US help.

[vofzxy]

anyone has advice on buying a mobile wifi for USA networks?
it seems all tied to carrier....

 

[patryn33]

anyone has advice on buying a mobile wifi for USA networks?
it seems all tied to carrier....

What do you mean by that?
Not tied to carrier means I want something which allow you to connect to ATT or Verizon whichever gives u the best bandwidth

 

[Shiny Things]

anyone has advice on buying a mobile wifi for USA networks?
it seems all tied to carrier....

Not really, unfortunately. I'd normally say "just go to the Verizon store and ask", but Verizon is weirdly skittish about overseas customers. AT&T and T-Mo are normally pretty chill.

I'm sure you can buy non-network-locked hotspots, but all the ones I see on Amazon are 3G-only in the USA.

Hi all, is all the hotels in US subjected to city taxes? Generally 14%

Most are, but it varies between cities.

Is it right to say option 1 room price is already taking into account city tax as compared to option 2?

Thanks!

Honestly I don't think you can really tell, but if you're letting $3 of tax dictate your hotel choice you're thinking about it too hard. Just pick whichever one looks nicer on TripAdvisor

Thanks Shiny!

Would like to ask if Hipmunk is also a good website to search for hotel deals in US? Im personally using agoda.com. Wonder if there is better ones. Thanks for sharing!

I tend to book directly through the hotel websites - most of the big chains will price-match third-party websites. Starwood (my personal fave) gives you free wifi if you book through their website (I think you have to be an SPG member, but it's free to sign up), and a 20% discount over and above the price-match if you find a third-party website that beats the SPG.com prices.

If you really want to check the aggregators, maybe because you're in a small town that doesn't have a lot of chain coverage, I tend to use a combination of TripAdvisor (so you don't get stuck with a lousy hotel) and RoomKey (which is pretty comprehensive for midscale chain hotels - Choice Hotels, Best Western, Hampton, Holiday Inn, that sort of thing). But normally I just go straight to Starwood if I'm in a big city, or Marriott in smaller towns, because that's where I rack up my loyalty points.

 

[vofzxy]

What do you mean by that?
Not tied to carrier means I want something which allow you to connect to ATT or Verizon whichever gives u the best bandwidth

Not really, unfortunately. I'd normally say "just go to the Verizon store and ask", but Verizon is weirdly skittish about overseas customers. AT&T and T-Mo are normally pretty chill.

I'm sure you can buy non-network-locked hotspots, but all the ones I see on Amazon are 3G-only in the USA.

Yes. That's why
But I would like one for future trips as well.... If not I'll just get a 2nd hand iPhone lolsz

 

[theanser]

Most are, but it varies between cities.


Honestly I don't think you can really tell, but if you're letting $3 of tax dictate your hotel choice you're thinking about it too hard. Just pick whichever one looks nicer on TripAdvisor

Shiny, Thanks for the insightful advices!
Maybe I made a mistake and it wasn't the city tax which contributes the most. Its the hotel taxes and resort fee which can shoots about to 100USD for average 3-4 night stays. LOL

Some hotels request USD100 per day or USD250 per stay as deposit. Can we usually have the full deposit amount back in most cases (provided our room is returned in its original condition)

 

[lcpteck]

If I go San Jose and San Francisco with my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and do roaming, I can only get 3G maximum? Good enough for Pokemon and Googlemaps right?

 

[Shiny Things]

Shiny, Thanks for the insightful advices!
Maybe I made a mistake and it wasn't the city tax which contributes the most. Its the hotel taxes and resort fee which can shoots about to 100USD for average 3-4 night stays. LOL

Most places in SF don't charge a resort fee - some of the big fancy hotels might, but the smaller ones won't. You get it a lot in Vegas, though.

Some hotels request USD100 per day or USD250 per stay as deposit. Can we usually have the full deposit amount back in most cases (provided our room is returned in its original condition)

Yeah, the deposit gets offset against your bill when you check out. It's more a deposit to hold the room, not a cleaning deposit.

 

[invisible999]

anyone has advice on buying a mobile wifi for USA networks?
it seems all tied to carrier....

If the device is for US market then most likely will be designed only for the carrier it is marked for.

In other words, if you buy Verizon mifi, then you get LTE speeds but only with Verizon and no other carrier. I have not seen multi-carrier mifi devices for US and you can forget for international market.

 

[Mickey35]

Arrived at SFO today and before travel specially purchased Starhub prepaid SIM for $18 and enabled 1.2GB of data on it for $12 (it came with $18 credits). Here are observations:

The conclusion: if you have to have data network available in all places you go, then please a) get a phone/device which works at 4G frequencies in US and b) use/purchase SIM card which uses AT&T network. It will cost you 4x-5x the amount of mentioned above but you won't have accessibility problem.

Now a little bit more detailed explanation, it works, but... that but would make some people not to use this option.

First, I specifically took with me a small mobile 3G/4G/cell wifi router (called mifi device as well) which worked fine in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia for this purpose - the same SIM card shows 4G connectivity after powering on and speed was good. However in US the device could not connect to T-mobile (destination roaming network) for speed >2G. Which makes it completely unusable here. If you leave settings in 'cell connectivity' as auto, it will take about 3-5 min to connect to the Tmobile network. You can speed things up by logging on to router's management interface and selecting Manual and after that - Tmobile network, but it won't affect the speed it will connect - you will have 2G at the end.

Then I put the SIM card into my Singapore iphone 6 and after restart it came with 3G. It will NOT be working with 4G here because the phone does not support required frequencies.

