This is the third and final article about moving to New York City and choosing the best method of staying in touch with your friends and family back home.

In the first two articles I focused on plain old telephone service, and VoIP. This article will cover cell phones, as well as how to stay apprised of current events back home.

Nowadays, many New Yorkers opt to skip a home phone, and just have a cell phone. Since WiFi is available almost anyplace, you can take your laptop and peruse the internet in a café, so this cuts out the need for an internet connection at home. Your cell phone, of course, allows you to be reachable almost anywhere. (Your location, literally as in inside a building, on the street, or at a concert with thousands of people that tie up the cell phone network in one location all influence whether or not calls will get through to you.)

Main providers of cell phone service in New York are AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, though many smaller companies exist as well. Unless you are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for an unlocked cell phone, you will have to commit to a minimum of a one-year contract with the provider you choose. Every one has different rate plans, typically of benefit for domestic calling, and the rate plan changes about once a year. On average, expect to pay $50 – $100 per month for your cell phone (depending what features you have, and whether or not you want a data plan), and add to that the charge for an international dialing plan – typically about $5 per month, which makes international calls cheaper than if you do not purchase an international rate plan. Some providers also offer a “pay as you go” option which could be of value if you want to lower your monthly fees.

The potential downsides of having a cell phone as your main means of staying in touch with people back home are:

•limited battery life which could cut into your talk time
•you will pay for calls received on your cell phone, as well as those you make
•often this is not as cost-effective as either a land line, or VoIP service

Finally, when you move to New York City, you may wish to stay informed about news back home. Major TV stations in New York will only cover local and domestic news, and provide highlights of major international stories. For better coverage of smaller, more local news, you’ll want to check out CNN as well as NYCLife which even offers news segments direct from other countries, in other languages – most frequently French and Italian news. Foreign language newspapers are readily available. Spanish newspapers are available at almost all newsstands, and there are many international media stores around the city where you can find virtually any newspaper you’re looking for.

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After moving to New York, you will no doubt want to stay in touch with great friends, and family back home. New York is technology central! If they make the technology, you can probably find it here. Of course, with all the daily social activities you’ll no doubt get involved in, you may have a tough time finding the right time to phone home, especially if there is a different time zone to accommodate.

The toughest thing you’ll encounter when figuring out how to stay in touch with your favorite people back home is the plethora of options and providers that cater to your telecommunication needs in New York. Frequently, it seems that the best deal is to change providers every time your contract is up to get the best deals.

This is part one in a series to help you figure out the best methods to stay in touch with friends and family.

The Land Line

• This is the “fixed phone” that only works in your home. Advantages are that it can* provide the best reception of all the options, and you won’t have any dropped calls unless there is a blackout or fiber cut in your area. (* I say “can” because depending whether you get a cordless phone, or a corded phone, makes a difference.)
• If you’re in a large apartment building, you will want a DEC phone to put up with the least amount of interference from your neighbors phones
• You will need to buy dial tone service for this line. The two mainstream providers of dial tone in New York are Verizon and Time Warner Cable. Outside of Manhattan, there are more providers and cheaper rates. Both these providers are now competing to give you phone, internet, and cable TV service.
• It is much more cost effective to get all 3 then to choose only one or two, if you’re in need of TV, internet and cable. On average, it will cost you $90 – $100 per month your first year, and then costs will go up about $20 a month after that.
• Verizon DSL or FIOS is much faster internet service than Time Warner Cable modems
• Verizon has been requiring a 2-year contract, though it’s not evident in their advertising, whereas Time Warner requires only 1 year. Early disconnect fees are heavy.
• Both services work with your land line
• Verizon is a phone company at the foundation, Time Warner Cable is a TV company at the foundation. If you require lots of phone features, Verizon may be better – such as a fax line or two lines of service, or “distinctive ring” service which allows you to split one line into two for incoming calls.
• Typical packages include unlimited domestic calls in the US, and ability to add on rate plans to the countries you call the most.

Stay tuned for the rest of the series! 

* Looking for more information to help you adapt to life in The Big Apple? Click Here! *