So far I have escaped the cell phone trap.
But now I am running up against the need to be able to read PDF documents
while in a customer home. So I am thinking along the lines of a PDA cell phone with WIFI.
I can download what I need via USB or WIFI before leaving the shop.
But The word from Worst Buy is that all of their (verizon) Pda phones require a data contract. Can't I just swap a SIM card from a basic phone plan into an aftermarket PDA phone. I know it has to be a CDMA phone.
I know I won't be able to tag the data services but I figure I can use the WIFI at some customers houses if needed.

Am I missing something in my thinking process?

SIM Cards are handy when you work in a job where you can destroy your cell readily.
Had a contract with Nextel in which I got pretty much all the phones I could eat- they all used SIM cards.

That's about all the use for SIM Cards.

The rest of the time- SIM equals Easy Theft.

I would go with contract- you get covered at least.

SIM Cards are popular here in my country .

You can change phones as much as you like, including PDA Phones.

We have Prepaid SIMs and Postpaid ones here .

Mine is Postpaid .

Last time I lost my phone , it's just my phone that I lost , I have recovered all informations I have saved on my SIM and transferred it to my other phone.

I don't know if it's the same there .

__________________
Jean
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"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein

"The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge " - Bertrand Russell

If you lose the phone, don't you need the SIM that was in it to retrieve the data?

Besides, all a theif or finder of a lost phone needs to do is swap the SIM and they have a free phone.
So why bother handing in a found phone that was lost?

Here, a lost phone can have service terminated by the provider, so it becomes totally useless and only YOU can have it turned back on.

You can retreived the Data if you are on Plan. But if you're on on Prepaid you can't.
I'm on Plan , that's why I was able to inform the Service Provider to Block the Phone and my Sim, and reactivate it once I have a new phone to use.

Bu the thing is , here , even if you have reported a lost phone to the Service Provider and Blocked it , there are "Thiefs" who can unblock it , just like hackers.

__________________
Jean
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"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einstein

"The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge " - Bertrand Russell

So far, I think you're all missing the bigger picture:

Here's a suggestion:

1. Skip the PDA
2. Skip USB
3. Bypass WorstBuy
4. Skip the data contracts
5. Skip the SIM cards
6. Skip the CDMA stuff
7. Skip the whole idea of using a cell phone.

How?

Buy a $500 laptop with built-in WIFI. Cough up another $200 and and you'll have what I have - a stellar laptop that pulls double-duty as my desktop, complete with the ability to drive a 1920x1200 24" monitor in stellar color/resolutions.

__________________
If I set the budget, we'd have Ares and more. Unfortunately, I don't set the budget, and Ares is just too expensive and too far out for us to accomplish our goals within the budget we were given.

If we halt the ISS, all versions of Ares, and transport Orion and Altair aboard DIRECTv3's Jupiter family of Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicles, we just might make it back to the Moon by 2020.

+1 on mug's idea, it's what I'd do in your situation.

LOL
Mugs...

There just has to be a reason why Samkent didn't do that...
Because that is so obvious that I'm ashamed and must abase myself.

A tool box in one hand.
A 12x12x12 box (or 2) with a part in the other.
A clipboard tucked in the back of your pants.
Walk from a parking garage, down the lobby, up 10 floors and down the hall.

A laptop would just be left in the truck. Then they would pull their cell out and call the shop. "I just need that one adjustment" "Can't you just look it up for me?"

You have an extra man burning time and a laptop just waiting to grow legs and walk away.

A PDA cell will be with them all of the time. No excuses.

Have you looked into the Palm Centro or Treo?
http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/

Understood. And it's easy to see why Neverfly saw this right off, given his similar occupation.

Back to the OP:

Again, you're missing the cell phone part of it all. Skip it. Just go with a decent PDA with built-in WiFi and the ability to clearly display a PDF.

On the other hand, if you must have a cell phone, and/or already have a cell phone and a decent plan you like, then buy a PDA with cellular technology (Several very nice ones are out there) and jack in to your service. Your service plan shouldn't change, and you'll probably be able to use your current SIM card, though you might want to pay the $15 and get a new one.

__________________
If I set the budget, we'd have Ares and more. Unfortunately, I don't set the budget, and Ares is just too expensive and too far out for us to accomplish our goals within the budget we were given.

If we halt the ISS, all versions of Ares, and transport Orion and Altair aboard DIRECTv3's Jupiter family of Shuttle-Derived Launch Vehicles, we just might make it back to the Moon by 2020.