Activating and upgrading HTC G1 w/o a data plan or a sim? So I got myself a used G1 from a local guy. The main reason for purchasing this phone was that I needed a quad-band GSM phone for my visits abroad. Then, I thought why not put a few more $$ and get a smartphone that I can use as a PDA when in the US (as I don't have/want a cell phone nor an active voice or data plans).

The 1st problem I encountered was that in order to turn on the phone, I had to activate it by registering my Gmail account. But, in order to get to that point, I had to overcome the "No SIM card" screen, and to activate the WiFi connection. I was able to use my foreign Sim to pass the first screen, and found instructions on the web for activating WiFi before registering Gmail. The problem is (or at least was at the time - a couple of months ago) that this method required the installation of the RC29 system version.

So, my question is - is there a readable walk through or tutorial that explains, step-by-step, what is required in order to upgrade my system to something more modern - without a local voice or data plans?
Most updates won't erase your data. The kernel and /system partition can usually be updated without the filesystem needing to be wiped, so your data folders aren't damaged.  If the WiFi network data isn't erased, then your phone should connect to WiFi after the upgrade, and you're good to go. I can't find any info on what happens when upgrading to RC33, for example, but official updates usually don't wipe data. The update might also eliminate the No-SIM-so-you-can't-do-anything problem.