I'm a N900 owner and have a great contract with 3UK (which is now on a rolling 1 month notice period) of £5 for a few 100 calls/texts and an additional £5 for unlimited (1Gb FUP) data.

However I'm traveling to the US - New York - in April, and it would be so useful to have my device connected for checking out ticket information,. tourist information etc. It appears my hotel has free wireless which is a start, but I was thinking about getting a PAYG (prepay) SIM card for my unlocked phone

In the UK prepay SIMS with data start from
£10 ($16) - 3 - 120Mb, 600 texts, up to 90 days
£15 ($25)- as above but with additional 2Gb data for 30 days
£15 ($25)- O2, "unlimited" (think it's 500Mb fup) for 30 days
not sure about tmobile/vodafone - think tmob has same

So anyone traveling to the UK can pretty much get plenty of data cheaply. It also means kids, students, those not earning can also often afford to use data regularly - and indeed 3's £10 offering is used by both of my children.

However I can't see such an offering for the US. Data plans seem to be contract and pricey over there. I was rather surprised for a high tech economy to not see anything attractive

The multiplicity of standards/3G bands doesn't help either. For the N900 tmob is obviously a better option than AT&T as it will allow for HSDPA although edge would be sufficient

Is there also much reselling of mobile spectrum in the US. Don't see a lot of evidence? In the UK we have virgin, tesco, asda ... etc, everyone's at it!

Another example of Europe being more forward in the mobile space?

Has anyone got any recommendations. Since I have wifi in hotel it's not critical, and I expect NYC has a fair share of free wifi around cafes/bars, but I was still surprised........

If you don't make many calls (I don't) then PAYG sims from Virgin may be even better value: The SIM is free (30p postage if you need it delivered) then I pay £5/month for 1GB data and then 20p/minute for calls. Also they let you pay by direct debit monthly in arrears so no topping up. My December bill was £6.20. You have to opt in to the data part of the contract otherwise they charge 30p a day, but if anyone is visiting the UK for a couple of weeks the day rate may be even better value.

But back to the main point of your post: I think there may be no good answer. There's an article that might help you at http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=4872, but it's pretty depressing reading.

Yes, as you've seen, your choices in the U.S. aren't great.

=-- T-Mobile Pay By The Day --=
Per Day Cost: $1.00 (if phone used)
Per Min Cost: $0.10 to U.S., $1.60 to U.K.
Incoming SMS Cost: $0.05
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.10
MMS Cost: $0.25
Data Cost: n/a

=-- T-Mobile Pay As You Go --=
Per Day Cost: n/a
Per Min Cost: $0.33 / $0.19 / $0.13 / $0.10 * to U.S., $1.60 to U.K.
Incoming SMS Cost: $0.05
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.10
Incoming MMS Cost: $0.25
Outgoing MMS Cost: $0.25
Data Cost: n/a
* depending upon refill card size

=-- T-Mobile Sidekick Prepaid --=
Per Day Cost: $1.00
Per Min Cost: $0.15
Incoming SMS Cost: $0
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0
Incoming MMS Cost: $0 (I think)
Outgoing MMS Cost: $0 (I think)
Data Cost: $0 (port 80 blocked)


=-- AT&T GoPhone $3 Unlimited Calling Plan --=
Per Day Cost: $3.00 (if phone used)
Per Min Cost: $0
Incoming SMS Cost: $0.20 -or- buy package
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.20 U.S., $0.25 international -or- buy package
Incoming MMS Cost: $0.25
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.25 U.S., $0.50 international
Data Cost: $0.01/KB -or- $4.99/1MB package -or- $19.99/100MB package
Note: Optional SMS packages are available: $4.99/200, $9.99/1000, $19.99/unlimited. They need to be repurchased every 30 days.

=-- AT&T GoPhone $1 Mobile to Mobile Plan --=
Per Day Cost: $1.00 (if phone used)
Per Min Cost: $0.10
Incoming SMS Cost: $0.20 -or- buy package
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.20 U.S., $0.25 international -or- buy package
Incoming MMS Cost: $0.25
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.25 U.S., $0.50 international
Data Cost: $0.01/KB -or- $4.99/1MB package -or- $19.99/100MB package
Note 1: Optional SMS packages are available: $4.99/200, $9.99/1000, $19.99/unlimited. They need to be repurchased every 30 days.
Note 2: An optional Unlimited Night & Weekend Minutes Package may be added for $19.99 per 30 days. Nights are 21:00 to 06:00. Weekends are 21:00 Fri to 06:00 Mon.

