how to stop my phone from roaming even when im still in the US?

[Omarc44]

Hii well i have an iphone 4s my wife has a samsung skyrocket and my son has a bb torch and we moved to san ysidro california which is close to the mexican border and at home all of our phones are displaying "TELCEL MX" and we always get a message saying "welcome to mexico and it gives us instructions to call back to the US etc.. its frustating i have gone to network settings on the 3 phones and choose at&t and only get 1 little bar of service on at&t then it automatically switches to TELCEL MX and get 3-4 bars on the mexican telcel network. And the thing is we dont have a house phone so we have to rely on cellphones we only used them a couple of times when we really needed to and it worked but im sure they charged us $1.99 the minute is there anything i can do? or should i just cancel it and go into TJ which i have done a few times and buy a mexican cellphone? also will i have to pay ETF if i only been on my contract 12 days?? i had at&t service for 12 days if i knew i would be roaming i would have never signed up with them.. thnkz

[JFizDaWiz]

Call att and block it

[stufried]

On some of these phones, you can manually lock the network to ATT.  If you call customer service you can usually get them to remove the bleed-over roaming charges if you don't call all the time.  You might also be able to persuade ATT to comp you for a Microcell (wifi picocell for your house) under these circumstances.

If you live near an international border, you have to watch out for this problem. Most customers hate the problem, but it does have the advantage of also meaning that you usually can wander several miles South of the Border without roaming as well. 

PS:  If you live that close to the border, consider buying a ATT GoPhone for the family and topping it up.  For some strange reason, GoPhones work in Mexico for $0.25 a minute and contract phones cost much more.  Telcel would be cheaper by the minute, but you'd have a Mexican number and calls to the States may be long distance.  (I seem to remember that they may have a special rule/price for that little corner of California). 

[angelb07]

Yes you have to call the customer service of your plan and have them block it otherwise you'll be charged for this roaming service

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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stufried wrote:

On some of these phones, you can manually lock the network to ATT.  If you call customer service you can usually get them to remove the bleed-over roaming charges if you don't call all the time.  You might also be able to persuade ATT to comp you for a Microcell (wifi picocell for your house) under these circumstances.

If you live near an international border, you have to watch out for this problem. Most customers hate the problem, but it does have the advantage of also meaning that you usually can wander several miles South of the Border without roaming as well. 

PS:  If you live that close to the border, consider buying a ATT GoPhone for the family and topping it up.  For some strange reason, GoPhones work in Mexico for $0.25 a minute and contract phones cost much more.  Telcel would be cheaper by the minute, but you'd have a Mexican number and calls to the States may be long distance.  (I seem to remember that they may have a special rule/price for that little corner of California). 

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this is correct, the phone's reciever will lock on to what ever cell tower is broadcasting the strongest signal in the area that you are in. Not saying that the att towers are lower power just might be that those "other towers" have their transmitters dialed up in power, after all they are not under the FCC regulations that govern transmitt / recieve levels. Unfortunately you will run into this issue with any carrier that you use.

It also happens up near the canadian border, not just near the mexician border

As mentioned you can either call to disable roaming or disable it at the phone level if you have it, just remember that when a case occurs that you do have to raom legitimately then the call will fail or drop.

[G6x]

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Omarc44 wrote:
Hii well i have an iphone 4s my wife has a samsung skyrocket and my son has a bb torch and we moved to san ysidro california which is close to the mexican border and at home all of our phones are displaying "TELCEL MX" and we always get a message saying "welcome to mexico and it gives us instructions to call back to the US etc.. its frustating i have gone to network settings on the 3 phones and choose at&t and only get 1 little bar of service on at&t then it automatically switches to TELCEL MX and get 3-4 bars on the mexican telcel network. And the thing is we dont have a house phone so we have to rely on cellphones we only used them a couple of times when we really needed to and it worked but im sure they charged us $1.99 the minute is there anything i can do? or should i just cancel it and go into TJ which i have done a few times and buy a mexican cellphone? also will i have to pay ETF if i only been on my contract 12 days?? i had at&t service for 12 days if i knew i would be roaming i would have never signed up with them.. thnkz

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I had similar problems, you need to call AT&T and have them block the International roaming. They automatically put it on when you live in our area. Since I called and had it taken off my phone will not roam on Telcel.

[stufried]

Us old folks remember XETRA out of Tijuana with Wolfman Jack broadcasting a super-charged English language rock broadcast from South of the border. The signal was so strong that you could get it in Minnesota.

[KDUG]

I disagree. Verizon is Much more precise. I live in Nogales. I have been stationed in El Paso, Yuma, Del Rio, Brownsville. As a Network Engineer, I can assure you the Mexicans are not "turning up there towers" It is because most sim cards are 3G sim cards with a flame on them. Most of ATT's towers on the borders is 2G edge at best. Most of Movistar's and Telcel towers are all 3G (Shame Mexicans have more tech than us). Bonified Solution that works. Call ATT request a "Non" 3G sim card (they are just blue and white with no 3G flame on it) When you get the card call back and block international roaming. If you are a Border Crosser where you work just across the line in Mexico dont get the ViVA Mexico Plan. In Nogales and San Diego when you Block International Roaming, You can get 5 to 6 miles into mexico and still get ATT USA Signal not paying for any roaming. You phone will work better on US side also with a Non 3G Smart Card also since ATT's 3G Side is Over crowded severely right now. Hope this helps.

[stufried]

You can also turn off 3g on a phone. Even on an iPhone you have that option. I have that same issue this indivdiual is discussing in Michigan's Upper Pennisula. I get a Canadian signal all around Sault Ste Marie because of the 2g/3g problem. Even where you do pay for Viva Mexico, remember that texts and data are not included. You do make my point that less precise towers are a better deal for folks as long as you pay some attention out there. I live on the Canadian border and have probably been to Canada 500+ times in my life. 95% of the time I don't go more than 5 to 10 miles into Canada and a bleed over signal would be fine.

[wingrider01 ACE - Geek]

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KDUG wrote:

I disagree. Verizon is Much more precise. I live in Nogales. I have been stationed in El Paso, Yuma, Del Rio, Brownsville. As a Network Engineer, I can assure you the Mexicans are not "turning up there towers" It is because most sim cards are 3G sim cards with a flame on them. Most of ATT's towers on the borders is 2G edge at best. Most of Movistar's and Telcel towers are all 3G (Shame Mexicans have more tech than us). Bonified Solution that works. Call ATT request a "Non" 3G sim card (they are just blue and white with no 3G flame on it) When you get the card call back and block international roaming. If you are a Border Crosser where you work just across the line in Mexico dont get the ViVA Mexico Plan. In Nogales and San Diego when you Block International Roaming, You can get 5 to 6 miles into mexico and still get ATT USA Signal not paying for any roaming. You phone will work better on US side also with a Non 3G Smart Card also since ATT's 3G Side is Over crowded severely right now. Hope this helps.

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logical since Mexico is primarily GSM - verizon is not GSM

[KDUG]

Would you when or if ATT is going to upgrade 85621? They told me in 2005 when 2g went to 3g that 3g would be here in spring of 2005. We are still 2G. Drive 30 miles north you get 4G. Drive to the Desert outside of yuma in the middle of the desert, you get 4G but here in Nogales we are still 2G. Look at the Coverage maps we have 4G encircling us out in the desert but not in town. Why does ATT hate us here?