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Hi guys,

Newbie here, and as you might have guessed...
I have a question!

Which is better for a writer who likes living in a cool town and wants great internet for VOIP and websurfing - Lake Chapala or Ensenada? Or somewhere else?

If need be I am open to anywhere in Baja Norte (except Mexicali, too hot) or anywhere else in Mexico not too hot or too expensive.

Background:
I need to live "in town", within walking distance of
-- a coffeehouse for morning coffee
-- a tienda that sells leche frija
-- a gym
-- a place I can share an office with a desk with internet. (Could also work at home, but then instead of a 150 peso motel room or the equivalent, I'm going to need a small house in with good ventilation ( or a luxury condo). If I work at home I always hire a housekeeper to come in the mornings.

Ideally I would rent month-to-month, but I can sign a lease if not exorbitant. would sign a lease for U.S. $300 is okay, or even $500 depending on what I get... or I would pay as much as $800 to $1000 if in a neat house or condo in a neat setting or in-town, that could double as an office and had a garage so I could drive down in my 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. If renting a $300 room with no AC and no garage I would forget the car of course. (But even with a car in the garage, I don't want to drive it every day, I want to live in a town or village.)

Btw I came down for a couple of test visits, one driving and one on train, buses and cabs.
My impressions:

--Zona Centro in TJ was fun to see but got tired of aggressive merchants. Liked my US$15 hotel room on the third floor, next to the coffeehouse.

--Rest of TJ is okay, but too much like L.A. - beautiful mansions with no yards, or else slums. Not friendly enough to suit me. Everyone is there for the money, like LA or NY.

--Loved San Antonio, Rosarito. Expats plus the very nice English-speaking Mexicans who put up with them.

--Punta Banda was nice but seemed too remote.

--Ensenada seemed very safe, upscale, full of hipsters and culture. No gringos visible downtown. Great food available, ranked with L.A. Found a wine bar as well!

--Never been to Jalisco or anywhere else in Mexico. Want to see lots of places, but one step at a time.

I'll be coming alone. I have friends of friends in D.F. and Guadalajara, and Ajijic, but noone close. Expats in Baja seem like a friendly lot. But I make friends pretty easily anyway, and the social side is not the main thing right now. I want to work online and sort of practice living abroad.

So the main thing for me is actually the work environment - at home or elsewhere.

Other background on me:
-- I have lots of Mexican and Latin friends in L.A., all middle class.
-- Get along well with both expats and Mexicans.
-- I fake enough very bad Spanish to make get around, if people are very patient.
-- Going to apply for an FM-3 when down there, just in case I like the place.

Thanks for any guidance or opinions you care to offer!

-Jester

Ajijic has great weather, good food, but a bit on the expensive side. I have a 2 bdrm 2 bath house, bodga w/washer, small back yard 10 foot wall, front courtyard 10 foot wall and a nice size garage, detached. There is an American style grocery and resterant less than a block with centro 5 blocks away. I have telmex 2nd tier package running steady at 5.5 Mbs, unlimited Mexico and 100 Minute US, for $595.00 pesos, electric running about $600.00 pesos for 2 months. You are 45 min by bus to Guadalajara. My house has the total roof open and can see the lake. Now all of that being said, I am moving next month to Punta Banda, Ensenada, for a life on the beach for about the same as price as here.

Thank you very much for responding, prorader. Much appreciated.

Originally Posted by prorader

Ajijic has great weather, good food, but a bit on the expensive side. I have a 2 bdrm 2 bath house, bodga w/washer, small back yard 10 foot wall, front courtyard 10 foot wall and a nice size garage, detached.

House sounds great. When you said expensive were you referring to rentals?
Do you mind giving me a ballpark idea what something like that would rent for in Ajijic as compared to Ensenada or P.B.?

Originally Posted by prorader

I have telmex 2nd tier package running steady at 5.5 Mbs, unlimited Mexico and 100 Minute US, for $595.00 pesos electric running about $600.00 pesos for 2 months. You are 45 min by bus to Guadalajara. My house has the total roof open and can see the lake. Now all of that being said, I am moving next month to Punta Banda, Ensenada, for a life on the beach for about the same as price as here.

Ajijic sounds excellent. Glad to hear of internet speed. I knew GDL had good speed and low latency to U.S. -- but I couldn't tell if that extended to Ajijic. Glad to hear it does. Thanks!

Do you expect similar speed on P.B.?

The house I live in Ajijic is $550.00 US but the average is a little higher. The house I am moving to Punta Banda is a 2 bdrm 1bath on the beach with a 1bdrm 1bath casita in the front for $800.00 US

I think it will be Telmex, it comes with the house

Originally Posted by prorader

I think it will be Telmex, it comes with the house

In Punta Banda it's Telnor

Telnor the same? better or ?. The plan I have with Telmex is 2nd tier 2M internet, unlimited Mexico calls and 100 Min US per month $595.00 pesos a month, solid my wife make 20 or 30 calls in Mexico a month. I use Skype for my US calls.

