Wifi In Mexico

I visit Sonora state of Mexico each winter for a couple of months. I
stay in a location with no landline about a mile from a town that has
DSL available. I have the hardware and knowlege to transmit a signal
from a friend's house in town out to my location.

The friend works for the local phone company Telmex. He asked his
superiors if it was OK to transmit his DSL connection a mile. They
stated "no, it's illegal". Does anyone know Mexican wifi rules well
enough to advise? We're they just "blowing smoke" ? Or, is truly
illegal to use an A/P and a bridge to transmit an internet connection
in Mexico?

Thanks,

Dave

Perhaps you can go to the Telmex site and see if they have a terms of
agreement for internet use. Most likely the answer your friend got
was made up on the fly, though it could be true.

Living in Mexico, I can comment that the law is very different here
than the US. There are laws on the books, but the actual system in
use has little to do with the laws and much more to do with
interpersonal politics and how much money any given law enforcement
agent feels that he needs at the moment. It is always and constantly
negotiated on the fly. You can obey all possible known laws and be
attacked by the law for invented or imagined infractions in any
case.

You also can break almost every law in the book and be totally ignored
if nobody sees you as a target for income. They just don't work the
way we do.

One example would be driver's licenses and license plates. The
law,just like in the US requires these. In my area, almost none of
the local drivers has a license and the police don't enforce it. One
is simply foolish to bother. There are no tests and if you want a
license, you buy it. Plates are typically used, but it's up to the
officer and none of the motorcycles use them here - the motorcycle
drivers are mostly kids under 16 years old. I've seen 14 year olds
driving big trucks.

The only time I was fined here was for doing a right on red. I told
the officer I thought it was legal in Mexico like the US, he said it
was not and fined me. I looked it up later, and it IS legal. On the
other hand, all the taxi drivers run the red lights, and the police
don't care. Extremely dangerous.

So, good luck sorting out what written law is and remember that it
does not apply.

Personally, I'd just do it and be discreet. I know that goes against
many folks here who feel more certain about what's right and wrong,
but I doubt they live in Mexico.

By the way, another option is to get yourself a satellite rig.
Hughesnet dishes/modems are selling for $400 on Ebay. Learn to
install it and take it down with you. Put it on vacation hold while
you are gone, or take it back with you and use in the US.

If you are doing this, go to a sat forum (broadband reports) and get
up to speed on that - make sure you understand which systems will work
in Sonora. Probably all of them, though.

Rereading my answer and your question, I realize I mostly missed the
point. It's not about laws, but terms of service.

Still the cultural aspect is the same. You need to know what practice
or application is in effect, not just the words. Probably have to ask
around to people in that region. Look for antennas....

Rereading, I realize that I was off-base with the idea of laws. It's
terms of service that you are considering. Sorry.

Still, the cultural context comments apply.

Cheers,
Steve

Dave wrote:
> I visit Sonora state of Mexico each winter for a couple of months. I
> stay in a location with no landline about a mile from a town that has
> DSL available. I have the hardware and knowlege to transmit a signal
> from a friend's house in town out to my location.
>
> The friend works for the local phone company Telmex. He asked his
> superiors if it was OK to transmit his DSL connection a mile. They
> stated "no, it's illegal". Does anyone know Mexican wifi rules well
> enough to advise? We're they just "blowing smoke" ? Or, is truly
> illegal to use an A/P and a bridge to transmit an internet connection
> in Mexico?

Mexican wireless communications is governed by Cofetel, the
commission of federal telecommunications. To the best of my
recollection, output power is limited to 600 mW (about 27.8
dBm). Mexico City has public Wi-Fi network. Therefore using a
an access point is legal.

However Telmex may have customer user policies in place that
prohibit sharing of your internet connection. If you were to adopt
a "business relationship" with your friend, that might circumvent
the "sharing" prohibition.

Considering the checkered history of Telmex that fosters a third world
mentality of interpreting rules and regulations that lends to
procclaiming something illegal to encourage bribery, I'd say "blowing
smoke".

