Payphones vs Cellphones

The telephone system and dialing is a little complicated here. First there are land line numbers which are 7 digits. To call a land line you simply dial those 7 digits. However, all cell phones have an additional 998 in front of the 7 digit number. So if calling a cell phone from another phone (land line or cell) you need to dial 10 digits, e.g. 998.123.4567

However, if you're calling from a payphone you must include 044 (so 044.998.123.4567). If you're calling a cell which is from another area (say Merida city) you will have to use 045 (so 045.999.123.4567). Merida phones start with 999, Mexico city phones start with 553. If calling these from a cell phone then there is no need for 044 or 045.

During my 3 month stay I got myself a pay-as-you-go mobile which was quite convenient and inexpensive. Here is how it works. First I paid 300 pesos for the phone, sim card and 300 credits (which are basically minutes or text messages). So not a bad deal considering that your credits are not used for incoming calls, just when you make a call or send a message. To buy additional minutes it's 100 pesos per 100 credits.

About the payphones, there are two types. Ones which work with coins only (and seem to eat them up rapidly) and ones which work with phone cards only. I recommend the phone card since it's cheaper and you'll have more minutes. You can get a calling card from any OXXO convenient store. I bought a Telmex card for 100 pesos and that gave me 125 minutes.