Trip to New York - Any tips on phone usage and useful apps?

b.cummins

b.cummins

b.cummins

Associate
Joined
23 Mar 2006
Posts
906
Location
Guildford, Surrey
Hello,

As per the title, I am off to New York as a tourist in a couple of days and I'll be staying there for 10 days in total.
I've already pre-booked a number of activities and have an explorer pass with some activities in mind to use it for. This has me well covered for some of the major and conventional activities I want to do but I find there to be a bit of a void in terms of spending downtime, whether it be finding the best places to eat and drink, good areas to walk around or visit on public transport etc. I was wondering if anyone had used an app (or apps) that enhanced this side of the experience with success?

My second concern is on my mobile phone. I've been looking around and advice is conflicting. I am not interested in calls or texts whilst abroad but am interested in data. To that end my network offers 250MB for 7 days @ £20 which should be adequate though I will need to pay that twice overall. I have read that you can pick up prepaid SIM cards at AT&T shops which are everywhere and should be competitive. I was wondering if anyone has used this and found it practical?

I am also worried about charges from incoming calls going to voicemail. The advice here is multi-faceted; some say to deactivate your voicemail before you leave and reject all calls, some say to deactivate your voicemail and leave your phone in flight mode (which won't help with the data needs) and others say you can implement a network level divert to voicemail before you leave to stop calls coming in the first place. Allegedly texts are still free to receive. The last option sounds the most convenient to me, has anyone had any experience of this? (My network is EE)
 
Are you expecting many (any) incoming calls? If not, grab a local SIM and slap that in there. WhatsApp/iMessage anyone who may need to get hold of you and just let them know that you're on a different number in case of emergencies but they can always WhatsApp/iMessage/Facetime you if needed.
 
I don't know what sort of deals are available in the US but I've just returned from a few days in Europe where it was significantly cheaper for me to pick up a local SIM with 5Gb of data than use my carriers blanket "pay three quid a day for 500Mb" deal.
 
admittedly it was a few years ago but $60 for 1gb (iirc) plus some minutes etc. if you look on ebay, then its still around $45 for 2GB 04 $60 for 5gb, depends how much you use, they do have 100mb for £1 a day.

USA is notorious for silly expensive mobile phone.

three feel at home, will probably be cheapest though.
 
Last edited:
I was in New York 2 weeks ago, I am on Three so Feel at Home is part of my contract. I used my normal data(slow as hell but fine for whatsapp) and minutes.

Get yourself a Three Pay & Go sim and use that. There are plenty of Free wifi points in the streets and on the metro. I used Google maps to find out where to go by searching for the highest star rating.
 
You can just walk everywhere, anyway. Head to a place called Dallas BBQ, just off Times Square (near Amsterdam Theatre) and thank me later :)
 
I knew this was the right place to ask :-)

As to the general consensus on EE - unfortunately I am locked in with them until March when I plan to leave and move to three or o2 on a rolling monthly SIM only deal. Unfortunately I must endure until then!

I'm going to look into getting a three SIM - is it a case of getting the standard pay as you go SIM and then activating the service when you activate the SIM in your phone?

Will also check eBay for US prepaid SIM cards.

I am fortunate in that I have booked through airbnb and my place includes wifi so will be doing as much as I can from 'base'.

Regarding guidebooks, I have downloaded a few electronically, I just don't really consume information that way. I can probably get away with how I navigate London - i.e. tripadvisor and google maps.

If it's too late to get a three SIM - does anyone have any knowledge on the call forwarding? I am not expecting many calls save for PPI and other usual spam, which I absolutely don't want to end up paying for.
 
Just get a Three PAYG sim, use your new number in US and worry about changing numbers when you get back... if you even want to change it. That way you don't pay for the annoying PPI calls at all.

You'd probably need to ring 333 to get Feel at Home activated on a PAYG sim, but that'd take you minutes and could be done in the airport before your flight, if you were pushed for time.

Don't overthink New York.. it's a large city but everything is easily accessible and the language is English, so you can always ask for help :p

Things I did, which you may want to consider... this is very much a "tourist" list, but it depends what you want to do.

  • Statue of Liberty
  • Cruise to Ellis Island
  • Empire State Building
  • Rockefeller Centre "Top of the rock"
  • 9/11 memorial museum and ground zero
  • Maddison square garden to watch an event (I saw some NBA basketball)
  • Times Square & general shopping on 5th Ave etc
  • Go see a Broadway show
  • Ellen Stardust Diner (a dancing waiter café on Broadway)
  • Central Park (tours are a good way to see a lot of the park, friends fountain etc)
 
EVH said:
You can just walk everywhere, anyway. Head to a place called Dallas BBQ, just off Times Square (near Amsterdam Theatre) and thank me later :)
Click to expand...

+1 went there and the food was amazing, hot dogs are more like hot donkeys :eek:

Got one of these as well

 
EVH said:
Just get a Three PAYG sim, use your new number in US and worry about changing numbers when you get back... if you even want to change it. That way you don't pay for the annoying PPI calls at all.

You'd probably need to ring 333 to get Feel at Home activated on a PAYG sim, but that'd take you minutes and could be done in the airport before your flight, if you were pushed for time.

Don't overthink New York.. it's a large city but everything is easily accessible and the language is English, so you can always ask for help :p

Things I did, which you may want to consider... this is very much a "tourist" list, but it depends what you want to do.

  • Statue of Liberty
  • Cruise to Ellis Island
  • Empire State Building
  • Rockefeller Centre "Top of the rock"
  • 9/11 memorial museum and ground zero
  • Maddison square garden to watch an event (I saw some NBA basketball)
  • Times Square & general shopping on 5th Ave etc
  • Go see a Broadway show
  • Ellen Stardust Diner (a dancing waiter café on Broadway)
  • Central Park (tours are a good way to see a lot of the park, friends fountain etc)
Click to expand...

Already have the top 5 booked or covered by a pass :D

Madison Square Garden seems really obvious and hadn't occurred to me - will check it out, and look into the Diner thanks!

I've decided I'm definitely getting a Three SIM and may indeed switch numbers over the coming months as my contract comes to an end - turns out it'll cost £20 for 12GB of data!


EVH said:
You can just walk everywhere, anyway. Head to a place called Dallas BBQ, just off Times Square (near Amsterdam Theatre) and thank me later :)
Click to expand...

I'm going to drag the vegetarians I'm travelling with to this place, sounds awesome.

sgavan said:
Got one of these as well
Click to expand...

Had wondered about this - explanation of the economy of unlimited vs. PAYG is really helpful, ta
 
I used Three for free while in New York, was good for whatsapp, gps maps only and bery basic browsing. Don't be expecting to stream movies etc
 
Small word of advice, if you going to Rockefeller Centre "Top of the rock" or Empire State Building just to see the view from above then do one or the other. Don't do both, that's a mistake me and my friend made.
 
malachi said:
Small word of advice, if you going to Rockefeller Centre "Top of the rock" or Empire State Building just to see the view from above then do one or the other. Don't do both, that's a mistake me and my friend made.
Click to expand...

To add to this: Top of the Rock gives you a better view of central park and the new york skyline, including the empire state building. Plus, they offer a day and night pass, so you can get two perspectives.
 
yer_averagejoe said:
To add to this: Top of the Rock gives you a better view of central park and the new york skyline, including the empire state building. Plus, they offer a day and night pass, so you can get two perspectives.
Click to expand...

Or just go at sunset and hang around on the upper level for half hour or so.. you get both ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom