T-Mobile offers a $1/day prepaid Sidekick plan that includes unlimited data service. Voice calls are 15¢/minute. Which is fine. I probably use less than 30 minutes of voice service a month. This is exactly the cellphone service that I want. Except I want an Android, not a Sidekick.

Does anyone have a prepaid Sidekick from T-Mobile? If so, do you have a friend with a 1900MHz GSM Android phone? Can you put your Sidekick's SIM in the Android and see if it works?

It appears it doesn't work. When you log into the APN then it knows what type of device you are and refuses to allow you data access if you're not a Sidekick device. Search around for iPhone and the T-Mobile Sidekick plan to see lots of complaining about it.

I'm unsure whether this is because they're on a regular plan with the Sidekick data plan bolted on or because they've got a Sidekick SIM inside a non Sidekick device. You'll have to look into it further.

US cell phone carriers suck. Universally. You already have to sell your soul to agree to be spied upon, and then they screw you into buying stuff you don't want or need. If they're making money selling that with a Sidekick, why would they not make money selling it with a different phone?

You could certainly buy an unlocked Android and then get one of the Blackberry data-only plans for $40/month. I doubt their network gives a hoot whether you're running a Blackberry or an Android.

It's unclear if you can get the subsidy and the same $40/mo. data plan. They don't appear to offer two separate prices as they do when you get a standard voice + data plan.

A colleague of mine had a Blackberry with Cingular which then transitioned to AT&T. They didn't have the capability to just assign a device a data plan without a phone number like he wanted.

However, the first-level CSR set up the BB with a phone number along with the normal $40 BB data plan. They simply just didn't tie a voice plan to the device which meant that if he ever made a call out from the BB, he would be billed $.50/minute or some other outrageous amount.

He used the BB for years like that without an issue.

You may also look into the DataJack which runs on T-Mobile's network. I presume there's a SIM inside the dongle that's ripe for the plucking. Unfortunately, there would be no voice service but you could just use Google Voice on an Android device. The DataJack seems very new, so you might be blazing new trails.

HSPA USB sticks is how a lot of people connect to the net in Europe. In fact I'm looking at setting myself up with such a device when I go on vacation for the month of May in Portugal. What I'd actually prefer is a battery-powered HSPA-to-WiFi bridge like the MiFi. But I'm looking to rent/borrow the device rather than buy.

That DataJack seems pretty low speed. The European providers are advertising rates like 20Mbit now. Should be fine for email though.

Similar to the way the SIdekick plan will not work on non-sidekick devices, the SIM for these product may not allow you to connect to the network unless it's stuffed inside the appropriate dongle...

I've got one for when I need internet access when away from the office or home. As expected, speeds are extremely variable even if you have a good signal. You're at the mercy of whatever is used as the backhaul from your nearest node to where the cell network bridges to the internet. Latency is varies between okay and high.

Despite the adverts, I wouldn't rely on one as your primary internet connection. If you're just using it when you're on holiday then it should be okay assuming you get a decent signal.

I don't think you can actually have no number assigned. I've gotten "data only" SIMs for things like HSDPA dongles and alarm notification systems and they've all had numbers assigned to them. The number for the SIM inside my HSDPA dongle is in a weird mostly unused block but it works just like a regular number. You can send/receive calls and messages.

Damn. How did I miss that? That might be the thing.

Another interesting method I've heard that at least avoids minute usage is to get an Android phone on a cell phone plan that gives you unlimited calling to 1 or more numbers of your choice, like T-Mobile's myfaves plan. You then set your Google Voice number as one of those numbers, and as long as you're always sending or receiving through that number, you'll never run out of minutes.

Because I'm someone who does talk on the phone quite a bit (90% of which is supporting clients and calling support lines), I can't tell you how much of a relief it was to simply give in to T-Mobile and pay for their $50/month unlimited calling plan. I love not having to worry about minutes. I know you don't make many calls Bitt, but this is my experience from the other end of the spectrum. It might be $50 a month, but because that is so much lower than the competition, I still feel like I'm getting away with something.

In the UK at least, the service providers tend to have exclusions for things like that. The discount or prepaid calling cards also generally get blocked.