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The past year has been a tumultuous one for Mexico. Everything from military violence against civilians to government corruption has saturated foreign and domestic news cycles. What doesn't get mentioned often enough is that the primary reason this information is reported at all is because Mexicans fully understand how to use the Internet to disseminate information. Mexicans, therefore, take Internet access very seriously as a citizen-run "Fourth Estate;" it's far more than just a way to Netflix and Snapchat (but it's that, too). Let's take a look at how we connect in this country.

Fastest ISPs 2015: MexicoLast year's telecommunications reform was meant to open up the landscape to new competitors by allowing more companies to offer triple-play (TV+phone+Internet) options. At first glance at our list of fastest ISPs, there seems to be a dizzying mix of familiar names and new ones. But if you peek below the surface, you'll discover that most of it is just new alliances and new branding on older providers.

To measure Internet speed, we have closely partnered once again with Ookla, the creator of Speedtest.net, the globe's most popular broadband testing service. The throughput ratings here are based on tests run at Speedtest.net by millions of unique users who provided their upload and download speeds.

We then generate a PCMag Internet Speed Index rating for each ISP; it's a weighted score calculated by taking 80 percent of the ISP's download speed and 20 percent of its upload speed. Using that Speed Index number, we then can quickly quantify the fastest ISPs.

Fastest ISPs in Mexico

Fastest ISPs in Mexico

The top name in the list should be familiar. It's Axtel, which last year was crowned fastest ISP in Mexico with a 44.5 PCMag Index Score. This year, Axtel did it again, nearly doubling the score of its nearest competitor and keeping the No. 1 spot with a 43.8 PCMag Index Score. It managed this with a statistically insignificant drop in download speed to 44.4 Mbps and a small bump in upload speed to 41.5 Mbps.

What does having the best Internet in Mexico cost? Well, the entry-level package is 10 symmetrical Mbps for about $26 USD a month, going up to a 200 symmetrical Mbps connection (Axtel X-treme) for $64 USD a month on the high end. It's been my personal experience that in practice, you can expect a 20-30 percent drop in actual connection speed vs. advertised speed, but even then Axtel still has fast enough connections to take our top spot for a second year.

This year's second place winner is a new entry to the top 10, knocking last year's runner-up down a spot: Megacarrier Telecomunicaciones. Megacarrier operates in several states (Michoacán, Jalisco, Guerrero, Colima, Zacatecas, and one city in the State of Mexico) and manages to score a 26.3 PCMag Index Score, by way of a 25.2 Mbps download speed and a surprisingly faster 30.9 Mbps upload speed. Unfortunately, Megacarrier's website commits a huge infraction against humanity: it doesn't publish the costs of its various Internet plans, and what information it does contain is published using comic sans font on a website that could have been designed in 2002.

It's also worth noting that the states in which Megacarrier operates are also some of those plagued by the heaviest drug-related violence. This makes Megacarrier's second place finish all the more significant, since these regions tend to have very little traditional media coverage. Whatever reporting does happen is by independent journalists and citizens for whom the Internet is a lifeline.

Nipping at Megacarrier's heels is last year's runner-up, TotalPlay, which rounds out our top three with a 25.1 PCMag Index Score, higher than it scored last year with a 20.7. TotalPlay's download speed clocks in at an improved 29.4 Mbps (up from 24.6 Mbps last year). Its upload speed improved slightly from 2014's abysmal 5.1 Mbps to a more tolerable 7.9 Mbps upload this year. TotalPlay is a bit cheaper than Axtel on the low end, offering 15 Mbps for $25 USD, although you're not getting symmetrical speeds. From there, the plans on the high end are considerably more expensive: $89 USD for 200 Mbps and $108 USD for 300 Mbps; a terrible deal considering these aren't symmetrical up/down speeds either.

Our fourth place goes to Telecable (third place in 2014) with a 13.3 PCMag Index Score. In fifth we have IZZI, which is worth mentioning because it represents the rebranding of last year's fourth place ISP, Cablevisión, and is an aggressive push by Televisa (the largest television network in Mexico) to compete with Carlos Slim's Telmex Internet offering, which is Mexico's most-used ISP; it scored a terrible 5.2 PCMag Index Score.

IZZI at least earned a 10.2 PCMag Index Score. It registered a 12.3 Mbps download speed and a "barely broadband" 2.0 Mbps upload speed. Neither numbers are particularly spectacular, but where IZZI is really trying to compete is in pricing. Its prices are competitive only if you're looking at its triple-play offering: cable, Internet, and phone. For example, it offers 10 Mbps for the same $26 USD a month as Axtel, but with cable TV, too.

Comparing prices to Telmex is trickier since Telmex doesn't actually show the connection speeds it offers on its website. It touts any number of other benefits, but buried in a PDF download link we find that its Internet packages top out at 10 Mbps! Telmex's index speed of 5.2 was actually an improvement over last year, but not enough to get it in the top 10, since many other ISPs had even bigger improvements in speed.

