Scrounging for Phones

Kim scrounging for Wifi on our roof.


Internet connectivity, if you can get it, is pretty good. Every rental property in town claims to have Wifi, but what they really mean is there are Wifi networks in the area which you might be able to connect to if the wind is blowing in the right direction.

The problem is phone lines, there are not enough phone numbers available for the growth of the town (so we're told) and consequently a wait list for phone exists. Of course, no one gives up a phone number once they have it, so a secondary market in phone lines exists, where locals will sell their phone number to youtube-deprived gringos for a few hundred dollars.

Then there is the Pringles Cantenna solution. I don't know if the Mexicans invented this, but it is typical of Mexican innovation on an extreme budget. People claim they pick up wireless signals a mile away.

The place we're moving into has its own phone line and Wifi already in place.