resort? I'll plan on skyping my kids daily instead of calling them (so no funny gestures behind my back!! lol) Just wondering if anyone else has had some experience with this? Is it a fast/reliable connection, or is more suited to email only and I should count on using the phone?
In my experience the internet is ok. It is very hit or miss on where you will get a connection. You can always get a good connection in the lobby area. I'm not sure if the connection is fast enough to skype. It worked well for checking emails and getting onto facebook.
Internet access is limited to the close proximity of the lobby. I was able to get access from my room this last trip, but we were right next to the Paty'O. The internet connection is adequate for email, facebook, and chatting. Skype would probably eat up too much of the limited bandwidth available. The resort charges 15 dollars USD per day for internet access. Our cell phone provider (Sprint) works in Cancun, but the charges were ridiculous.
So if you pay the daily rate for wireless in room, is there adequate bandwidth? If I go the cell route, I would buy a travel pack for my phone plan ($60) and buy a calling card..
The daily rate of $15 you have to share with everyone. There is probably less than a 50% chance the wireless connection will work in your room. We just called to check in with our parents watching our kid. I think you will get good service with all the major U.S. cell providers. The cost is pretty expensive. For 5 nights we paid roughly $90 extra on our next bill. To send a text is like $.25, to recieve a text $.05 and I think it's around $1 per minute to talk on the phone. I'm sure these rates vary, but it will give you a good idea how much it will cost.
I always use skype to call home on. The access is ok, sometimes a bit slow, but overall well enough to not have to use your cell phone.
When we are at TTR we always use the phone cards from the gift shop. It seems to work best for us.:flagcanada:
When I was down in January, I went Telcel and bought a simcard 150 pesos and 1 gig of data good for 1 week 200 pesos. Used in my tablet. I had Internet in my room, on the beach, anywhere. Plus the connection was at least twice as fast as the wifi from the hotel. We were able to skype with the daughter.and the wife her facebook fix. If you have a smartphone with a simcard It's the way to go
