Thursday, January 5, 2017

4G in Mexico? Where?

We're trying to spend as much time in Mexico this winter as possible.  We need to get back soon but hopefully after the most recent snow melts.  Until then, we continue to search for the elusive 4G - LTE that each network claims.  Our last trip was along the Pacific coast and we're currently  on the Baja peninsula.  In both locations, all 3 major carriers claim "4G - LTE Coverage," but we're just not finding much.  There was a small town south of Puerto Vallarta (Boca Tomatlan) where Telcel gave us a solid 4G - LTE signal, and a short stretch of 4G in Cabo San Lucas on AT&T.  Otherwise, those G's remain elusive.

Another change is that the Cricket phone we carried no longer roams on TelCel.  If it loses the AT&T signal it will roam on Movistar or "Emergency Calls Only."  We will assume a US-based AT&T phone will react similarly.  What's cute is how they have changed the name of the networks to include "4G", even when no 4G is available.  AT&T phones (US and Mexican models) occasionally roam on "Iusacel 4G", but that's AT&T's own network.  Some phones appear on "Telcel 4G", but it shows HSPA (as "H") as the technology, which is 3G at best.  3G is good enough, but if our limited observations are any measure, they have a long way to go to providing good, really high-speed broadband coverage.

The reason it's a big deal is that so many resorts have yet to install good wi-fi that can handle all of their guests' demands.  I had no idea how many devices are trying to connect to wi-fi until I looked at user reports and found hundreds of devices trying to use a single wi-fi site.  I thought I could hide from the neighbors by using cellular data, but it looks like they're thinking the same thing.  Escaping to the beach improves the attitude...but not the signal...and that's OK, too.


1 comment:

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