I'm off to New York City October 1st :)

That doesn't work with Bell Canada because they lock the phones and won't give you the codes. Bah humbug.... changing to a new provider when my contract is up. In the meantime....

Sounds like a cheap throwaway then. That's MEAN. I just used my normal for conveniece sake....it certainly cost a LOT. I don't know if a couple of days would cost all THAT much though? I used mine for six weeks overseas.....

Mame, you can buy this Tracfone for $10

http://www.tracfone.com/phone_detail.jsp?contentID=UCMTST_008463&title=Samsung T105G

You can buy a 30 minute airtime card for $10, or a 60 minute airtime card for $20. Look at the pay-as-you-go airtime cards on this page.
https://www.tracfone.com/direct/Purchase?payGo=true&app=TRACFONE&lang=en

That particular phone gives you double minutes--so, if you buy the 30 minute card, that will give you 60 minutes of talktime on the phone, and, if you buy the 60 minute card, that will give you 120 minutes of talktime.

You can order the phone from Tracfone's Web site and then buy the airtime card on their Web site after you get the phone. On their site they tell you how to activate the phone and add airtime.
Immediately after you buy the airtime card online, you just follow some simple instructions and the airtime you just purchased is automatically added to your phone.

When they ask where the phone will be used, give them area code 212 that's Manhattan. The area code doesn't really matter--you can make nationwide and international calls on these phones. Tracfone has very good service.
And, should you need to add more talktime to the phone, while you are in NYC, you can easily do that.

I hope you have a great time in the Big Apple.

(and don't let bell-canada know aboot your cheap phone, eh)

they might make you stay here...

Hey, Wow, Thank You, Firefly! I'll check that out right away.

Now that wouldn't be fun now would it?

I made a mistake with that particular phone Mame--it doesn't double the minutes when you buy the airtime. Sorry 'bout that.

This phone, at $15, does double the minutes. Still a good deal--the double minutes does save money on the airtime purchases.
http://www.tracfone.com/phone_detail.jsp?contentID=UCMTST_009388&title=Samsung T245G

Hey, no problem. My husband also told me he has a cell he's not using and we can get a US pkg on it or something, so when he comes back from out of town, we'll check that out. And if I have Skype on my phone, I can use wifi. All plausible solutions. Thanks!

Those NYC hop on hop off passes sound great.

What's at the top of your must see/must do list?

MoMA and the Guggenheim. Eat. Frick Gallery. Eat. The Met. Museum of Art. American Museum of Natural History. Then all the usual... just wandering around all the neighbourhoods

Have you been there?

I love spending time in New York City whenever I can. And visiting all the places you've mentioned. And going to Lincoln Center, and the theater, and wandering around various neighborhoods in lower Manhattan, and window shopping on Madison Ave, and eating....and eating What's not to like?

Sounds like heaven to me

Well, I checked and it's a minimum of $2.25/minute = that's more than $10 for a 5 minute call. Given that I am arranging to meet four people, with calls back and forth, it could be $$$. And probably won't be taking my Mac, so... it's all down to the phone. Of course, we could email! And... I have Skype on my phone, so Skyping in a wifi zone seems like the reasonable thing to do.

Remember, tsar, it's Mame for museums and culture. It's roger for the Shake Shack expedition.

Been to the Cloisters? If you like mediaeval art!!!! And the surrounding park is lovely.

It's on my list, d... I love all things medieval.

And Rog, I'll go to the Shake Shack with you. It's on my list, too.

Not sure on this, but does it matter what you do on your cell phone, Mame? Isn't minutes roaming all that matters?

According to my sister, if you use Skype, there's no roaming - your Safari hooks up to the WIFI and you can use all those features for free on the internet. It's the Bell system I don't want to use. She just came back from 7 weeks in Europe and she skyped us the whole time. You turn the roaming feature off your phone. I'll have to double-check.

I live a catapult's stone throw from the Cloisters.

Joe(heh)Nation

Poifect! I intend to go there, too.