Staying Connected

Telephones

For calls within the United States and to Canada, dial 1 followed by the area code and the seven-digit number. In eastern Massachusetts, you can leave off the 1 but must dial all 10 digits. For other international calls, dial 011 followed by the country code, city code, and the number you are calling. To place international calls to the United States, dial your country's international code plus the country code (1), the area code, and the local number.

Most long-distance and international calls can be dialed directly from any phone. Many convenience groceries and packaging services sell prepaid calling cards in denominations up to $50; for international visitors, these can be the least expensive way to call home.

Generally, hotel surcharges on both local and long-distance calls are astronomical, so you're better off using your cellphone or a public pay phone. Local calls made from pay phones in most locales cost either 25¢ or 35¢ (no pennies, please). Many pay phones at airports accept American Express, MasterCard, and Visa credit cards.

For local directory assistance ("information"), dial 411; for long-distance information, dial 1, then the appropriate area code and 555-1212.

For reversed-charge or collect calls, and for person-to-person calls, dial the number 0, then the area code and number; an operator will come on the line, and you should specify whether you are calling collect, person-to-person, or both. If your operator-assisted call is international, ask for the overseas operator.

Calls to area codes 800, 888, 877, and 866 are toll-free. However, calls to area codes 700 and 900 (chat lines, bulletin boards, "dating" services, and so on) can be very expensive -- usually a charge of 95¢ to $3 or more per minute, and they sometimes have minimum charges that can run as high as $15 or more.

Cellphones

The major North American service providers all cover Boston; in the suburbs, you'll occasionally encounter dead spots.

If you're not from the U.S., you'll be appalled at the poor reach of the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless network, which is used by much of the rest of the world. Your phone will probably work in most major U.S. cities; it definitely won't work in many rural areas. To see where GSM phones work in the U.S., check out www.t-mobile.com/coverage. And you may or may not be able to send SMS (text messaging) home.

If you prefer to rent a phone, you can have it shipped to you before you leave from InTouch Global (tel. 800/872-7626 or 703/222-7161; www.intouchglobal.com), which charges 89¢ a minute or more for airtime.

If you want a phone just for emergencies and don't have to know your number ahead of time, I'd suggest heading straight to one of the Boston area's ubiquitous freestanding cellphone stores or to Radio Shack (tel. 800/THE-SHACK; www.radioshack.com) and buying a prepaid phone to use during your visit. Ask a lot of questions: Make sure you're choosing a provider that allows you to activate international calling immediately (try making an international call while you're still in the store), and be sure you understand all fees and per-minute charges and have enough money loaded onto the phone to cover the calls you're likely to make and receive.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

If you have web access while traveling, consider a broadband-based telephone service (in technical terms, Voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP) such as Skype (www.skype.com) or Vonage (www.vonage.com), which allow you to make free international calls from your laptop or in a cybercafe. Neither service requires the people you're calling to have the same service (though there are fees if they do not). Check the websites for details.

Internet & E-Mail

With Your Own Computer -- Internet access is widely available in Boston, where a wireless connection is often easier to come by than a wired one. Most hotels and many businesses offer Wi-Fi access, and it's often free. (Paradoxically, high-end hotels tend to charge guests by the day for Web access, while many cheaper lodgings include Wi-Fi in their room rates.) The city of Boston provides free Wi-Fi in and around the Quincy Market rotunda at Faneuil Hall Marketplace and at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park. The best way to find public Wi-Fi hotspots is by searching www.jiwire.com, which has the world's largest directory of public wireless hotspots, both free and paid.

Without Your Own Computer -- Boston's Logan and most other major airports have Internet kiosks that provide basic Web access for a per-minute fee that's usually higher than cybercafe prices. Check out copy shops like FedEx Kinko's, which offers computer stations with fully loaded software (as well as Wi-Fi).