
San Diego Cell Service Possibly Affected by New Operator in Mexico - Treblemaker
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Diego-Cell-Service-Possibly-Affected-by-new-Operator-in-Mexico-559493831.html
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jedberg
I remember when there was a pirate radio station that was broadcasting from
just over the Mexican border. It was in English and it was alt-rock, and their
DJs would just swear and violate all the FCC rules and no one could do
anything about it.

It's amazing how radios don't care about international borders. :)

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bsagdiyev
91X broadcasts out of Tijuana as well, I believe. Broadcasting stops at
midnight for the Mexican national anthem before resuming.

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lozaning
Mexican national anthem at midnight and 5AM, as well as a lot of mexican
public service announcements and election advertising.

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ilaksh
I am from San Diego and it is actually a little weird because you'd be driving
along rocking out and routinely there is like a government propaganda style
commercial from some agency in Mexico being read in English by someone with a
faint Spanish accent in a way that was simultaneously enthusiastic but also
clearly being read off of a page. It is usually about something like "don't
worry we are making the government suck less especially if you vote for us" if
I recall correctly.

I now live in Mexico. The burger place next door plays an American radio
station and it seems to be one that never has those messages.

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GhettoMaestro
Curious what your thoughts are about living in Mexico.

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ilaksh
It's a great deal for me right now since my startup isn't making money and my
income is very low. Live on the beach instead of basically the ghetto in San
Diego. Many people speak English in Playas and so my limited Spanish hasn't
been a big problem. Work from home so don't have to commute over the border.
Can afford medication here -- for example one that is $400 in the US is less
than $40 here.

Overall cost of living is more than 65% lower (random guess, maybe more).

If I decide to move on from this startup and my income doubles (which would
not necessarily be very hard since it's so low right now) then I will probably
move back to San Diego or at least the US. Even though 95% of the time it's
great, the occasions when they turn the water off to fix leaks in the aqueduct
or there is an electricity blackout or there are bad smells, all of that adds
up to being less than ideal. But again, since that only happens a small
portion of the time, it is still a good option for me right now. The
neighborhood I am in (max Mex-touristy Playas de Tijuana) seems safe by the
way.

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picantePepper
I had the opposite experience. Moved from Mexicali to San Diego. It’s
expensive of course, etc, but in my case, I had three home robberies (one at
gunpoint, I was 5). The best of living in the states was a sense of security.
I know it can happen here too, but I don’t miss that.

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ilaksh
Well San Diego is great and I would like to move back there when I can. My
sister-in-law was born in Mexico and seems to not like to visit her original
country much, and I think it is related to not feeling secure or something.

But as far as the home robberies, I am guessing it is a similar situation in
Mexicali as it is in Tijuana or other places, in that security seems to depend
on the neighborhood and also sometimes the particular building or location?

For example, my understanding is that there are many unsafe neighborhoods in
Tijuana where crime is somewhat common. I also would like to believe that
Playas is not one of those neighborhoods. Especially this particular
neighborhood, it is a tourism area near the boardwalk, and there are a lot of
restaurants around and multiple police cars normally patrolling the street
(although not every single hour of every day). Also my building has several
apartments and I am on the top floor.

It doesn't really seem unsafe in this particular location. However, I can
imagine a quiet street away from everything, and a house with a yard that was
not too close to neighbors, would be slightly more attractive for burglary.
There are a lot of big fences and big dogs even in Playas so there must be a
reason.

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vermontdevil
The same issue if you are near Canada border in Michigan. Specifically along
the lake north of Port Huron. (Lakeport State Park etc).

Every time we go to that area my phone is “hijacked” by Rogers or Telus. And I
can’t get the phone to stay with AT&T. Then ATT will start informing us we are
on international roaming.

I’ve explained to ATT many times we are in Michigan. No dice. So we just
switch to airport until we get back to Port Huron.

Can’t understand how ATT is overpowered by Canadian cell services which is
across the lake!

But no issues when I’m in Port Huron and Canada is across the river!

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Keverw
I kinda always wondered how that worked. I wonder if people near the border
call 911 and get Canadian dispatchers... Hopefully there is a protocol though
for both sides of borders to transfer to the right agency in case of a
emergency of some sorts.

I have a prepaid plan so no roaming for me... but some day I’ll get a actual
plan but it’s nice to save money, but have to ration data but have WiFi most
of the time. But sounds like if lived in a border town I might be stuck
getting a better plan if it wants to roam even while still at home. If I went
to more places instead of being home on WiFi mostly or traveled a bunch
definitely upgrading. Kinda undecided on what carrier yet but much more
choices than when I got my first phone in middle school and kept the same
number since.

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SamReidHughes
Huh. I've had reception issues in certain parts of UTC. Which is a bit farther
up than North Park.

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trazire
I think that's normal. Walking around La Jolla, a lot of places have no
reception (on Sprint).

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jonknee
> on Sprint

Found the problem!

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trazire
Seen it for other networks as well (TMo, ATT, Verizon).

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tomc1985
Funny, people in the r/sandiego reddit thread have been complaining about
sudden problems with Verizon service

