Going stateside... prepaid provider question

Hello guys,

I am going to visit a friend of mine over in Springfield, Virginia this september / october for two weeks. During this time I intend to visit Washington and NY, but most of the time I will stay in and around Springfield.

While being there I would like to stay connected to my family and friends in Europe and I was wondering what would be the most economical way to accomplish that. I intend to use e-mail, skype and facebook, check RSS feeds and news-sites, call with my buddy to stay in contact.

Maybe also going to use Google Maps to find my way around when my friend is not there to play tourist guide.

So no heavy usage.

Roaming is not an option as Vodafone Netherlands charges nearly 2 Euros per Minute and even more per MB.

I can use either a Nokia S60 quadband mobile with WLAN, my Bold or a MacBook Pro. (Although I am a bit hesitant to take the MBP with me...).

I stay at my pals place, but he does not have an Internet connection.

The way I see it from here I have two options:

- log in at some WiFi spot like Starbucks etc.
- buy a prepaid card that would allow me to use the Internet from my mobile (if this is at all possible).

Both have their advantages and disadvantages, I am aware of that. But what would you guys recommend? Maybe there are any other options I did overlook?

Greetings from the Netherlands,

Archer

I would use the wifi, I think that would be the most economical way.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Are there any other places that would offer WiFi besides Starbucks?

Besides that, I would need to buy a prepaid card anyway to stay in contact with my pal. Which provider would you recommend? Verizon looks pretty decent, but did I get that one right: they charge you 25 USD to get a prepaid card from them?

The reason why I am asking such a question that might sound stupid to you is that over here the providers pay you between 15-20 Euros worth of prepaid charge.

Thanks in advance for your efforts.

Archer

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Bump

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

My girl lives in the states (Denver, co) When I traveled there for the first time with Curve I was suprised my BIS from t-mobile netherlands was working, so BBM and my email. I checked my on line bill that night and there were hardly any out off my package costs so I continued to use BBM and my email.

In total I had to pay eur12.00 after being there for 11 days, and using my BBM and email. I must sayd I did not receive huge emails with attachements. Thought this was a pretty good deal.

I also closed down Facebook and Twitter berry and did not use my browser so I hardly used any MB's I suppose

For calls I use a " pay as go" simcard of T-mobile. This is the same as our prepaid simcards. please keep in mind though you also pay minutes in the usa when you get called. :)

I was in the states for a month, I ended up getting a t-mobile flexpay plan. I went a t-mobile store with my unlocked blackberry and walked out in 20 minutes with everything set up. It's basically a monthly prepaid plan where I had like 600 minutes, free nights and weekends, plus the blackberry service BIS with unlimited internet. Cost me around 80 dollars with a new t-mobile sim card. You're only there for two weeks so I don't know if this helps but its useful if you're on the internet a lot and if you want to use your blackberry messenger.

Just remember that the two main GSM carriers in the states are ATT and TMobile. Verizon and Sprint are CDMA carriers so your Bold will not work with their networks.

If its only bbm then I would say forget the flex plan and just use your own simcard.

If you want to use internet that flexplan might be the way to go :-)