Need Telmex installed - new house in Riberas - where do I go?

House is still under construction, but I hear it takes a while to get a new line (phone & internet) installed. Which Telmex office do I go to and are there English-speakers there?

The TelMex business office is across from Plaza Bugambilias where El Torito is. You go in and take a number from a machine at the back wall to the left, where the desks are. At least one of them speaks English: glasses, curly hair.

It can take up to two years or more to get a phone line in Riberas...so go to the Ajijic Telmex office as soon as you can and 'get in line'.

A couple of notes:

1) There are people that will 'sell' a line in Riberas, I've heard the going rate is around $3-$4,000 pesos. Put up a couple of announcements in Spanish at Walmart and see what you get. Do not pay up front. Show them the money, put it in an envelope, go to the Telmex office, switch the account over to your name and address, then pay.

2) When Telmex calls you (on your cell of course) and says they are ready to install you line, drop EVERYTHING and make sure you are there for the installation. I was the contact person for some snowbird friends and they called and I physically could not make it to open up the house for them and that was 2 years ago...still no line. The line went to someone else.

3) Check to see if Telecable is available where your house is being built. They not only offer high speed internet and cable TV, but also local phone service. Their 'up time' is less reliable than Telmex, but it can be a good option in the meantime. Telecable has coverage in most of Riberas.

Suerte!

The going rate is $1,500 pesos; anything more and you are being taken advantage of. I haven't heard of any difficulties this past year getting a phone in Riberas, but things do keep changing.

Thanks for your help, everybody.

NEVER, NEVER PAY ANYONE TO GET A PHONE LINE.

This is my experience.

There is someone at Telmex in Ajijic who is controlling this with an ex-employee. (They have a little side business). The employee at Telmex makes the request for a line. After a few weeks, you go back and ask about it, but he tells you that they don’t have a line yet and it might take a long time. That goes on and on until you finally understand what he wants. I met the ex-employee (visiting his colleague at Telmex) who told me that I could get a line the next day if I paid him $4,000 pesos. Someone else also knew the technician who would come the next day if I paid him $4,000.

I found out that there were 10 to 12 people in my sector who had been waiting for a line between 6 months to one year. I just could not believe it. So I called the main office in Mexico City and asked why we could not get a line in our sector. They asked me if I lived in the bush, if I had a post on my street, etc. When they realized that I lived in a community, and all my neighbors had a line, they could not understand why I could not get one. That’s when I mentioned what was going on in their Ajijic office. They wanted names (of employees and other waiting customers). I did not give them any names, saying that it was up to them to find out what was going on and settle that problem.

They asked me to wait one week for them to inquire and would get back to me.

Two weeks later all my neighbors had their line except me. So I returned to the office in Ajijic and applied for a line again. The guy was TRYING to give me a hard time because he knew I was the one who had complained to Mexico. I knew enough about what I should ask, and what he should ask, so he could not stall me any longer. All was done in a polite, sarcastic way . . .

I got my line three days after.

Phone number in Mexico – 01-800- 368-0500

Interesting story. The $1,500 tag we're talking about here, though, would be someone who already has a line and is moving away, or something similar. When I moved, for instance, I had promised the landlady I would leave a phone number/line. I purchased, for her, the phone number/line of the place I was moving into, and had my owner number/line moved there.

Our only problems arose from the fact that the owner of the line I was buying lives in Guadalajara, and he had to come out with his ID to the TelMex office.

Yes, I realize that $1,500 is different. You sell your phone number, and that's what Telmex also charges (I think) for the installation.

My story has nothing to do with a private number that you would get from someone. It's a Telmex employee telling people that they don't have a line. . . . which is false. And those guys trying to make someone pay them a fee plus Telmex installation afterwards to get a line from the company they work for.

This happened to me in 2006, and I would hate to see that it's still going on.