Mexico has more fiber than most of Latin America and slower real speeds than almost any of it. Both halves of that sentence matter when you are choosing where to live and whether you can work from it.
Two things changed recently that most guides have not caught up with
Mexico now has a working SIM registry. For a decade the correct advice was that it did not — RENAUT was scrapped in 2012 after its database leaked, and PANAUT was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2022. A June 2025 telecommunications reform created the Registro de Usuarios de Telefonía Móvil, and registration became obligatory on 9 January 2026. Lines are tied to a CURP, capped at ten per person, and unregistered lines lose calls, texts and data while keeping 911. Deadlines have been extended repeatedly on a staggered schedule keyed to the last digit of the number, and suspensions were being executed through August 2026. Foreigners without a CURP present a passport or obtain a provisional CURP. You can still buy and activate a SIM on arrival — but the era of picking up a chip at OXXO with no identification is over.
The IFT no longer exists. The same 2025 law dissolved the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones — the regulator named in virtually every older guide — and replaced it with the Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones (CRT), ratified in October 2025. Any page telling you to complain to the IFT is out of date.
Home internet: who actually serves you
| Provider | Technology | Typical 2026 advertised rates | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telmex (Infinitum) | Mix of FTTH and legacy copper | ~$349 MXN / 120 Mbps; ~$599 / 150 Mbps | Widest footprint by far — often the only option in small towns. What you get depends on your street, not the brand. |
| Totalplay | 100% fiber, symmetric | ~$460 / 150 Mbps; ~$559 / 250 Mbps | Generally the best consumer product where it exists. Absent from Baja California, Campeche, Oaxaca, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas. |
| Izzi | Hybrid fiber-coax, asymmetric | ~$379 / 80–120 Mbps; ~$869 / 1 Gbps | Upload is the constraint. Matters if you send video or run backups. |
| Megacable | Cable and fiber | ~$450 / 100 Mbps; ~$650 / 300 Mbps | Strongest in the Bajío, the Pacific coast and mid-sized cities. Usually bundled with TV. |
Advertised and delivered are different numbers. Mexico’s fiber connections per 100 people rose from 56 in 2021 to 68 in 2025, the fastest growth in fiber accesses in the OECD — and the Speedtest Global Index for February 2026 still ranked Mexico 89th in the world on fixed broadband, at a national average around 72 Mbps, against Chile’s 347. Budget for 50–100 Mbps real throughput on a mid-tier plan.
Coverage is a street question, not a city question
Mexico City, Guadalajara, Mérida, Cancún, Puerto Vallarta and San Miguel de Allende all have Totalplay coverage. Tulum appears in its Quintana Roo listings. Playa del Carmen is inconsistent and needs checking address by address. Oaxaca City has no Totalplay at all — Telmex, Izzi and Megacable are the options. Lake Chapala and Ajijic are not in Totalplay’s coverage; the practical answers there are Telmex, cable where the plant reaches, and local fiber operators.
The gap that catches people is not city versus village. It is one street against the next inside the same city. Mérida’s Centro and Norte are well served while new fraccionamientos on the edge wait months. Tulum’s build-out has lagged its construction boom badly. San Miguel’s protected façades make conduit genuinely difficult. In the Riviera Maya, GigNet runs a regional fiber network along the Cancún–Playa–Tulum corridor but has historically sold to hotels and developments rather than walk-up retail — if you are buying in a gated community, ask which carrier owns the conduit before you sign.
Never take a landlord’s word that “there’s fiber.” Get the account number of the existing line and confirm the technology with the carrier directly.
Getting a line installed
This is lighter than the forums suggest. Telmex asks for a valid official ID — INE or passport — a comprobante de domicilio no more than three months old, and a signed form. An RFC is not required for a residential line. Neither is a CURP. Neither is a Mexican bank account, unless you want direct debit. Otherwise you pay at OXXO, at a Telmex office, or online.
Installation runs about $599–$1,600 MXN, usually deferrable across 18 months on the bill, and consumer packages are now generally sin permanencia — no forced contract term, which contradicts a lot of older advice about 12- and 18-month lock-ins. Advertised activation is 24–72 hours; realistically 3–10 days in a well-served urban zone, and open-ended if new drop cable is needed. The genuine friction for renters is the proof of address in your own name. A lease plus the landlord’s utility bill usually works, and many foreigners simply take over the existing account.