Originally Posted by prorader

Telnor the same? better or ?. The plan I have with Telmex is 2nd tier 2M internet, unlimited Mexico calls and 100 Min US per month $595.00 pesos a month, solid my wife make 20 or 30 calls in Mexico a month. I use Skype for my US calls.

If my memory is correct we have 100 free connections and with dsl its 335.34p a month

As I understand it, Telnor is owned by Telmex. It's the same company.

It apears that Internet Telcel, Telmex, Telnor are the same and Prodigy Infinitum is a product that is used by several different companys but exclusive in Mexico by Carlos Slim and his companys above

Originally Posted by prorader

The house I live in Ajijic is $550.00 US but the average is a little higher. The house I am moving to Punta Banda is a 2 bdrm 1bath on the beach with a 1bdrm 1bath casita in the front for $800.00 US

Thanks!

Originally Posted by prorader

Telnor the same? better or ?. The plan I have with Telmex is 2nd tier 2M internet, unlimited Mexico calls and 100 Min US per month $595.00 pesos a month, solid my wife make 20 or 30 calls in Mexico a month. I use Skype for my US calls.

If 2nd tier internet is 2 Mb/second download, that's great. Thanks.

Just did a speed test the low speed so far 4.9 Mbs, average 5.5 Mbs

Originally Posted by prorader

Just did a speed test the low speed so far 4.9 Mbs, average 5.5 Mbs

Thanks.

Planning to come down soon.

5 Mips is great.

Thinking GDL/Ajijic/Chapala, not sure. Driving, with FM-3 already in hand. More to follow.

Originally Posted by Jester

Thanks.

Thinking GDL/Ajijic/Chapala, not sure. Driving, with FM-3 already in hand. More to follow.

I don't think they'll give you an FM before you've settled in one place. You'll need to supply an address.

Can a person have just internet without the phone or TV,,are there various packages??
Web site would be nice...

Originally Posted by prorader

It apears that Internet Telcel, Telmex, Telnor are the same and Prodigy Infinitum is a product that is used by several different companys but exclusive in Mexico by Carlos Slim and his companys above

Originally Posted by Nemo55

Can a person have just internet without the phone or TV,,are there various packages??
Web site would be nice...

You have to get the phone with Telnor to get internet. I think the only way to get pure internet is with a satellite system. Cablemas also offers internet, but not sure about their service.

Internet

http://www.cablemas.com.mx/Productos/IndexP.aspx

Thanks for the info,,,cable looks expensive..

QUOTE=Teniente;32464]You have to get the phone with Telnor to get internet. I think the only way to get pure internet is with a satellite system. Cablemas also offers internet, but not sure about their service.

Internet

http://www.cablemas.com.mx/Productos/IndexP.aspx[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Jester

Hi guys,

If need be I am open to anywhere in Baja Norte (except Mexicali, too hot) or anywhere else in Mexico not too hot or too expensive.

Background:
I need to live "in town", within walking distance of
-- a coffeehouse for morning coffee
-- a tienda that sells leche frija
-- a gym
-- a place I can share an office with a desk with internet. (Could also work at home, but then instead of a 150 peso motel room or the equivalent, I'm going to need a small house in with good ventilation ( or a luxury condo). If I work at home I always hire a housekeeper to come in the mornings.

Ideally I would rent month-to-month, but I can sign a lease if not exorbitant. would sign a lease for U.S. $300 is okay, or even $500 depending on what I get... or I would pay as much as $800 to $1000 if in a neat house or condo in a neat setting or in-town, that could double as an office and had a garage so I could drive down in my 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee. If renting a $300 room with no AC and no garage I would forget the car of course. (But even with a car in the garage, I don't want to drive it every day, I want to live in a town or village.).........

....... I want to work online and sort of practice living abroad......

-Jester

UPDATE:
Thanks to ProRader , Dennis and the others who furnished helpful input now over a year ago. Finally uprooted and made the move start of November this year (2013). In Ensenada, on the south side toward Bufadora, inland of the main drag (Reforma) up Lazaro Cardenas into Chapultepec. Guess I am in the working class district, not the cool walkable area I envisioned. But I do have a low 2200 peso rent for a 2 bedroom clean freshly painted casita, and hot internet via CableMas.

Chose this location due to proximity to a telemarketing gig I ran into at the last minute, CableMas here is fast enough at nominal 10Mbps that VOIP is realistic way to do business from home. Started in boss's home 2 short blocks away, now from my own home office.

But do feel pretty isolated. Lots of tacos handy, not much else...

But so far so good, at least I got moved out of there and down to here.

Well, when you're ready to do the mainland there are many options.
San Cristobal de las Casas
Guanajuato
San Miguel de Allende
Ciudad Mexico
Patzcuaro
Morelia
Cuernavaca
Guadalajara

All would fit your needs easily.

We are intending a move to San Miguel this summer after almost two years in Nayarit.

Time for a bit of the heart and history of this amazing country.