#121 - Technology in Mexico

I just got back from 8 days in Mexico. Click here for a link to the visit blog. Here are some thoughts on technology there.

I had wireless Internet at both hotels we stayed at. It was free in the smaller town of Actopan, but it was a secure site so the desk clerk had to give us the pass code. In Mexico City, the wireless was pay as you go, but you could use a US provider such as Boingo ($10 US per day or $21 for the month). Speed seemed similar to US wireless sites, with busy times when they were slower and times (6AM) when they seemed very fast.

Cell phones were everywhere and people on our trip that got International access had the same "can you here me know" issues in the country. Two of the guys from Charlotte on the trip had Blackberry units and could get the Internet and email if they had telephone service.

I saw lots of old PCs and CRTs in the country areas. None of the people we were helping had PCs or cell phones (and you wouldn't think they could afford any with earnings of less then $5 per day). All of the staff people from Habitat had cell phones, though when I asked only a few had PCs. They had access to PCs in their office. Laptops seemed more rare though we saw several in our restaurant in the town of Actopan. There were many Internet cafes near middle and high schools. The cafes all had old PCs and CRT monitors. I believe they all had broadband Internet (I didn't see any dial up connections). We even saw painted adds for Internet cafes on very old lean to type buildings.

Not many laser printers were around, just inexpensive inkjet printers. The printed receipt I recieved from both the Actopan(small town) and Mexico city hotels were from inkjet printers and could barely be read (using the ink to the last drop).

I didn't see alot of computer stores, though that may be more what sections of town that I was in. I did go to an open market in Actopan and saw several people selling old Palm PDA units and lots of AC adapters (the blocks you plug into the wall) for all kinds of items. They were just on a folding table and obviously very used.

With the lack of PCs around, you would think Mexico would be an ideal place to export the old PCs, printers and monitors. I'm not sure that is happening, but I constantly get questions from customers on what to do with their old PCs.