Cellphone service for US and Mexico

This morning I called Verizon from the US at 1-800-256-4646 and asked some questions about a cellphone service that we will try when we next go back to Mexico. It's called North America's Choice and for $59.95 a month, you get 450 minutes plus 1000 evening/weekend minutes.

This works in the US and in many parts of Mexico. It works in Canada too, but I don't know if it is all or just part.

I had the guy check my town of Bernal, and hooray, it's on the list. He mentioned that Ezequial Montes, the county seat and a pretty gringo-free town is also on the list. It's evidently done through a Mexican cellphone company that I hadn't heard of down there, called Lusacell.

This means that our family and friends will be able to phone us at a US number and talk to us without roaming charges. And we will be able to call them the same way, and without long distance charges up to our time limits.

Is that cool or what? Having just spent hours on the phone recently catching up with family members, both Kelly and I are very pleased that we'll be in closer touch after this.

The plan does not include a phone but the man who helped me said that you should get a kind of phone called a tri-mode, as there is a lot of analog in Mexico. He said that we'll be able to tell by a little triangular indicator whether we are in fact in a place where no roaming charges apply ("extended") or in a place where we'd have to pay, ugh, 69 cents a minute roaming ("roaming").

I didn't think to ask if there is a time period you sign up for.

If you look into this, the man I spoke with is named Robert and his extension is 8497. I asked if he works on commission and he said yes. He did a good job of informing me, so I can recommend him. Years ago, I worked on commission so I am always careful about this... but I won't be signing up myself for several months. Alas. We have both had our moments of homesickness lately.