I think I lost my data card or left it at home. I'm in BOS right now and have a very important meeting tomorrow. I cannot use the customers network to get to where I need to be... don't ask, it's a highly secure network and I will have to give up my first born and my DNA for them to open up some ports. My question is that can I go to Verizon Wireless and have them loan me a card for 2 days or so? Can I do a "rental" type thing where I claim it doesn't work in the area where I need it to? My company has many many cards from these guy's but I don't want to be ropped into another contract....

Please let me know your thoughts... I'm working on my wife looking around for it and if she finds it to ship it to me overnight.....

They'll all do a 30 day trial, but only for NEW customers. So if you are a VZW customer, try going to a Sprint store. You'll need to go through the usual credit stuff, but should be able to walk out with a card.

You could also contact www.rovair.com and rent one but the in-store thing might be quicker if it's that important.

Another option is seeing what the full retail price is of a card and getting a new one in the Verizon store and having it programmed for your account. It will cost a bit, but you should be able to return it (I think) with nothing more than restocking fee.

I think that Verizon still has a 30 day return policy for purchases. You could try that.

Do you need high-speed?

A number of cellphones (and Blackberries) can function as wireless modems. Not nearly as fast as high-speed, but I've used my BB as a modem on T-Mo's EDGE network....

What about going to a third party wireless store and asking if they'll rent you a card?

One word of caution if you go the Sprint route. Be mindful when canceling the service. I did a 30-day trial through them a few years ago and ended up getting billed for two months of service when I had the card for a week. It took a while to get it sorted out, but it did get cleared up.

Well here is how it played out:

I went to the Verizon store, and they promptly told me no go.... I can upgrade my device for $179.... I was ok with this because I'd get reimbursed, but then it turns out that I can't even do that because it's a corporate account and I can't do it... now I got a bit ticked off on this... so I decided to be a smart ..., so I asked the guy for a copy of their contract... he asked my why, I told him I would like to read the contract before I sign up for service myself and have documenation I can send to my boss to approve before I do so... well it turns out they don't have printed documentation until you actually buy something. He told me it prints out as a receipt. I said, well why would I buy something before I read the contract terms? I hope you guy's don't do your personell business like this in life also... that's a bad thing to do... so I stood around for a few minutes, manager came out asked me the same thing... I promptly told him that I would like to sign up, but would need to read the contract, scan it, send it to my boss for approval and would be right back... so they mulled around for a few minutes and made a copy of somebody else's contract for me. I thanked them for their time and left. Same thing at the Sprint store.

How can they NOT give you a copy of a contract before you actually sign up? Boss didn't approve it, wife found my card, shipped it next day, should arrive by 8:00am. Cost 70 bucks and I can only hope for the best!