Hi,

I'm looking for a US-based cell phone so that I can make local calls during my upcoming trip to NY. (My UK mobile phone is a tri-band, but the roaming charges are ridiculously high). I'm not the most tech-savvy person, so pardon my basic questions...

Am I correct to assume all I have to do is just to buy a SIM card and put it into my handset? Are there stores where I can buy SIM cards in mid-town? Is there pay-as-you-go services? What company gives good coverage within NY?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

You can buy a pre-paid cell phone with SIM for about $60 from either TMobile or Cingular (and sometimes they offer "free" phones, but these require a mail-in rebate, which won't do you any good). I believe that you can buy a SIM card alone for about $30 from TMobile, but I'm not sure about other companies. But if your trip is going to be less than 3 weeks, I'm not sure it's worth it if you have to buy a phone. The other big prepaid phone is Virgin Mobile, which you buy at the Virgin Megastore (there's one in Times Square). In Manhattan at least, there are lots of pay phones, and that might actually be a cheaper, if less convenient, option. Cell phone stores seem to be on every streetcorner.

Thanks. Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Is there any difference on coverage among Virgin/TMob/ Cingular? Payphone won't work for me as I'm expecting incoming calls as well.

Well you have a problem I think b/c once you put a new SIM card in your phone (IF it's an unlocked phone) your phone number will change so if you're expecting incoming calls, you'd have to give them the new number. If the incoming calls are coming from the UK, you may wind up with very high costs. Bottom line, they don't make it easy to use a cell phone for both domestic and long distance calls.

telestial.com is the place to look for info.

In my experience, neither TMobile nor Cingular has any better service than the other in NYC itself. There are always some dead spots with the big buildings. Both these companies are GSM-based. Virgin Mobile is not, and I used to have Sprint on which the Virgin Mobile system runs, and I found the coverage in the city slightly less comprehensive. I have Cingular now, and I like the service, for what it's worth.