Mexican Village Creates Its Own Mobile Phone Service

Dave_Minsky writes "The small indigenous village of Villa Talea de Castro (pop. 2,500) in the state of Oaxaca is showing the world that it doesn't have to rely on major cellular telecommunications providers for service. With the help from indigenous groups, civil organizations and universities, village residents put up an antenna on a rooftop, installed radio and computer equipment, and created its own micro provider called Red Celular de Talea. Service costs only 15 pesos ($1.2) per month and a few pennies per minute to make calls to the United States. However, there is one catch: calls are limited to a maximum of five minutes to prevent saturation of lines."

Comments

Max 5min on calls

[Qazimov]

Is it bad that I would pay extra to have this 5min rule on voice calls?

Re:Max 5min on calls

[gstoddart]

I don't think the GP is saying it's a bad idea, he's saying he'd pay for that as a feature.

"Hi Mom, everything is OK, yes, that's a fascinating story about Aunt Myrtle ... Oh, gee, look at the time ... gottago, kthanksbye".

Slightly more on topic, I should think some phone service would be far better than no phone service. Many of us take this kind of stuff for granted, but that's far from true for much of the world.

Re:Max 5min on calls

[AliasMarlowe]

A whole bunch of my extended family should move there... Maybe make the call limit 3 minutes or less.

feature, not a catch

[DeBaas]

However, there is one catch: calls are limited to a maximum of five minutes to prevent saturation of lines."

Every married man knows this is not a catch but a feature

Re:Other private Mexican mobile phone services

[thaylin]

(I would move to Canada if it were warmer). .

Just give it a few years..