While they're at it, they should make batteries optional, save $30-40 right there! I mean, i'm around electricity pretty much all the time. There's a mini-usb plug at my desk at work, in my car on the way home, at home. There's no point to have to pay for a battery i won't use!

It's very simple. Verizon offers this phone for hundreds less than it's competitors. It has to recoup costs somehow. And 99.9% of their target audience for this phone need and use the data. So why go out of their way to cater to the .1%, it's just not practical business, especially when that fighting .1% will usually give up and get data, or get something else.

There's a simple solution. Get a htc titan or apache. connect to wifi and get your crap there, but don't activate hte phone. or get a netbook, they're small and portable, and they work better on the web and such. The phones listed above go for $50-100 used, and are nice phones. I've owned both.

You sound like peta. If you don't care for it, feel free to shop elsewhere.