In addition to fixed-line internet access and mobile data plans for your smart phone, you can also purchase wireless internet service for your home use in Mexico. This is useful if the area where you live is not well-served by fixed line services or you want a back-up internet service in case your landline service goes down temporarily.
What is wireless home internet?
Wireless home internet is not a new technology: it combines cellular data signals with a special modem that creates a WiFi signal in your home or office. You need to purchase a special modem and sign-up for a plan to access internet in this way.
The modem comes with a SIM card (like the type used in your mobile phone) but you won’t have a cellular telephone number people can dial. When you power-up your modem, it automatically picks-up the cellular data mobile signal and then creates a local WiFi network for you to access in your home in the same way that a landline-based modem does.
What wireless home internet offers
Customers purchase a special modem from AT&T or Telcel, and then take-up a monthly plan which ranges from $300 pesos to $800 pesos a month (about US$15-$40) depending on the download speed and amount of data you require per month. Check the companies’ websites for package details and coverage areas (links below).
Opportunities and limitations
Wireless home internet offers some opportunities to consumers, as well as limitations in comparison to landline-based internet services:
Opportunities
- If the area where your home or work place is situated does not have a telephone line or cable service installed, you can use wireless home internet to provision a high-speed internet service there, in a similar way that you can enjoy high speed internet with a landline-based service like Telmex’s Infinitum/Macronet or Izzi’s internet cable service
- Some areas in Mexico –especially rural areas– may lack physical telephone line infrastructure and/or have waiting lists for physical phone lines to be provisioned, preventing you from getting a landline and thus high-speed internet. If cellular data coverage is available in that area, this situation need not be a limitation anymore as you can enjoy high speed internet without the physical landline
- If you rely on internet for work, then a wireless home internet service could provide a useful fallback in the event that your landline-based internet provider suffers a service fault. Note that wireless home internet modems, like all others, rely on a steady electricity supply, so you may need to couple it with a back-up battery to continue having internet during power cuts
- If you work in a team that travels frequently, you might use wireless home internet to set-up WiFi hot-spots on-the-fly in places served by a cellular data network. (The modem ‘detects’ where it is first activated and there is fee to change the location of the wireless modem, so if you intend to use it this way, or move house, note that additional costs will apply.)
Limitations
- This is not a telephone service in the traditional sense, so you’re not given a phone number people can dial, nor a physical landline supporting the service.
- While the 5Mbps to 10Mbps is a decent-enough download speed for most people, it’s limited in comparison to landlines which can now deliver download speeds of 50Mbps or higher in many places. Note that in Mexico’s rural areas, where this service could be particularly useful, download speeds don’t tend to be higher than 10Mbps.
- Wireless cellular data signals are subject to atmospheric conditions, so service levels could fluctuate significantly during Mexico’s rain season and other natural phenomena like wind storms and hurricanes.
- Telephone lines are generally more stable than cellular data signals, and when you purchase a landline telephony package you get a telephone number as well as free telephone calls to most countries around the world included in the price of your monthly plan. Cable services also offer TV options, and Telmex bundles free access to thousands of its public WiFi hot-spots situated around the country as part of its home internet package. If you used only a wireless home service for internet, you would give-up these additional benefits landline services offer
- Landline services offer unlimited data downloads; and while some wireless home internet services are marketed with ‘unlimited data usage’ they need to add fair use limitation clauses to their terms to protect the integrity of their cellular networks. The fair use data limit will probably suffice for most domestic users; however, if you use the internet a lot for data-heavy applications, for example, if you stream a lot of movies or your work involves data-heavy applications or graphics work, you might reach your data limit before the end of each monthly billing cycle
- While cellular data is widespread (and improving) across Mexico, it’s not available everywhere and where it is, service levels will be subject to local demand. During periods of peak local demand in your area (for example, if you live near a soccer stadium or concert hall, or in a rural town that receives hordes of visitors at weekends) your internet speed is likely to be affected when the number of active users situated inside your local ‘cell’ increases.
- Internet in Mexico via satellite services is becoming less expensive, offers considerably faster speeds that wireless home internet modems, and does not restrict your total bandwidth per month as home internet modem plans tend to.
How to obtain wireless home internet in Mexico
The service should be available anyplace where mobile data signals exist.
If you don’t have good cellphone coverage in your area, or the cellphone companies don’t offer this home Wi-Fi service in your area, you can consider using a satellite internet service.
- Details of AT&T’s wireless home internet can be found here.
- Details of Telcel’s wireless home internet can be found here.
Visit the websites to find out more about the services and coverage or call-in to a local sales and service center near your home to ask for details.
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Had Telcel internet here in Costalegre area. Gave it up because of its limited bandwidth which had little access and SLOW speeds when the tourists were here for weekends or holidays. Now I use StarGo satellite dish for internet only@ 10 mbps for 959 pesos/month. It’s reliable except for cloudy weather with rain.
