Stupid Cell Phone law going into effect....

@Jim: I have my dads last name, as my mom changed hers when she married him (If I have the correct idea about the meaning of "maiden name" that is...)

But no, they didnt accept it, so thats why the said to use my wife`s name for both phones.

 

I've had a battle here with trying NOT to use my mother's maiden name. It's not part of my legal name in any way at all. It appears on my birth certificate but on no other forms of ID I've ever held.

So when the ISSSTE wanted to insist that I use it in my registration I had to fight with them to get them to realize that it is not part of my legal name. But they did accept that after I showed them my passport and (then) my FM3, both of which have my full legal name on them.

I was careful with INM to make sure the name they put on my FM3/FM2 matched my passport exactly. I don't want to have my mother's maiden name appear anywhere because I don't have ID to support it.

My CURP uses my married name, which is my legal last name. And I have X's where the second last name's letters would appear.

Imho the smartest thing to do here is to use your proper legal name, as it appears on your passport, and use only that. If you do anything else or vary from that you could end up needing to show ID to support that variation of your name, and in my mind that is asking for trouble in this country where people are so uptight about bureaucratic details.

 

@RG: So far I have only used my legal name as its shown on the passport, Swedish I.D card, FM3 and drivers license(both Swedish and Mexican) - no probs what so ever

But for some reason Telcel(well, the Government I guess?) didnt accept it for my registration...


I do get the odd comment every now and then regarding the lack of multiple names, but people mostly giggle and smile

My CURP also has the X`s...

 

So how come you couldn't register with your CURP? I don't get it. Maybe Telcel is just managed by imbeciles...there would be more surprising things than that.

 

@RG: They said that "You do not have a second last name"...

My wife argued with them about it, trying to explain that I ONLY have ONE last name(my dads..) - "Nope, impossible."

 

Rawkus: It doesn't matter what your legal name is wherever you are from. Here is my example:
1.- my name: James Robert Wehrle
2.- Father's name: Robert C. Wehrle
2.- Mother's Name: Ruth K. Pranger Wehrle or if you prefer Ruth K. Wehrle nee Pranger
3.- My legal name in Mexico is James Robert Wehrle Pranger on driver's license, CURP, RFC, Passport, deeds, bank accounts, utility bills, etc.

Of course you can fight and argue and maybe "win" but I didn't come here to change the whole country so I usually go with the flow and try to pick my battles. "when in Rome.................."

 

@Jim: I see your point, but I'm not the lady on the other end of the phone, denying my registration

And obviously I didn't "win" since I couldn't register the phone in my name :icon_wink:

So yeah, "when in Rome" this time was to follow what the deciding lady on the other end of the phone said, wouldn't you agree?

Note that I have never had any previous issues with any of my identification "cards"(visa, license etc.) while being here in Mex.

 

Online registration

Registering my cell phones online turned out to be fast and simple, using the CURP. My thanks again to all who called this to our attention, and pointed out how to get it done.

(Sorry, Rawkus, for the difficulties you encountered: maybe it's easier to deal with mindless computers than real people! The computer didn't seem to mind that I don't have a second apellido, and it'll probably like your CURP, too.)

 

Do you know that consulting your credit online NOW costs 1 peso??? Good surprise of the day!!!!

I have a signal, so I am going to use it quickly, although I have no idea how to dial an American number from a Telcel cell phone (with Amigo card), being in the US. I tried dialing 001 before the number, it doesn't work. Any idea? TJ for example? Thanks.

 

A friend who owns a condo here and lives here part time on an FMT was able to register her cell phone. She told me that she only showed a US driver's license as ID, she didn't show her passport. She did have to register her phone in a TelCel office.

JenLieb - I've dialed US numbers from my Mexican phone while in the US and I just dialed the way I would a land line there. So if the call is out of state it would be 1 + areacode + number. If it's a local number you ought to be able to just dial the 7 digit number. Just don't think about how much Carlos Slim is going to make off you...