Move to Playa del Carmen Mexico

Mail can be a problem. It’s been difficult for us to get our local cable, electric, and telephone bill, let alone anything from the United States. We have received letters mailed from the US, but it took about four weeks. They were never actually delivered to our apartment, we found them in a pile of mail left on a chair in the lobby of our apartment. Apparently, others receive mail the same way, but we have little confidence in it.  I’ll share our approach to handling snail mail.

First, we minimized the amount of first class mail we receive by using online statements and billing whenever possible. We also cancelled all our magazines subscriptions. However, we were not able to totally shut down our U.S. mail.

We have used a PakMail address for years as a matter of privacy and convenience. Basically, they provide us a street address and a mailbox, similar to a Post Office box. The cost is about $20.00 a month. We also opened a DHL account in the United States. DHL has an office in Playa del Carmen located on 20th Avenue and 12th Street. That’s nice for us as it’s only a couple blocks from our apartment.

Once a month PakMail packs up all our first class mail and ships it to us in care of the DHL office here. They only send documents and it cost us about $50.00 US from Tampa, FL. Yes, they could forward packages, but so far we have resisted the tempation. The cost of shipping escalates and Mexico customs will add a solid tariff on any goods you import into the country. Everything inbound and outbound goes through Mexico City. It’s better to have someone mule goods for you in their luggage, which will generally pass through customs without any tariff.

For outgoing mail, we send a package of letters back to PakMail, they apply postage and mail them for us. An outgoing document package costs about $300 pesos to Tampa, Florida from Playa del Carmen.

You could just as easily use a family member to collect your mail and forward it to you. We still recommend DHL as your courier. They are the dominate International carrier in Playa.

To forward mail through the DHL office here, use this address:
Your name 
Calle 12 Norte Numero 172
Entre 20 y 15 Avenida
Norte Centro 77710
Playa Del Carmen Q. Roo
Mexico

There are a host of mail forwarders in the United States. One with an interesting twist is USAbox. They will not only receive and forward your mail and packages, but they also scan your mail so you can accept or discard it via the Internet. You still might want them to forward to your mail to the DHL address above.

There is also a PakMail office here in Playa del Carmen. Their contact information is:

PAKMAIL PLAYA DEL CARMEN
Av. 10 Nte # 244 esq. 12 Nte Loc. 4
sobre la 12 Nte. PCN Centro
Playa del Crmen, Q. Roo CP 77710
Tel 01  (984) 8034251
Fax 01 (984) 8034481

I’m writing in response to Kathy’s comment about phone service. We made a couple of mistakes at first about phone service here, so it’s a very good question.

Cellphones first.  One, we thought we might be able to use our Verizon cell phones here. We could, but because we were on roaming, we had difficulty with voicemail, local calls, and cost. The 611 customer service was also not available so it was very difficult to resolve these problems. Our opinion is that US cellphones are a bad option if you are going to live here.

Cellphones are available from TelCel from about $50.00. They are pay-as-you-go phones like the throw away phones you’re familiar with in the United States. Nextel is also available here, plus some small providers I’m not familiar with. Telcel is the most popular and most logical cellphone provider. We bought a $50.00 Nokia, but could have spent as much money as we wanted for a more advanced or tricked-out phone. There is an almost endless array of choices. The locals love their phones.

If you go with TelCel, we recommend you buy the $500 peso calling card. You’ll get double minutes when you activate so it’s the best discount available. Texting is very popular here, and is cheaper than voice calls. Your minutes will expire in 60 days, but you don’t have to use them in 60 days. Your minutes will rollover once you purchase another card.

For example, you purchase a $500 peso calling card and you get 1000 minutes when activated. You use 800 minutes in the 60 days and your phone locks up. You go buy another $500 peso card and get 1000 minutes plus the 200 minutes you had remaining at the end of your 60 days, so you now have 1200 minutes to use in the next 60 days. Unused minutes always rollover on expiration of the 60 day calling period. A good deal for Telcel. They keep you coming back to the trough at least every 60 days for more calling time.

Next, calling the United States. The preferred method is Voice over IP, acronym VOIP. The best solution is Vonage, but it is not available in Mexico. The work around is to subscribe to Vonage in the US, get your equipment shipped to you before you leave, and bring it with you. You can then set it up using your Internet connection here, whether you use Cablemas (the local cable company) or TelMex DSL for Internet service. There is a rumor that Cablemas will soon be offering VOIP to their subscribers for about $200 pesos a month. The catch is that it only includes 100 minutes of International calling, or so we were told by a Cablemas representative.

We’re currently using Skype for international calling on our TelMex DSL line. It works great, call quality is good,  and the cost to the U.S. is 2.1 cents per minute. We use it for both family and business calls and $15.00 USD a month in Skype credit has been more than adequate.  We also have a SkypeIn number (small additional charge) in Florida so our children can call us using a local number. Again, had we planned better, we would have brought a Wireless WiFi Skype phone with us. As it is, we are tethered to our computer with a headset, but it’s a small inconvenience for the money saved.

Skype and Vonage equipment is not yet available in Playa del Carmen or even Cancun. TelMex is very protective of its monopoly in Mexico. So again, you must get your equipment while in the U.S. and bring it with you or ask someone to mule it down here for you.

There are many Internet and international phone centers in Playa. Walk down any street in the tourist area, and you’ll probably see one.  The cost is in the 2 to 4 peso per minute range. For a permanent resident, this is usually a service rarely used. However, we have stopped in to make a quick call on occasion when it was more convenient than going home. When we first arrived, we used our laptop at some of these Internet centers for email and Internet access. There are also many places to get wireless Internet access in coffee shops and restaurants.

Calling the U.S. from either your house phone or TelCel mobile phone is expensive and probably something you will not want to do on a regular basis.