When you travel to Mexico, you will take your cell phone. If it is too old or too simple, there is a risk that it will not work on the networks of Mexican cellular operators.
In the image below — mobile phone Nokia 230, model 2015. It is still sold in online stores and is relatively inexpensive. The problem with this and similar phones — they only work on 2G network. Meanwhile, most Mexican cellular operators abandoned 2G back in 2019. The last one to stop servicing the 2G network in 2020 was the largest of them — Telcel. The coronavirus epidemic forced the operator to postpone its plans, but not abandon them. The 2G standard will cease to exist in Mexico in 2021, and with it, mobile phones that only work on such a network will become useless.
What do you need from mobile communications abroad? Most often — mobile Internet to make calls and send messages via instant messengers. Tariff basis for Mexican mobile operators — besides this, mobile Internet, not calls. Voice minutes are most often not charged or limited at all.
Telcel— not the cheapest operator, although it has good unlimited packages and the widest coverage nationwide. With an old mobile phone, use the services of other operators — Movistar, AT&T or Unefon are not possible, they do not support the 2G network. The phone is simply not able to register in the networks of these operators. And if you brought your operator's SIM card to use while roaming, it may also be useless.
Of course, your phone will work on Wi-Fi networks, and you can make calls and send messages from your hotel room or cafe. But take advantage of, say, Unefon's unlimited package for 10 pesos per day (read thispublication) will not work. Unefon distributes its SIM cards without payment, although at authorized points they are issued with a minimum top-up of 70 pesos.
It will be great if your phone works on 3G, 4G or 4.5G networks. All Mexican cellular operators support these networks and can offer high data speeds.
The SIM card must also be able to work in 4G and higher networks. Older, regular-sized cards may not support new data transfer formats. Modern SIM cards of micro and nano sizes do not have this drawback.