Connecting your Telcel phone to TotalPlay wifi

I have never gotten a good Telcel signal in my house. My cell phone automatically used the Telmex wifi available from its modem. Since a week ago Monday, my Telmex modem has been out of service. Even my i.d.i.o.t phone won't work when plugged directly into the wall which is my usual back up when the Telmex internet is down. So, for the last week, I've had no phone whatsoever except for the voip from TotalPlay.

Yesterday, I kinda gave up on Telmex even though I have a work order in place and was told it would be fixed in four days. Famous last words that I am getting so tired of hearing. When I unplugged the Telmex modem, all of a sudden, my cell phone started offering other choices to connect to via wifi. One of them was my TotalPlay modem wifi. Got connected in less than five minutes and the signal is STRONG... modem is at the front of my house and I was in the bathroom at the back of my house to receive a phone call. Clear and without static.

Since I've had TotalPlay for two months (along with iLox and Telmex), I cannot say enough good things about them. The iLox wifi signal never was great and got weaker as you moved away from the modem. Telmex is, well, Telmex. Still acting as if they are the only game in town and that anything that goes wrong must be the customer's fault not theirs. It's always been a problem on their end for the record. I get an e-mail within five minutes from TotalPlay when I pay my account at Oxxo saying "Thank you for your payment". Wow! Customer appreciation in full swing. Telmex can't even get their downloadable bills available the day before they are due.

I have used Telmex for 27 years in Mexico, never had a problem with them until we moved here in 2012. I'm done. Buhbye Telmex. I've already dumped iLox.

I get very strong Total Play wi-fi on our phone, too. And overall very happy with Total Play.

Still have ILOX and TelMex. Our TelMex which was capped at 5mg when we moved to this house, now runs at 30mg consistently.

We will probably drop ILOX before we drop TelMex because TelMex serves as great proof of residence. The TelMex account is in my name, and CFE in spouse's name. CFE would not let us put account in joint names (years ago that was OK at another house here).

To qualify for Capital Gains exclusion, it appears that notarios still want proof of a utility account for each owner of a property.

I can’t understand Telmex’s lack of service when the competition they now have has to be noticed by them. My AT&T cel phone gets no signal at my house and I will eventually get Total Play after waiting 6 different full days for them to show up when they first appeared on the scene. I got a bunch of smart asses then but now they might be hungrier. It will be nice to get better speed for my Clear Choice tv stations.

The Telmex modem never gave me more than 15 mbps down and 3 up. For that, I have been paying 599 pesos per month. I am done with being taken advantage of. I started out with TotalPlay's lowest speed of 50 mbps down and 20 up for 528 pesos per month. There is a discount for early payment. I just bumped it up to 100 mbps down and 40 up for an extra 100 pesos a month.
I am tickled pink with TotalPlay.

Carry Bean... if you want a really good laugh, you should know that both the employees in the iLox office have TotalPlay. They said that they have passed on numerous complaints from customers who are cancelling (and those that still have iLox) but management isn't listening.
Both Telmex and iLox need to start paying attention to their customers. Sooner rather than later.

Our TelMex remains at 389 per month since we started at this house in 2017.

That is the level I was hoping to get to with Telmex. They just don't tell you what is the LOWEST price you can pay for service in your area.
We had the 999 peso package on the coast so that's what I asked for when we moved here. They allowed me to continue to pay 999 pesos even when that was no longer available here. That is lying by omission. They should have informed us. No more, I'm done with them.

I live kind of close to the Telmex office in Ajijic. I'm at the top of Juarez. All I know is that living close to the Telmex office makes a great difference. My Telephone line is almost never out and my internet is about 45 Mb/sec down by 10 up and I pay Telmex $499 per month for the service.

I guess it is the location and the quality of the wiring between you and Telmex that makes the difference. I guess I am just lucky that I live near Telmex and that I have a good connection :)

“Carry Bean... if you want a really good laugh, you should know that both the employees in the iLox office have TotalPlay. They said that they have passed on numerous complaints from customers who are cancelling (and those that still have iLox) but management isn't listening.
Both Telmex and iLox need to start paying attention to their customers. Sooner rather than later.”

So you can keep your phone with Total Play and dump Telmex COMPLETELY? Does Total Play have an office? I’m tired of dealing with the snotty punks I interacted with when they were new. I’d love to completely do away with Telmex. I thought Telmex would require me to keep a basic service.

You don't get to keep your Telmex landline number. If you get TotalPlay, it provides you with a voip number and you plug your old style phone into the back of the modem. Mine is a Vtech (Dect. 6.0) which requires electricity to operate. I tried plugging in my idiot phone but there is a lot of static. The Vtech works flawlessly.
You will still need to pay Telcel for your cell phone service BUT you can switch the wifi on it to use the TotalPlay modem wifi to make and receive cell phone calls maintaining your cell phone number.
The other perk that TotalPlay has is a TotalPlay app that you can use on your cell phone to turn your cell phone into the same voip number as your totalplay "landline" so your landline now follows you when you're out and about with your cellphone. I doubt if I'll use it but I do have the app on my cellphone if and when I want to use it.
My biggest fear has always been having an electricity outage and no way to communicate. That's why I liked my idiot phone set up but, since that is no longer working with Telmex, I see no point in keeping Telmex.
I have a small Jackery rechargeable (at wall or by portable solar panel) generator which will keep ALL my electronics going for many hours. Now it's a simple thing to put it on my desk and plug ONE plug into it and all my electronics and communications will be up and running in less than five minutes. That ONE plug is a surge bar that has my computer, my Vtech phone and my TotalPlay modem plugged into it. The cell phone can charge from the laptop as before.
As part of my arsenal, I also have three rechargeable lights and a rechargeable fan. Murphy's Law.

https://www.totalplay.com.mx/
The contact numbers are at the bottom of the page. Use the 800-510-0510 because it offers English by pushing 9 after connecting.
Also, I do not have their TV... only Internet which includes the phone line.

