VOIP Phones -- Mexico and the United States
VOIP phone service is your best deal for long distance to and from Mexico.
There are a few choices in VOIP phone service carriers and frankly, the offers change so often that it is hard to say who is best or better.
Until you get set up with VOIP, the phone cards from cloncom on the next banner are your best bet. These folks have hundreds of calling cards, so you can compare and choose the best for you.
Most businesses in Mexico have VOIP phones with a U.S. and a Canadian phone number for their clients to call.
Imagine, though, having a US phone number while living in Mexico so you can call home or conduct business without paying long-distance charges!There is a CNet News story about Telmex is blocking VOIP phones, but it was done in 2005. This is old news, but this comes up first in the search engines for "voip mexico." There is a thread on the Vonage bulletin board, but no entries since 2005.
A reader (HH) who lives in Mexico reiterated that the Telmex blocking is a thing of the past, but there is a new wrinkle. Telecable (for those who have cable internet) *is* blocking the service - but they will unlock the port for your use if you request their EP+ service and pay the extra pesos per month. The other cable companies and phone companies seem to be leaving it alone.
In general VOIP calls (in Mexico or the U.S. or Canada) are as good as land line calls, However, occasionally you will have a slight lag, but in most cases it is hardly noticeable anymore. That used to be the bane of VOIP phone calls. I also found that getting a good-quality phone helped tremendously. A 5.8 megahertz phone (is recommended to avoid conflicting with your wireless broadband connection. I use a high-end Vtech cordless phone. Corded phones are generally better, but I hate being tied to the phone. I bought a 6.0 megahertz phone and don't notice much difference)
Some people swear by Skype, a nearly free service. I have not found it works as well - even the paid version. I hate talking to someone on Skype. There is a lag and although they now offer computer-less connections (for a fee), they are still bad. You get what you pay for.