Will Telcel wireless home produce an Utility Bill (Comprobante) that can be used for proof of address? gracias
We have had a VPN router for at least 5 years and, generally, know how to make it work with telmex. We have a telcel en casa modem as a backup. Cannot get the VPN router to work with it. It broadcasts a signal but no internet. We can turn on the VPN on our phones and the VPN will function. Bit of a longshot but do you have any insight into why the VPN router isn’t functioning when connected to the telcel modem. Thanks.
I would not buy the Telcel MiFi product for the simple reason that they lock you into a 24 month plan. The SIM card is locked to the modem and the modem only has 12 months warranty. I have a ElTel modem, 20 months in it no longer works. I’m stuffed, cannot put SIM card in another device and contract has not got long enough to do anything useful
Hello Mexperience – does TelMex offer Prepaid Internet Service? If so, do you have any details e.g. can you do self-installation, how much does it cost to get started, how much is the monthly service?
Hi Tony,
You can get details of the packages by following the links in the article above. The service is self-installed and requires you to sign a contract of at least 12 months, depending on the region. Services are offered by Telcel and AT&T, not Telmex (Telmex offers fixed line services).
I was in an ATT office in Ajijic yesterday, and was told by an agent that ATT Mexico is getting out of wireless internet (Internet en Casa) and is no longer supporting it. I was there to ask if my lousy service (between zero and three MB/second) could be fixed, since I’m paying for up to 10 MB/sec.
Has anyone else heard this? I can’t find anything on Google.
I’ve signed up for fibre-optic with a local company (Ilox Communications) but it will be three to four months before it can be installed.
Hello Ron, thank you for your note and comment about this. As of now, AT&T continue to offer their “Internet en casa” product, but we will check into this and monitor it: if they exit the market, we’ll be sure to update the information about that.
In regard to the wireless service speeds: the “contention ratios” (the number of people feeding-off a ‘cell’ vis-a-vis the physical capacity of that ‘cell’) always determines the amount of bandwidth (speed) available. So a lack of physical infrastructure capacity in your local ‘cell’, or an increase in the number of people using that cell [either customers using the modem service or travelers using their mobile phones for data on that cell] –or a combination of these–, will impact the service level [Mbps/sec] you get.
If you absolutely rely on internet (e.g. for work) a fiber optic line into your home is by far the best solution, with the modem service kept as a backup in case of service failure on your fiber.
Is this in baja california too. Los Algodones
hello my name is Anthony Lee and this is question! I live in comanja de corona and i need to know where i can get a at&t modem for my home
Can you help me?
Hi Anthony — connect to the AT&T/Telcel websites (links in the article) and you can find your nearest lcoal distributor that way.
My house is in San Felipe, B.C. To get a good signal an antenna is required. I have now the antenna and cables. All I need now is a telcel modem with a SMA input connector. Can I buy one and have it delivered to my house in Palm Desert?
Just remember that living in the boonies may imply risks from the local narcos. Keep your nose clean is a good idea but that doesn’t mean that they may not take an unhealthy interest in you.
This past October, my wife and I spent two weeks in Tulum, then we flew to Guadalajara and then drove to Chapala. We spent a couple of weeks looking for a house to purchase. We spent a lot of time in the Chapala-Ajijic-Jocotepec area with shopping trips to Costco/Sams Club, Tonala Market and Tlapuepaque Market. We used our Verizon “unlimited data plan” without any additional charges. I now can say that because the second bill has arrived. We used our WIFI, Hotspots, Texting, Internet Searches, Google Maps and our calling was via internet calling…again no additional charges. I can’t say that we ever violated the “fair use policy” just because we didn’t stream Netflix or the like. Overall performance was more than we needed through out the areas of Mexico that we traveled.
And Yes, we did find more than we were expecting in Ajijic.
What did you mean “more than we were expecting Mike?” In a good way?
We currently use our AT&T phone plan from the US, while we’re living here in Mexico. After reading your article, I called AT&T to find out more information about their Wireless Home Internet service here in Mexico and the lady claimed it isn’t available. Is there a different number I need to be calling, or how exactly are you setting this up?
Hi,
Any plan you take on in Mexico will be separate to your US plan. The service does exist — check the link in the article above to AT&T that will take you to the service information page online. You need to visit an AT&T service center in Mexico and talk with a representative in person. They will explain the service and you can also pick-up the modem you need to use the service from the service center.
Also: Consider Telcel’s service as well. (Same procedure: visit a Telcel service center.) Depending on where you are, Telcel might have better coverage. The price for the service is virtually identical from both companies.
Is this in the Lake Chapala area yet. Sounds great!
Yes, I’m using it just east of Chapala, great option.
Which company has the fastest, most reliable internet service in Hacienda De La Labor?
I didn’t know this was an option. We use Megacable. I wonder how good the service really is? We have At&t here in Uruapan. I wonder if this is available here?