Yeah, I’m not interested in the TV option. I’m satisfied with Clear Choice. I think I”ll just downgrade from the Telmex 599 peso plan as low as I can go to keep the phone line. I am not wild about putting all my eggs in one basket. My AT&T cel phone doesn’t work at my house 99.9% of the time.

Thanks so much for all the info. I’ll cal the 800 number you listed next week. I hope they’ll show up this time.

The last time I checked, the basic charge for Telmex to include internet, it only $389 per month or at 20 pesos per US dollar is only about $19.50 US per month.

And with that plan, you can phone most numbers in the US for free, I don't know about Canada. But whether the internet is good or bad, the price is  so low, I would keep it in almost every case.

In my case, living close to the Telmex Office, I have, at $499 per month about 45Mb/sec down by about 10 up. And that is all I need. I guess it all depends upon the quality of the telephone lines between your house and Telmex, and the lines must be good to my house,. because everything works great  :)

 

oops, looks like I posted about the same subject twice. Sorry about that :)

Carry Bean, when and if you get TotalPlay, I'll come over and see if we can connect your AT&T cell phone to your totalplay modem's wifi so you can get service inside your house.

ferret wrote:Carry Bean, when and if you get TotalPlay, I'll come over and see if we can connect your AT&T cell phone to your totalplay modem's wifi so you can get service inside your house.

Good plan. I’m not the best at this stuff. Thank you. Oh, and then you can meet my new tripod dog, Cali. Got her from the Ranch and she’s a real love.

I've lived in Mexico for 20 years and never had a Telmex account. Back when I was renting, I never rented anyplace that already had a Telmex hookup, so I just used my cell phone (old school dumbphone at that point) and could do my computer work at my shop, where I just paid the guys next door at Prisa paint to suck off their signal.

Then I bought a lot and had my house built, but there are no phone lines out to my area, so no Temex modem possible- I continued with the same scenario.
Then I had a workshop built on my property and gave up my shop in town. So I had to use cell-based internet, as nothing else was available, which was metered and expensive.

Luckily another Wifi provider set up here in Sayulita, about a year ago, so I signed up with him and hisWifi is quite reliable. If he has a problem, he whatsapps all his clients to tell them he is going to be working on the system, so it will be out or spotty from XX time to XX time tomorrow. It's great service. Costs me 550 pesos month and my neighbor and I share it, so it only costs me half that.

I don't know if Total Play works in my area, but I don't watch TV, so I can't see what use it would be to me, anyway.
But it's cool that it's proving to be a great upgrade to you folks Lakeside who have had so much trouble with Telmex and Ilox.

ferret wrote:
The other perk that TotalPlay has is a TotalPlay app that you can use on your cell phone to turn your cell phone into the same voip number as your totalplay "landline" so your landline now follows you when you're out and about with your cellphone.\

On a similar note with TelMex, you can forward all calls to your TelMex landline to your cell phone; we keep our TelMex on forwarding all the time. There is no cost to do this, btw.

Doesn't TotalPlay port over your existing phone number like Ilox does? I still have my same telmex phone number with my Ilox account.

No, totalplay does not port your Telmex phone number like iLox.

My next problem is trying to get my Enphase system to report. It was hooked up wirelessly to the Telmex modem. Oy vey. My eyes just glazed over reading the instructions. I need a coffee.

ferret wrote:No, totalplay does not port your Telmex phone number like iLox.

My next problem is trying to get my Enphase system to report. It was hooked up wirelessly to the Telmex modem. Oy vey. My eyes just glazed over reading the instructions. I need a coffee.

You can absolutely port your Telmex number to TotalPlay.  I just did it three weeks ago.  Go to the TotalPlay website, create an account, then login and go to Mi Cuenta.  You'll see an option on the left side of the screen saying "Portabilidad".  Follow the instructions.

So then.....do you think you can port over the phone number from Ilox to TotalPlay?

Thank you Casi Nada! I will be looking into that... right after I finish doing this... https://support.enphase.com/s/article/Reconnecting-your-Envoy-ManualWifi

So, this is what popped up when I followed casi nada's information...
"You do not have portability".
Still not giving up though and I will call the 800 number to request further information.

Okay. My envoy is back on line and connected to the totalplay wifi. I'm standing in the bathroom closet with a portable light source, my laptop and various other pieces of information that were needed.
The instructions were excellent. Can I come out of the closet now?

About that portability of number... yes you can port Telmex, iLox and Telcel. I called TotalPlay help line 800-510-0510 then pressed 9 for English. The line you wish to port must be active and you dial 051 from the line you want to port and they will give you the NIP # needed to port it. The automated response on the 051 number is fast Spanish so, IF you plan on doing this, ask the TotalPlay installer to do it for you.
I can't do it because my Telmex line is dead. No biggee since people mostly contact me via cellphone, whatsapp, message and e-mail.
In the case of your business, CBob, I think the number may be of major importance. So, please call the totalplay help line to confirm the information I've just given you above.

Thanks. I'm thinking of switching to TotalPlay as the speed with Ilox is continually up and down. They have been good with connection and service though. I'm just waiting a while longer to ensure TotalPlay doesn't go the same way.......

Also, what are the payment options with them?