=-- AT&T GoPhone $.25 Simple Plan --=
Per Day Cost: n/a
Per Min Cost: $0.25
Incoming SMS Cost: $0.20 -or- buy package
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.20 U.S., $0.25 international -or- buy package
Incoming MMS Cost: $0.25
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.25 U.S., $0.50 international
Data Cost: $0.01/KB -or- $4.99/1MB package -or- $19.99/100MB package
Note: Optional SMS packages are available: $4.99/200, $9.99/1000, $19.99/unlimited. They need to be repurchased every 30 days.

=-- AT&T GoPhone $60 Unlimited Talk and Text Feature Package on the Simple Rate Plan --=
Per Day Cost: "n/a" (effectively $2.00 though)
Per Min Cost: $0
Incoming SMS Cost: $0.20 -or- buy package
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.20 U.S., $0.25 international -or- buy package
Incoming MMS Cost: $0.25
Outgoing SMS Cost: $0.25 U.S., $0.50 international
Data Cost: $0.01/KB -or- $4.99/1MB package -or- $19.99/100MB package
Note 1: Optional SMS packages are available: $4.99/200, $9.99/1000, $19.99/unlimited. They need to be repurchased every 30 days.
Note 2: The "$60 Unlimited Plan" is $60 per 30 days. If not repurchased at the end of 30 days, it falls back to the $.25 Simple Plan.

General notes:

• eBay is a good source for both cheap, unactivated SIM cards and discount refill cards. You may be able to purchase them before your trip.
• I've listed the extra charges for calling/messaging the U.K. where those charges are easy to find. There may be additional charges beyond those listed.
• Moving from one T-Mobile plan to another or from one AT&T plan to another may be done pretty much at any time via the web or by dialing special codes. Extra packages on AT&T may be added the same way. Some N900 users on T-Mobile bounce to the Sidekick plan just when they need data and stay on another plan the rest of the time.

There are small, regional resellers in some areas and a few large, nationwide ones.

The nationwide ones won't meet your needs. If their phones even have SIMs, those SIMs are tightly tied to the reseller's custom-firmware phones.

You may be able to find a smaller, regional reseller in New York, but most regional resellers tend to 1) resell Verizon, which won't help you and 2) not support any data usage. Also, most of them don't support roaming outside their own limited area, so if you visit someplace outside New York, your phone will be useless except to for emergency calls to the police, etc.

Many thanks for the info, I guess I knew this but am still surprised that the market is so very different.

The only vaguely viable option is $20/100Mb -- pretty paltry, can get 2Gb for just a little more than that over here.

Sounds like I'll stick to wifi and avoid cellular data. Such a shame

So everyone, come and spend your tourist dollars in europe. We're data friendly! (although there's less free wifi probably!)

Wait wait...You PAY to RECEIVE calls/messages in the US? That's insane

Yes. There's no charge for incoming calls on landlines, but incoming calls on mobile phones cost the same as outgoing calls. So, call your friend's mobile phone from your mobile phone, and you both pay.* Whee.

There used to be a few mobile carriers who only charged for outgoing text messages, not incoming, but I think they've all switched to charging for both now. Mobile customers are generally encouraged to subscribe to a plan add-on for n text messages per month instead of paying per message.

The U.S. mobile market is highly innovative, it's just that the areas of innovation tend to cluster around carrier lock-in and exciting new fees.

* Okay, there are exceptions, particularly if you go for a contract plan instead of PAYG. Most mobile carriers in the U.S. have plans with free "in network" calling and/or plans that allow you to pre-select some number of phone numbers you can call, and receive calls from, for free. One of the AT&T GoPhone plans has free "in network" calling. I didn't mention that in the long list though because it is just further complication.

Oh wow, I didn't know that. It really suprised me when I read that
Over here only the prepay phones are vendor locked. And you can usually buy it to make it simlock free

When you make a chargeable phone call in the US the company you use to place the call keeps all of the money for that call no matter whether you are calling someone on the same network or another network. That means it costs the same to call a land-line or a mobile but the recipient may have to pay to receive the call, and it is also what lets Skype or Google Voice allow free calls throughout the US: they don't have to pay the other phone providers to complete the final step of the call.
By comparison in places like the UK the caller pays the full cost of the call and the revenue is shared between all of the companies that carry the call. The means we get to receive calls free, but we don't have the same opportunities for free calling.