At&t Lte Service At Hotel Cozumel

[kss1dvr]

We were at Hotel Cozumel in early March with AT&T phones. Roaming on Iusacell and Nextel was 3G, but the day before we left I started seeing LTE service on Iusacell. It seemed like it was coming and going, as if they were in the process of turning it up.

Has anyone stayed there since then with AT&T service, and did you see consistent LTE yet?

Trying to decide whether to put anything on the Telcel sim or not.

Thanks

 

[mstevens]

Huh. I didn't think Telcel was even advertising LTE on the island. Maybe IUSAcel, but it seems more likely to have been a fluke of brief signal from the mainland.

The phone shouldn't matter much. For example, our iPhones are Sprint, but like all iPhones have GSM radios and get LTE where it exists.

 

[cvchief]

Huh. I didn't think Telcel was even advertising LTE on the island. Maybe IUSAcel, but it seems more likely to have been a fluke of brief signal from the mainland.

The phone shouldn't matter much. For example, our iPhones are Sprint, but like all iPhones have GSM radios and get LTE where it exists.

All later model Iphones. I am still using my old 4S on telcel. No LTE for me.

 

[kss1dvr]

Huh. I didn't think Telcel was even advertising LTE on the island. Maybe IUSAcel, but it seems more likely to have been a fluke of brief signal from the mainland.

The phone shouldn't matter much. For example, our iPhones are Sprint, but like all iPhones have GSM radios and get LTE where it exists.

It may have been coming from the mainland, but I hadn't seen it at all until the day before we left. Intermittent at that at Hotel Coz, but full scale downtown.

AT&T Mexico map looks like they are going to be on the tower behind the hotel, so I was curious what progress had been made if any.

I didn't know about Telcel, just assumed they were turned up already.

Thanks

 

[mstevens]

There is literally no ATT anything in Mexico. They just let you roam on other carriers' (Telcel's, IUSAcel's, Pegaso's) towers and bill you.

My house is about 3 blocks from Hotel Cozumel and I haven't seen any evidence of LTE. I'd certainly welcome it.

 

[kss1dvr]

They have purchased Iusacell and Nextel. Just haven't branded it as AT&T yet. US AT&T sim will roam on either 1st before anything else.

No LTE is a whole different matter. Their map showed LTE coverage to come almost to the cruise port, I was hoping they had it in place.

Disappointing.

Thanks for the info

 

[mstevens]

Their map showed LTE coverage to come almost to the cruise port

There are three different places that could be called "the cruise port".

There is currently a huge problem with internet speeds on the island. This is related to limited capacity of the cable from the mainland, which is massively oversubscribed. Even if you connect to a tower at LTE speed (which I'm not saying is going to happen), that tower is going to manage data that has to crawl through that cable.

 

[gopbroek]

There are three different places that could be called "the cruise port".

There is currently a huge problem with internet speeds on the island. This is related to limited capacity of the cable from the mainland, which is massively oversubscribed. Even if you connect to a tower at LTE speed (which I'm not saying is going to happen), that tower is going to manage data that has to crawl through that cable.

I use T-Mobile which connects thru TelCel and Movistar towers. Usually I can get a 4G signal but as Mstevens has stated the thru put can vary wildly. Last month on several trips to the island, in the Corpus Christi area during peak periods, the data thru was barely able to support SB but in the early morning hours (3-6 AM) I would see up to 1-2 Mbs. During Carnival I could not get thru for several days.

This is not just a Mexico problem, I have FIOS at home and it is not uncommon for the system to basically shutdown between 4 & 5:30 PM. It does not matter how big the last stage of the pipeline is if any intermediate point experiences a restriction.

 

[kss1dvr]

There are three different places that could be called "the cruise port".

There is currently a huge problem with internet speeds on the island. This is related to limited capacity of the cable from the mainland, which is massively oversubscribed. Even if you connect to a tower at LTE speed (which I'm not saying is going to happen), that tower is going to manage data that has to crawl through that cable.

I'm aware of the problem with internet speeds on the island. In large part is the reason for my yet unanswered question. I would say that the wireless industry has a variety of ways to deal with local backhaul problems, microwave shot to the mainland would come to mind. Rural areas in the US take large areas, connect them by microwave and drain them off to the local wired network at a point that is convenient to the wireless carrier rather than the landbased provider. No idea if that is what is being engineered here, but happens every day.

Back to my original question in post #1, has any AT&T subscriber seen LTE on Iusacell while roaming in Cozumel. Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint are going to have different roaming provider priority lists, you probably will not see Iusacell or Nextel.

I'm curious about only AT&T subscribers.

 

[kss1dvr]

Not that I'm pushing AT&T, but here is the map. Would be nice if they would ever get it turned up.