Mobile
As of the third quarter of 2025 Mexico had 144.59 million active mobile lines: Telcel 57.9%, AT&T 16.4%, Movistar 14.1%, Bait 7.0%. On quality the picture is not close. Opensignal’s October 2025 Mexico report measured Telcel at 46.0 Mbps download against AT&T’s 27.2, and on 5G 180.7 Mbps against 49.7. AT&T’s one win is availability, at 99.1%.
Leave the metros — the Yucatán interior, the Chapala backroads, Oaxaca’s Sierra, the Pacific coast highway — and Telcel is the only realistic choice. That has not changed in years and is unlikely to.
Movistar is a caveat rather than a competitor. It has run on AT&T’s radio network since 2019 and has no network of its own. Telefónica confirmed its exit from Mexico in November 2025, and a sale was announced in April 2026, still pending regulatory approval at the time of writing.
Prepaid Amigo Sin Límite recharges run $10–$500 MXN with unlimited calls and texts to Mexico, the US and Canada; a $200 recharge is the common default. eSIM works on Telcel, including prepaid and a tourist eSIM valid 90 days across Mexico, the US and Canada, and on AT&T’s prepaid product.
Backup, and the power problem
Starlink is available nationwide and is the standard answer for rural and coastal property: roughly $1,000–$1,250 MXN a month depending on tier, with a standard kit around $8,500 and the Mini near $5,000. No contract, no credit check, measured performance around 128 Mbps down and 16 up. As a pure backup, a Telcel hotspot is cheaper and fine for calls and email but will not carry a household.
Power is the underrated risk, and it is regional. Mexico’s 2026 operating reserve margin is around 9.2%, below the 13% comfort threshold. The Yucatán Peninsula is structurally the most exposed part of the country because its transmission link to the rest of the grid is limited — a 2025 transmission failure blacked out Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo simultaneously, and in June 2026 five southeastern states lost partial supply when two private plants tripped. Baja California and Nuevo León are the other chronic trouble spots. Add hurricane season from June to November on the Caribbean coast, where fiber and power poles come down together.
A UPS on the modem and router is the minimum. Anyone taking client calls from Quintana Roo or Yucatán should budget for an inverter and battery, and treat Starlink or a charged hotspot as a real second path rather than a nice-to-have.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get internet without residency?
Yes. A residential line needs official ID and proof of address, and a passport satisfies the first. No RFC, no CURP, no Mexican bank account unless you want direct debit. The practical obstacle is proof of address in your own name, which most renters solve with a lease plus the landlord’s utility bill, or by assuming the existing account.
Do I have to register my SIM card now?
Yes, since January 2026. Lines are linked to a CURP, capped at ten per person, and unregistered lines lose service other than 911. Deadlines have been extended more than once on a staggered schedule, so check the current position. Foreigners without a CURP use a passport or obtain a provisional CURP.
Which carrier should I choose?
Telcel for mobile, almost without exception, and by a wide margin outside the cities. For home internet it depends entirely on your street: Totalplay where it exists, Telmex where nothing else reaches, Megacable in the Bajío and on the Pacific coast, Izzi where you do not need upload speed.
Is the internet good enough to work remotely?
In a well-served urban neighborhood, yes — expect 50–100 Mbps real throughput on a mid-tier plan, which carries video calls comfortably. The risks are not bandwidth but coverage gaps at the street level and power reliability, particularly on the Yucatán Peninsula. Plan a second path.
Is Starlink worth it?
If you are rural, coastal, or somewhere the carriers have not built, it is the difference between working and not. In a city with fiber it is an expensive backup rather than a primary. Prices and hardware promotions have changed several times in the last year, so check current rates directly.
Sources
- Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones — market share and line statistics, Q3 2025.
- Opensignal — Mexico Mobile Network Experience report, October 2025.
- Speedtest Global Index — Mexico fixed broadband ranking, February 2026.
- Diario Oficial de la Federación — telecommunications reform of June 2025 and the mobile user registry lineamientos, December 2025.
- Carrier published tariff pages for Telmex, Totalplay, Izzi and Megacable, 2026. Mexican carriers reprice promotional tiers continuously — treat these as advertised rates rather than guarantees.
- CENACE and CFE — 2026 demand, capacity and reserve margin figures.
- Starlink Mexico published pricing, 2026. Verify directly; rates and hardware promotions have changed repeatedly.
