Do I need a SIM card in Mexico?
 

We have the T-mobile phone plan for seniors. We’re going to Mexico in a few days. Will we want to get a SIM card (we have a spare phone) or will our phone plan be adequate? I don’t expect to be making/receiving phone calls from the US but it’s always nice to have service.

I suppose check with your carrier? To see if your specific T mobile plan has a Mexico roaming feature? While you may not need to or want to make or receive calls from the US, having some Mexican data & Mexico calls available can be very helpful. Like for texts & whatsapps from or to businesses, hotels, restaurants etc. And of course data for Uber. And while in the minority, some restaurants only have QR codes to access their menu. And Google maps is very handy, even if you're not driving. I use it often to check not just locations, but store/restaurant/museum hours/reviews etc even if it's not always 100% accurate. My Telcel Mexico plan is only $15 US/month ($299 mxn) and has unlimited whatsapp, Facebook & twitter, 2 gig of data and unlimited calls to US & México. I'm pretty sure you can get a similarly, if not identically, priced plan/sim card at any Telcel shop. They're pretty ubiquitous. The telcel stores & resellers that is. You can also buy one on Amazon US ahead if time, but they're about $35 US.

Our T-Mobile senior plan worked fine in Mexico City and Oaxaca, but we didn't use it much.

Thanks, baldone and Fra.

I’ll call today. I’m not interested in having to make phone calls, but it’s the speed for the data that I’m interested in. We have an extra phone and might just get a SIM card to be on the safe side.

FYI - my T-Mobil plan allowed free calls and texts and worked well for Google maps. When spending the day taking photos with my iPhone and then using it for Google maps or other internet use, I had to make sure to carry a portable charger with me to get through the day. But T-mobil service worked well.

E-sim
 

We have verizon, which offers us a high per minute/data use in Mexico or a plan of US$5 per day used. We opted to buy an e-sim for data for my existing iPhone. It can hold two sims, so I left my US number as my primary for phone calls in case someone tried to reach me and set the second e-sim as my data for uber, google maps, etc. $8 for 1 GB for 7 days, I think. Bought from Airalo. They sell e-sims for many countries and all different combos of voice and data.

I just returned from four months of travel in central Mexico. I choose not to get a special SIM in Mexico, partly in order to enable friends and family members to continue phoning me at the same number that I have been using for decades.

Like the original poster, my cell phone service is a T-Mobile plan for seniors. It costs me about US $45 per month. When I started the plan, I was told that it provided unlimited calls and texting within the USA, Mexico, and Canada. That has proven to be true. Of course, getting unlimited data transfers (instead of a monthly limit) would have cost me a slightly higher fee.

I received and made various calls to the USA from Mexico (and also within Mexico) without difficulty during my trip, and I was able to frequently use e-mail, whatsapp, and youtube on the phone. However, as also occurs in remote spots in the USA, there were some rural locations, such as hiking trails thru canyons, where my phone did not work because those places lacked both cell coverage and local Wi-Fi. Fortunately, cities generally had cellular service and most of the hotels where I stayed, including some cheap ones (less than US $25 per night) had Wi-Fi, as did some restaurants.