Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
you're better off using your
cellphone
or a
public pay phone. Local calls
made from
pay phones in most locales cost either 25¢
or 35¢ (no pennies, please). Many pay
phones at airports accept American
Express, MasterCard, and Visa credit cards.
For
local directory assistance
(“infor-
mation”), dial 411; for long-distance
information, dial 1, then the appropriate
area code and 555-1212.
For
reversed-charge or collect calls,
and for person-to-person calls, dial the
number 0, then the area code and num-
ber; an operator will come on the line,
and you should specify whether you are
calling collect, person-to-person, or both.
If your operator-assisted call is interna-
tional, ask for the overseas operator.
Calls to area codes
800, 888, 877,
and
866
are toll-free. However, calls to area
codes
700
and
900
(chat lines, bulletin
boards, “dating” services, and so on) can
be very expensive—usually a charge of
95¢ to $3 or more per minute, and they
sometimes have minimum charges that
can run as high as $15 or more.
CELLPHONES
The major North American service
providers all cover Boston; in the sub-
urbs, you'll occasionally encounter dead
spots.
If you're not from the U.S., you'll be
appalled at the poor reach of the
GSM
(Global System for Mobile Communi-
cations) wireless network,
which is used
by much of the rest of the world. Your
phone will probably work in most major
U.S. cities; it definitely won't work in
many rural areas. To see where GSM
phones work in the U.S., check out
www.t-mobile.com/coverage. And you
may or may not be able to send SMS (text
messaging) home.
If you prefer to
rent
a phone, you can
have it shipped to you before you leave
from
InTouch Global
(
&
800/872-7626
or 703/222-7161; www.intouchglobal.
com), which charges 89¢ a minute or
more for airtime.
If you want a phone just for emergen-
cies and don't have to know your number
ahead of time, I'd suggest heading straight
to one of the Boston area's ubiquitous
freestanding cellphone stores or to
Radio
Shack
(
&
800/THE-SHACK;
www.
radioshack.com) and buying a prepaid
phone to use during your visit. Ask a lot
of questions: Make sure you're choosing a
provider that allows you to activate inter-
national calling immediately (try making
an international call while you're still in
the store), and be sure you understand all
fees and per-minute charges and have
enough money loaded onto the phone to
cover the calls you're likely to make and
receive.
VOICE-OVER INTERNET
PROTOCOL (VOIP)
If you have web access while traveling,
consider a broadband-based telephone
service (in technical terms,
Voice over
Internet protocol,
or
VoIP
) such as
Skype (www.skype.com) or Vonage (www.
vonage.com), which allow you to make
free international calls from your laptop
or in a cybercafe. Neither service requires
the people you're calling to have the same
service (though there are fees if they do
not). Check the websites for details.
INTERNET & E-MAIL
WITH YOUR OWN COMPUTER
Internet access is widely available in
Boston, where a wireless connection is
often easier to come by than a wired one.
Most hotels and many businesses offer
Wi-Fi access, and it's often free. (Paradoxi-
cally, high-end hotels tend to charge
guests by the day for Web access, while
many cheaper lodgings include Wi-Fi in
their room rates.) The city of Boston pro-
vides free Wi-Fi in and around the
Quincy Market rotunda at Faneuil Hall
Marketplace and at Christopher Columbus
