Phone Home?

[Darcy]

Hi, For the first time we will need to call home during our 5th upcoming trip to Desire. We have an international calling card (MCI prepaid) with an access number to call from Mexico. Will we be able to use this to make calls from our room without additional charges from the hotel? Also, what is the status of using a laptop in our room? Charges for using the hotel computer? We only have a Tracfone cell phone since we don't even have cell coverage where we live and they cannot be used out of the country. Thanks!
Darcy

[CokeMann]

Darcy

I don't know if there will be additional charges, a lot depends on "if" the MCI access number is a local call or not - in the past, before cell phone coverage on the Yucatan we purchased prepaid TeleMex cards that worked on all pay phones

You could also consider just renting a cell phone locally from a group like http://www.cancunvalet.com/?p=p_3&sName=cell-phone-rental

Their rates are very reasonable and you can either pick up the phone at the airport or they will deliver it to Desire for you

Your laptop will have to have WiFi capability and you have to pay for this service - FYI not all rooms are within range of the WiFi signal - you may have to do your computer stuff from the lobby bar area or somewhere that you can get a good signal

You can also just rent one of the hotel public computers - I believe the charge is about $5 for 30 min of online time

[ottawa_cuple]

Hi Darcy,

If you bring your own computer, the charge for WiFi access is $15.00 US for your entire stay. They have an hourly rate, too, but it's way more expensive to do it that way unless you're only going to be on-line once or twice and only for a short time.

Rooms closer to the lobby get better access than rooms farther away, so if having WiFi in your room is important, maybe ask for a room closer to, rather than farther away from the lobby.

The first time we went to Desire, we used the resort's computers (they have two or three) in a little room off the lobby, but being communal computers, they're not as safe for doing banking, etc, and they're obviously not set up with your email program and your bookmarks, etc.

Bringing our little webbook this year worked really well. It was nice to sit out on our balcony in the morning and do our "work" while sipping on a nice fresh cup of java from the lobby bar.

Howard & Marci

[sensualcnds]

Hello there,

As noted above, the WiFi is now available for $15.00 for your entire stay. The computers in the lobby were available for $5.00 per half hour block. As noted in another post, the keyboards are Spanish keyboards and are tricky to get used to.

Here is some additional info I had posted in another topic area that you may find useful:

The last time we were down, we made sure we had WiFi and then used Skype Out to call home. It was pennies a minute as opposed to the usual crazy fees to call home to check on our munchkins. I left my office and family with my Skype ID and they would leave a message if they needed to reach us. I just checked the laptop for messages when we went back to the room. (Note: I left my brand new Macbook out of the safe for all 10 days, and had absolutely no concerns about its safety).

We had a family emergency that had us spending quite a bit of time checking in from Desire...(hours unfortunately)... and we spent less than $5.00 + the WiFi charge...(less than one call home on previous trips). It was definitely an easy way to deal with contacts from home.

We had some issues the previous trip with family calling the "family friendly number" and being told that they did not have us registered as guests, so overall the Skype solution gave us more peace of mind.

If you do use your calling card make sure you have the main desk help you with the connection. The first trip, we thought we had the front desk, but actually had the MX operator for the phone company help us with connection. The result was a 13 minute phone call that cost us $130.00 CDN on our phone bill when we got home. Also, keep in mind that you will be charged a connection fee from the hotel regardless if your call is successful or not (unless this policy has changed since October).

Hope this helps
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[2good4better]

We just returned from Desire two weeks ago and tried the WiFi for the first time. Our room was under the hot tub palapas and we could not get a signal there.

We wound up taking the laptop down to the shaded loungers just outside the lobby and the signal was fine.

[sensualcnds]

Hello 2good4better

Yes, the coverage is not the best at times. For us, we had a room just around the Lobby bar and had no real issues connecting.

Have a great night.