Dollars vs Pesos

Victoria Pratt is our guest columnist for this section, but you can expect to see other information here from time to time when she’s busy closing deals.

Today I am going to write a bit about the cost of living in Mexico. I can only write about a comparison between the cost of living in Southern Ontario versus the cost of living here in Bucerias.

Let me talk about cell phones, wi-fi, landlines and such, as we all have them. These are my numbers, and I am sure many of you have been able to obtain packages at a lesser cost than I have. Good on you, and please tell us about it so we can share. I have converted Canadian dollars to pesos to avoid that apples and oranges thing, and based it on a monthly charge.

Cell phone in Canada (Bell Mobility) with a reasonable data package $1,230
Cell phone in Mexico with the same package $200

Landline in Canada (Bell) $1014
Wi-fi in Canada $1,869
Landline, wi-fi, and unlimited North American calling in Mexico $389

Nothing like getting the same thing for a lot less money.

I was a “valued customer of Bell Mobility” for over twenty years. Pretty cool all right. So cool, when I went to switch my carrier over from Bell to Telcel, I found out my phone was locked, and I would have to contact Bell Mobility to unlock it.  This valued customer was advised that he would have to pay $725 pesos in order to have his phone unlocked.  After adding some pesos to the bad language jar, I said you have my credit card on file, as that was how my monthly bill got paid. “Sir, you don’t understand, that is a different department, and we must have a valid credit card and an approved transaction before we unlock your phone.” 

Wow, talk about a sales prevention department!

Bell Canada and Rogers Communications, have a virtual monopoly in Canada.  I guess that is why they own the Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto Football Club…..

At a later time, I will talk about insurance, hydro, water, and property taxes.  Stay tuned.