What are people doing about their roaming charges in Toronto? I have an iPhone. I'll obviously shut the data off, but I believe the roaming charge is $0.79/min (is that right?). Text messaging rates appear to be $0.50 each.
What are people going to be doing to meet up with people at the conference? Just text messaging? I can handle sending 20 texts ($10).
Another reason why holding this conference in Toronto is a horrible call.
You can buy a super cheap unlocked phone there, then buy prepaid minutes on any compatible provider (they'll tell you which ones work at the store). Should be $10 for the phone and $20 for minutes. Works great for me when I go from the US to London.
My cell calling plan includes Canada same as the US. So there's that.
But they don't offer it anymore, so can you has it? No, you can't has it.
What?
^^ Doesn't solve the problem for people who want a usable phone to make a few calls but don't want to spend $30 for three days of coverage.
Yes, this is a pain for many US-based people.
Get over it. The world is bigger than your backyard.
^^ should be ^^^ above
You can rent a cell phone or a SIM card that will work in Canada for something like $10, which is still pretty steep. Not sure of the precise mechanics, but I know it can be done.
Wow, this is a bigger logistical pain in the **** than I thought. So my options (remembering that many of the attendees are broke-**** grad students like me) appear to be to drop more money I don't have on a rental phone or be out of phone contact for a couple days.
Great. With no working phone it'll be just like Midwest at the Palmer House, only more expensive...
Not feeling very sympathetic. Is everyone that wedded to their phones? Doesn't anyone ever travel outside of the US? You can pick up a cheap phone card somewhere and use a pay phone, and have people call your room. People did use to get by without cell phones, you know.
^that's not the point. there is absolutely no gain for holding the conference in toronto. conversely, the costs are just piling up.
if i needed to close a deal in london, of course i wouldn't mind.
but the fact that this conference could have easily been held in chicago pisses me off. i shouldn't have to go through this hassle.
Exactly. The "suck it up" attitude disregards the fact that all of the costs are totally unnecessary. What is the benefit of holding it in Toronto? Can anyone answer that simple question? We know the costs, now please tell us what we are gaining by holding the conference there.
I hope Henry Brady puts the smack down on this BS. Fire everyone who supported Toronto a
Holding the conference outside the US allows for vastly more non-US scholars to attend the conference *much* more easily. That is reason enough to do this once.
So will CPSA be in Dallas next year? Because that would make it far easier for Americans to attend.
^^This has been a major hassle for the foreign students (non-US) in our US department. It might be easier for those coming from Europe, but this isn't supposed to be the GPSA conference.
^3: hate to break it to you, but 95% of the world's cutting edge political science research is done by both US and non-US scholars at American institutions.
I assure you that the number of U.S. scholars NOT attending due to cost issues vastly exceeded the number of non-U.S. scholars attending because it's in Canada.
Sorry, there's really no argument. This was a dumb decision by APSA.
Truly, those complaining about the costs are just naysayers. I went to Western up in Vancouver earlier this year. I had no phone problems, and the costs for moderate use weren't all that bad. Who doesn't need an excuse to go to Toronto?
I don't think that many of the "world's leading" political scientists at major US institutions are not attending because of $10 phone costs. Conference budgets and research accounts (which any senior "leader in the field" has access to) can easily cover all the expenses related to this year's APSA. The post above sounds like a naive grad student talking.
Wow -- not being based at an "American" [sic] institution, I didn't realize that I was missing out on 95% of the cutting-edge research in political science. What the **** is wrong with me?
If you have Sprint, you can make a call (check their website for the number) to get your phone activated for Canadian use (just tell them it only needs to be activated for the dates of APSA), then it's something like 10 cents a minute, which isn't terrible.
People, please, get over yourselves before I have to call the whaaaaaaammmmmbulance.
First the whaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmbulance comment is dumb.
Second, I am not going to APSA and I am so happy. Who wants to spend labor day weekend hanging out with a bunch of jerks in Toronto. I'll take the beach.
^ No, it isn't dumb. Here's what's going on in this thread: some bored grad students are whinging about a very trivial matter (for a change!). Yes it sucks if your cell phone company makes you pay roaming charges in Canada. But seriously, how long are you really going to be spending on the phone while you're in Toronto anyway? Sure, you'll make a couple of calls here and there, to arrange to meet buddies, call cabs, etc. But that's about it. In fact, even paying roaming charges for these calls may well amount to less than it would cost to buy a cheap pay-as-you go handset, as people suggested above.
If you're spending enough time on the cellphone in Toronto for this to be a serious concern THEN YRDOINITWRONG
Yet another pain in the ****. Forcing this on all APSA members is ridiculous. It costs significantly more at a time when money is tight, and it is a pain in the **** all the way around for a place that is barely more exotic than New York. Call me a whiner all you want, but the verdict will be definitive once the attendance figures are released. If this isn't the least attended APSA in recent history, I'll never complain again. And if it is, then this will go down as one of the dumbest APSA decisions ever made.
who **** cares?!
Re. all the repeated griping about the meeting being held just outside the USA:
Virtually every other major academic professional organization has held its big conference outside the USA (often in Canada), and they hardly complained at all (at least in my experience with a couple of 'em -- sure, it's a small N, but > 0).
So why is it that so many people in political science complain while so few of those in other disciplines don't? Could it be that political scientists are more provincial and pampered, less international and adventerous, more whiney and obnoxious than other academics? Well, yes, it could be.
But if so, then why? Well, could it be that our field somehopw attracts lesser people? Yeah, maybe. Or maybe our field attracts folks just as good as any other, but it's the actualy practice of doing poli sci that dumbens so many of us? That possibility gets my vote. But then what exactly is it about doing poli sci that renders so many of us so stupid? Is it the fractured nature of our discipline, its silly subfield divisions, problems with its flagship journal, its infatuation with methods that were hot in other fields years ago, the declining hegemony of quants, all of the above?
^ excellent post, thank you.
^Oh yeah, just brilliant. If I don't want to incur extra costs for my business travel then I must just be an inferior person/scholar. Insightful. And if my feelings are shared by a large number of political scientists who decide to skip APSA, then it must be a symptom of a larger problem with American political science. Gee, I never realized that before! Thanks! I bet you (or most of you who are so gung ho to go to Canada) signed the petition not to go to New Orleans too.
"I bet you (or most of you who are so gung ho to go to Canada) signed the petition not to go to New Orleans too."
Uh, no, it's vastly more probable that many of the people who DON'T want to go to Canada (i.e., whiny ****) also whined and bitched about New Orleans.