For those of you traveling to major US cities, it seems economical to just buy a prepaid cellphone (about $50, no?), or for something a bit nicer that lets you use your modem as well, get a cheap Sprint PCS plan. It's economical if you spend a few days a month in a place like NYC.

I once stayed at a dumpy motel that hit me with $4/call + $1.80/minute for local, non-toll calls. They billed all calls at LD rates, it seems. Ridiculous. Unfortunately, during my arguments with the manager, I let it slip that these were internet dialup calls -- at which point his argument became "well, calling the internet has special higher rates" and some such nonsense. The story has a happy ending -- a letter from my lawyer and a chargeback from Amex Platinum brought profuse apologies about the "billing mistake" and a refund of the extra charges. Wonder how many people didn't argue and were never refunded for "the billing mistake" -- and whether the "billing mistake" persists today.