Hi @team ! This thread is for discussing conference attendance matters-- any remaining prepwork, on-the-ground discussions, or concerns can be talked about here, and I’ve prepared a travel guide based on the example Gabriel gave earlier.
As the resident American, I’m happy to answer questions about how things work here. Stuff varies from state to state but a lot tends to be in common and most of you have been here before anyhow, so I don’t imagine there should be much trouble, but feel free to ask if anything’s unclear.
Quick question: my phone doesn’t support eSIMs so I’ll have to get an actual sim card. Is there any specific provider you recommend, or are they all more or less the same?
They’re mostly the same, especially within city limits. I’ve never used one of the major carriers for a short stint-- I’ve only ever gotten longer contracts with them. There are some resellers which are cheaper and have more flexible plans you might look at, like Mint Mobile or Boost Mobile. The latter has physical shops you can go and get a SIM card from all over the city. The former you’d have to order a SIM from and get it delivered, so probably wouldn’t work.
Boost Mobile resells AT&T and T-mobile’s network on lower priority. So basically you pay less and if the network is especially congested, your traffic/call is deprioritized. I use Mint, and have found that this reseller access has worked well enough in practice for me.
The differences in carriers matter much more when you’re out in the sticks. Sometimes only one company reliably services a particular area-- but in major metropolitan areas, they all have good coverage.
If anyone meets anyone at the conference that would be good for us to stay in touch or potentially collaborate with, please feel free to share their contact with me/send them my way. Thanks!