Fastest ISPs in Mexican Cities

Fastest ISPs in Mexican Cities

Like most countries, Mexico doesn't have a single ISP that offers nationwide coverage, so where you live will have serious repercussions on your fastest available connection speed.

If you're moving to Mexico and want an Internet connection that rivals South Korea, you need to move to a borough of Mexico City called Benito Juarez, which scored a municipal 50.2 PCMag Index Score. This borough is one of the more affluent and economically stable areas of the city, so it would be interesting to know if the higher score is due to residents paying for the faster and more expensive connections offered in the area.

Ranking in second place, we have 2014's fastest city, Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, with a very respectable 49.1 PCMag Index Score.

If Benito Juarez is the borough with the fastest Internet in Mexico and Mexico City, let's take a look at how the city ranks as a whole along with some of the other major municipalities in the country.

Mexico City

Mexico City is massive, with 8.8 million people living in its 16 boroughs. Add to that the State of Mexico, including the Metropolitan Area, and you have an urban population of 21 million people. Unsurprisingly, Mexico City has an abundance of ISPs, which face the challenge of offering fast Internet in a market with high demand and little brand loyalty.

In first place, with a PCMag Index Score of 31.1 is our nationwide winner, Axtel. It does so with a 32.2 Mbps download and 26.8 Mbps upload speed. The second place goes to TotalPlay (third place nationwide), which scores a 25.9 on the PCMag Index.

Our advice is, therefore, the same as last year: get Axtel or TotalPlay and ignore the other ISPs, including IZZI, which, despite the hype, scores an uninspiring 7.3 PCMag Index Score for a distant third in Mexico City.

Guadalajara

Along with Mexico City and Monterrey, Guadalajara is considered one of the three most important cities in the country. Let's examine how Guadalajara's 4.4 million inhabitants fare when it comes to Internet speed.

As it happens, they seem to be doing about the same as Mexico City, with Axtel taking the top spot with an index score of 27. Unfortunately, this represents a significant drop for the city, since in 2014 Axtel took the same place in the city with 44.2. Perhaps everyone using Axtel switched to very bad Wi-Fi routers since last year?

Second place is also a repeat of 2014: TotalPlay, scoring 13.7 on the PCMag Speed Index. That's a considerable drop from 2014's 18.4.

Monterrey

As one of the most important financial and business centers in Mexico, Monterrey should have first class Internet service. So how does this city of 4.1 million do in our ranking?

Matching its national first place spot, Axtel is the fastest ISP in Monterrey, with a 25.1 PCMag Index Score. In what is a perplexing trend, this year's score is a considerable drop from Axtel's 2014's PCMag Index Score of 43.1 in Monterrey.

Second place is TotalPlay with a PCMag Index Score of 18. Its download speed is 20.6 Mbps and its upload speed of 7.3 Mbps is decent enough but by no means inspiring.

Tijuana

Tijuana, or T.J. as it's commonly known on both sides of the border, is a mere 15 miles from San Diego, California, a city which, according to Ookla, averages connection speeds of 27.7 Mbps down and 5.9 Mbps up. This made me wonder if, border security aside, someone in San Diego who wanted faster Internet access shouldn't just drape a long Ethernet cable from Tijuana. This is why: TotalPlay managed to score a 33.3 on the PCMag Index with an impressive 38.6 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up. Both offer considerable improvements over the San Diego averages.

Second place Cablemás and third place Telmex score 11 and 10, respectively, on our PCMag Index. Those scores are definitely not worth violating a highly controlled international border with Ethernet cable.

Axtel is worth mentioning because, once again, it ranks so low in Tijuana as to give the impression that it was another ISP entirely. Perhaps Axtel in Tijuana is stuck in a time warp, operating as if it were 2000. It scores 2.0 on the PCMag Index there.

Conclusions

This year proved a mix bag. On the one hand, Axtel managed to remain the fastest ISP in Mexico for the second year running while keeping its score more or less the same. However, it showed considerable drops in speed in three major markets. This could represent either a customer base that is opting for slower packages with Axtel, or a sign of growing pains for the company as it adds subscribers. It still represents the best choice in almost all the markets in which it offers service.

TotalPlay follows, offering a solid second choice as long as you're willing to overlook the asymmetrical speeds it offers.

We also see the entry of IZZI to compete head on with Telmex, which has the largest share of Internet users in Mexico. However, this isn't a battle that will be fought on our PCMag Index since the numbers show that neither Telmex nor IZZI provide anywhere near the speeds that Axtel or TotalPlay offer, regardless of what they might advertise. This is a fight for the bottom of the pyramid, as it were. "Good enough" connections and cheap prices in a country like Mexico, in which 56 percent of the population doesn't have Internet access, are in many ways more important than blazing Internet speed. They're also ultimately more profitable.

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