dial m for money

"I had little interest in doing anything other than getting the house back into occupancy state."

It was a cryptic clue. The type Dorothy Sayers would slip into an expository paragraph and whose significance would not become apparent until the denouement.

As it has turned out, "getting the house back into occupancy state" has been an interesting set of tasks this week. It also brought a solution to a mystery that plagued me through April.

Last year I bought a new telephone from Telcel. In the past, I have purchased my new telephones from Amazon in The States. Because I travel a lot, unlocked versions are my primary choice.

I forgot about the "unlocked" requirement when I bought this last telephone. On one of my trips north, I tried to buy a SIM chip for the telephone, but it rejected it. Because it was still locked into the Telcel system.

I told myself I was going to get an unlock code, but I didn't. And that is what this cautionary tale is all about.

When I first moved to Mexico, I purchased a telephone that allowed me to merely add time to the telephone as I needed it. That system worked fine until smartphones became as sophisticated as computers.

I make next to no telephone calls. If I dial my telephone more than once a month, it is an anomaly.

But I am a data hog. I now use my telephone for almost all of my computer needs. I considered that when I was about to shell out $2000 (US) for a replacement Microsoft Surface. The only task I cannot perform on my telephone is posting essays on Mexpatriate. So, I bought the computer

My Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus is my constant companion. Its maps guide me easily to destinations. It is a memory jogger for that actor's name in Groundhog Day that I always forget. And it acts as the final referee in what I call trivia bar bets. (The downside is that it is now futile to bluff those bets. And I was good at that.)

When I discovered I was paying about $2000 (Mx) each month for telephone time, I decided it was time to buy a plan. And so I did. With Telcel. $900 (Mx) each month for 13 Mg of data. (And, yes, I do use that much.)

Telcel is always happy to provide data services to me when I leave Mexico. For a price. And that price is expensive. I discovered that when I turned on my telephone briefly on a trip to Peru last year.

So, the moment I landed in Los Angeles on this last trip, I switched the telephone permanently to airplane mode. I was going to use it only when wifi was available.

It was a good plan. And I would have been well-served to have abided by it.

According to my Telcel bill for April, I did not.

I remember turning on the telephone while we were Brisbane. I am not certain why. But I did.

A week later, I did the same in Darwin. But, this time I could not get my telephone to connect to the system.

A cursory look at the Telcel app cleared up the mystery of why I had no service. "This line is suspended." Of course, it was in Spanish. But the language did not matter, my telephone was not going to work the rest of the trip.

The bigger mystery was why it was suspended. My March bill was not then yet due. According to the notice, I could un-suspend it only by going to the office in Manzanillo -- not a likely option while trudging the shores of tropical Australia.

When my bill arrived, I knew why I was suspended. While I was in Brisbane, I used just under 47 Kb of data over a four-hour period. That is hardly anything. But it was an expensive little tidbit. $2,363.80 (Mx), to be exact. Or about $125 (US).

Telcel assumes its customers are not going to pay their bills. At least, that is the only reason that makes sense to me.

Every customer has a credit limit for each month. If that small amount is exceeded, the telephone line is suspended and requires both payment and re-activation at a central office. It is a bit like being sent to see the high school vice-principal.

So, this morning, I walked over to Kiosko and paid my $3,541 (Mx) cell bill for April.

Every good mystery needs a moral. Here's mine.

1. Do not travel without an unlocked telephone. When traveling, buy a SIM chip for the duration. Most countries can provide services for around $75 (US).

2. If number 1 is not a possibility, keep the telephone in airplane mode.

Now, I know some of you who live in other countries (I can think of two to the north) that have plans that let you travel the world for almost no additional cost. To hear some people, you would think AT&T pays them money to use their telephones while traveling.

One day Mexico may offer similar services. Until then, I will be a chip-switcher. (Of course, I just may be tempted to buy the unlocked international version of Samsung's new Galaxy S10 plus. I think I can hear it calling me now.)