We are more and more hooked on our phone and want to use it whenever and wherever we want, so when we arrive in New York it's complicated.
Because in the United States, the standard price at Orange, for example, is €13.31/MB. So if like me, you're used to being on your phone all the time on applications like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp ... and you're used to using 3 to 10 GB per month, in less than half a day, you'll already have a bill of a few hundred euros.
The prepaid SIM card bought on the spot in New York
It is also possible to buy a prepaid SIM card from one of the local operators such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint or MetroPCS.
To do this, simply go to one of their local agencies in New York and buy the package that goes well and will only last for a month.
You should know that the rate at AT&T is $60 for 6 GB of data, and at T-Mobile $60 for 10 GB of data ($60 = € 54,72 *). If you are interested in buying a prepaid SIM card while in the USA, check
https://www.simoptions.com.
Free Wi-Fi on site
In New York, there is more and more free Wi-Fi.
You will be able to find it in most accommodations, bars and restaurants, in the largest parks and squares in New York City, but also in more and more subway stations.
In addition, Google is in the process of equipping all the old phone booths with Wi-Fi hotspots so that you will be able to use it for free everywhere in NYC within a few years.
In short, finally the free is possible and it can be a good plan.
But you know as well as I do that connecting to a free network is often tedious and long because you have to enter your name, your email and sometimes you even have to wait a few seconds in front of an advertisement. And I'm not even talking about the fact that the easiest thing to do when you have free Wi-Fi is to stay still.
So yes it's convenient and cheap ... since it's free but you can't connect anywhere and above all be mobile.
Conclusion
So you can see that there are many offers.
In my opinion, the most competitive if you go to New York for a week is to take either the offer from Free (especially if you are already a customer with them), or to take a SIM card (especially if you are with another operator than Free and/or you are a large data consumer).
On the other hand, it is true that if you stay several weeks in New York, the offers of local operators may be good.
Finally, if you don't use the Internet on your phone much and don't need to make many calls, the good free plan in New York is Free Wi-Fi!