Being there is almost no GSM coverage in my area i have been using my N900 as a super N810. I have been able to enable tethering to my blackberry so i can get data incases where i am out of the office or on the road. The weak link in tethering is the blackberry and its short battery life when compared to the N900.

The N900 has been a life saver on site where i was able to input data into a word doc as i was getting it. If you are willing to connect a bluetooth GPSr it is a great little GPS.

I have made this my second number with skype in/out and i am consitering dropping my land line and just using this skype and the N900 as my "home" phone. If i ever get into Google Voice i will have SMS taken care of.

In short, a 100% of the time data connection is not required to make this a great pc to have in your pocket but it is not hard to get it a data without a SIM.