On Sep 1, 10:14 am, DTC <DTC_no_s...@example.com> wrote:
> Dave wrote:
> > I visit Sonora state of Mexico each winter for a couple of months. I
> > stay in a location with no landline about a mile from a town that has
> > DSL available. I have the hardware and knowlege to transmit a signal
> > from a friend's house in town out to my location.
>
> > The friend works for the local phone company Telmex. He asked his
> > superiors if it was OK to transmit his DSL connection a mile. They
> > stated "no, it's illegal". Does anyone know Mexican wifi rules well
> > enough to advise? We're they just "blowing smoke" ? Or, is truly
> > illegal to use an A/P and a bridge to transmit an internet connection
> > in Mexico?
>
> Mexican wireless communications is governed by Cofetel, the
> commission of federal telecommunications. To the best of my
> recollection, output power is limited to 600 mW (about 27.8
> dBm). Mexico City has public Wi-Fi network. Therefore using a
> an access point is legal.
>
> However Telmex may have customer user policies in place that
> prohibit sharing of your internet connection. If you were to adopt
> a "business relationship" with your friend, that might circumvent
> the "sharing" prohibition.
>
> Considering the checkered history of Telmex that fosters a third world
> mentality of interpreting rules and regulations that lends to
> procclaiming something illegal to encourage bribery, I'd say "blowing
> smoke".

There are several of us "turistas" at the out of town location who
would be willing to pay for the friend to get a second DSL circuit
installed to his house and then I'd beam it to the out of town
location. Skype was the "killer" application last winter and I was
hoping to use my Vonage this year.

Satellite wouldn't do the job since VOIP is the MOST desired
application. Since the friend works for Telmex, we definitely don't
want to arrange anything that would put his employment at risk. Looks
like I'll have to keep looking and plotting LOL. The replies here are
very informative. Thanks much.

Dave

On Sep 1, 7:35*pm, Dave <davem98...@live.com> wrote:

> There are several of us "turistas" at the out of town location who
> would be willing to pay for the friend to get a second DSL circuit
> installed to his house and then I'd beam it to the out of town
> location.

Nothing wrong with that. If it's your connection and not his, then
it's your option to run wireless off of your connection. I can't see
where distance comes into play.

>Skype was the "killer" application last winter and I was
> hoping to use my Vonage this year.
>
> *Satellite wouldn't do the job since VOIP is the MOST desired
> application.


That's one of the three big pitfalls of Sat; VOIP, VPN and gaming.
On our Hughesnet pro-plus account, I do use yahoo messenger voice to
do pc to pc calls, no problem, except for the delay. Sometimes I can
call a landline or cell, but I never expect anything but pc-pc calls
to work.

I think it was a mistake to ask Telmex.

Sorry for the double post earlier.

Steve

In article <(E-Mail Removed)> ,
"Bill Kearney" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> It probably falls under the "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask
> permission" category.

This is Mexico, remember. "Forgiveness" comes out of a pistol barrel,
while "permission" comes out of a billfold, in US dollahs.
--
W. Oates

On Sep 3, 5:00*pm, Warren Oates <warren.oa...@gmail.com> wrote:

> This is Mexico, remember. "Forgiveness" comes out of a pistol barrel,
> while "permission" comes out of a billfold, in US dollahs.


LOL

Actually though, nobody asks permission- but if they catch you,
forgiveness definitely comes out of the wallet.

Money is almost always the motivation for enforcing any rule or
law...at least where I am. It may be a bit more like the US in
Northern Mex...

The gun factor comes into play more as a tool for managing criminal/
political competition or dealing with complications.

Then there's always the whole macho wild west factor...."he insulted
me or looked at me funny- so I kilt him"

But neither of those are related to TelMex - they are world class
masters at robbing the populace "with a fountain pen" instead of a
gun. Owner of TelMex is the richest man in the world !

Americans would scream bloody murder if they had to live with the
TelMex monopoly. 40 cents a minute LOCAL cell calls to landlines
under the "Amigo" system