Ever since we moved down to Mexico, I've been working on my business using the internet. Part of the work is some consulting and the other part is working on developing website assets (including www.mexico501.com). The biggest thing we had to have for this to work is an internet connection.

My Office DeskWe were able to get a 512k connection for about $32 USD per month. It isn't quite fast enough for what I need, but it was a very good price point. It is plenty fast for our internet phone connection and that was the application most sensitive to low bandwidth. We were expecting the internet to cost about $100 USD per month, so the cable modem seems like a really good deal.

Our internet phone is another very important key to being able to work from here. We use Vonage for our personal calls and Skype for business. With Vonage, we are able to use our existing cordless phone just like we did in the U.S. It still startles me when I hear it ring because I keep thinking "I'm in Mexico, the phone shouldn't work down here."

I also have a Blackberry through TMobile that can send and receive email internationally for a reasonable fixed fee. We use that when we are on the road to let people know where we are. Phone calls would cost $1.50, so email seems like a good way to keep connected without the high fees. We may eventually get a Mexican cell phone that wouldn't cost nearly as much.

Before we came down here I went ahead and invested (splurged) on a really high quality monitor. The 24 inch screen is easy on the eyes it gives me a lot of extra space to work.

I really miss my office chair. Right now I'm using a borrowed fold up chair that collapses on me 2 or 3 times a day. Bringing the office chair down probably wouldn't have been worth it, but I think I'll look for one once we get our own place. I'm also borrowing a fold up desk that fits nicely in the corner of our borrowed room for right now. When we rent our own place, I'll probably look into getting a desk of some type. I may just get a large flat door from Home Depot and use it. That is what Amazon does for their employees. It wouldn't cost much and I wouldn't feel bad about leaving it when we eventually move back to the U.S. plus if we ever need a door, we'll have one available.