bquinons

Hello,
I am traveling to NY and want to stay connected (mainly data) without the huge roaming charges.
Where should I get the chip? At the airport? At specific places?
I will be also in Washington DC, I assume the same chip is good in both places, is it like that?

Thanks in advance.

kayd

SIMs without phones are not as readily available in the US as in some other places. Google "prepaid SIM iPhone (your phone's model number)"

Here' an example of what you might find
http://www.amazon.com/AT-Go-Phone-Pr.../dp/B003X7INLK

A SIM that works in any city will work throughout the US, except for some remote areas.

doug_stallings

AT&T and TMobile sell a microSIM for the iphone 4 and (presumably a nano-SIM for iphone 5). You can find lots of AT&T and TMobile wireless stores all around DC and NYC. Needless to say, you must have an unlocked iphone in order for this to work.

FYI: Other, smaller regional companies also offer service, but their stores are harder to find.

bspielman

Does your carrier at home offer an international data plan? When we traveled from the United States to Europe, we bought 100GB of data per month from Verizon for $25. We used Wi-Fi where possible and used the iPhone's Personal Hotspot feature where necessary to create a Wi-Fi signal where there was none available for our laptop. It was not necessary to replace the SIM card in the phone. It was, however, necessary to monitor our data use closely--no automatic app updates, for instance, unless we were on Wi-Fi.

doug_stallings

Yes, bspielman makes a very good point. It may very well be cheaper to pay for a limited-time international data roaming plan from your own provider than to buy a SIM (which is rather expensive in the U.S. ... at least $30) and then pay for the data service, which might cost as much as $60.

bquinons

Thanks for your help and the info.
Now I know how expensive it is to use data in the USA. I was thinking on something like the 6 euros chip I bought in Prague lath spring.

Bspielman, I found out that there is a 10 dollars per day roaming plan from the local provider.... Much better than the usual roaming fees, but I don't need 5MB per day and don't want to spend 100 dollars in data. Too much fir this trip, but great for shorter ones.

I guess I'll stay with the wifi whenever I found it and use the skype wifi when there is none.

Thanks a lot for sharing.

doug_stallings

WiFi is widely available in public areas of NYC. I'm not sure about DC. But I can speak from experience since I never by a data plan when I travel to Europe ... it's confusing and annoying not to be able to get information whenever you want.

What's interesting to me is that your roaming plan is wildly more expensive than what I'd pay when traveling abroad, but I can definitely say that all data usage is wildly more expensive in the U.S. than anywhere else.

Finally, I'd add that I'm coming up with those figures out of my hat. That's we typically pay for one month of unlimited data in the U.S. You might be able to buy less for a shorter trip for $20 or $30. Still, it's not an inconsiderable amount of money.

bspielman

If you choose not to buy a data plan from your provider, be sure to ask them specifically how to avoid international cellular (not Wi-Fi) roaming data fees, which can be exorbitant. I believe that, on the iPhone (using iOS 7.0.2), you would go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data, then turn it off. That will allow the phone to use only Wi-Fi, not any available cellular network. You should confirm this with your carrier.

mclaurie

Read this from a knowledgeable poster on tripadvisor
http://m4rkm.com/new-york/iphone/