Now the bad part of the situation is that coverage disappears in number of places. Moreover, while it shows that there is no coverage at the particular area, T-mobile's own SIM at the same phone shows excelled 3G connectivity. Even if you have 3G, it also introduces huge delay - tested number of times and it showed as 550ms and very low up/dl speeds - like 450kbit down and 200kbit up.

If you do not mind paying US30/SGD45 for a SIM card for the time you are in US - go for it. If speed/connectivity coverage is not that important for you then this option might work.

I personally won't use it again during my visits in US.

I fully agreed. I am just back from LA. I personally will not use the Starhub Sim again. I used Uber as my main mode of transport as it is cheap. So I need a stable network to book the Uber cab.
Also it is very troublesome if you swipe the Starhub sim to another phone, you need to do the setting again. not plug and play.

 

[bobokw]

I fully agreed. I am just back from LA. I personally will not use the Starhub Sim again. I used Uber as my main mode of transport as it is cheap. So I need a stable network to book the Uber cab.
Also it is very troublesome if you swipe the Starhub sim to another phone, you need to do the setting again. not plug and play.

T-mobile is known for bad coverage, it's significantly cheaper than other providers like AT&T and Verizon but the coverage at rural area are damn bad.
If you are mainly staying around the cities area you're fine with T-Mobile, but if you're gonna drive out to the outskirts I suggest you consider other Telcos.

 

[vofzxy]

If the device is for US market then most likely will be designed only for the carrier it is marked for.

In other words, if you buy Verizon mifi, then you get LTE speeds but only with Verizon and no other carrier. I have not seen multi-carrier mifi devices for US and you can forget for international market.

Yea that's what I thought so... I just arrived in NYC this morning Sg time... I'll probably just get some device from best buy

 

[lcpteck]

Yea that's what I thought so... I just arrived in NYC this morning Sg time... I'll probably just get some device from best buy

Wow, have a good vacation.

 

[theanser]

Hi all!

I will be staying at Las Vegas for 2-3 days. Would like to ask if its feasible to make it to the grand canyon south/north rim ---> antelope canyon --->horsebend within one day and back to my hotel at Vegas.

Wonder if there is any recommendations on some tour packages to take?

Thanks!

 

[patryn33]

Hi all!

I will be staying at Las Vegas for 2-3 days. Would like to ask if its feasible to make it to the grand canyon south/north rim ---> antelope canyon --->horsebend within one day and back to my hotel at Vegas.

Wonder if there is any recommendations on some tour packages to take?

Thanks!

Who is driving?
If you are have you seen the time it took to drive around? You ok with the drive?

 

[theanser]

Who is driving?
If you are have you seen the time it took to drive around? You ok with the drive?

Hi, nope we are not looking to drive. I am looking for local bus tours package. Any good ones?

So far, I only found packages to grand canyon only. Perhaps its better to be two different trips (1 day to Grand canyon and another day to Antelope+Horseshoe) ? HAHA

 

[Shiny Things]

Hi all!

I will be staying at Las Vegas for 2-3 days. Would like to ask if its feasible to make it to the grand canyon south/north rim ---> antelope canyon --->horsebend within one day and back to my hotel at Vegas.

Not if you're coming from Vegas.

Las Vegas to the GC South Rim is four-and-a-half hours solid driving. Grand Canyon Village to Page (where Horseshoe Canyon is) is another two-and-a-half hours. That's seven hours' drive each way; no way in hell are you doing that in one day. Even the Grand Canyon in one day is a huge stretch, unless you're going with a tour so you don't have to do the driving.

 

[theanser]

Not if you're coming from Vegas.

Las Vegas to the GC South Rim is four-and-a-half hours solid driving. Grand Canyon Village to Page (where Horseshoe Canyon is) is another two-and-a-half hours. That's seven hours' drive each way; no way in hell are you doing that in one day. Even the Grand Canyon in one day is a huge stretch, unless you're going with a tour so you don't have to do the driving.

i see. Thanks! then it will make sense to do it in two days. It is advisable to engage local tours there grand canyon visit? How about grandcanyon tours.com ?

 

[patryn33]

i see. Thanks! then it will make sense to do it in two days. It is advisable to engage local tours there grand canyon visit? How about grandcanyon tours.com ?

Shiny is stating if you were to drive. Since you going with tour you can do it in a day if you find the right tour operator.

Tours just offer transport, what is your expectation from tour? Walk with you and explain things? Or let you go wonder and meet up?

My sibling took tour, given short time to explore don't get to see all the sights

 

[humanrace]

Hi all, i am planning an honeymoon trip in Jan for a 14 days (road trip)
I have a open leg air ticket to arrive at SFO and depart from LAX.

Planning the following and needs suggestions:

Day 1 - SFO
Day 2 - SFO (some shopping for winter wear at outlet stores)
Day 3 - SFO (golden gate bridge, fisherman warf?)
Day 4 - SFO ( Napa Valley ... )
Day 5 - SFO (any more suggestions?)
Day 6 - Yosemite (5 hour Drive? and stay there for 1 night)
Day 7 - Yosemite
Day 8 - Vegas (10 hour Drive? or should i return the car to SFO and take a flight?)
Day 9 - Vegas
Day 10 - Grand Canyon
Day 11 - LA (Drive from Grand Canyon to LA and return the car there)
Day 12 - LA
Day 13 - LA
Day 14 - Return flight from LAX

 

[Desmond_]

Anyone been to Dallas? Fort Worth?
Planning to travel there in March 2017 for 7 days.
Any input will be much appreciated.
Thanks