Sharp Hiptop 3 / Sidekick 3

Hello, I am a verizon wireless customer so I am not too familiar with t-mobile. I am interested in a data plan, but I won't give verizon the satisfaction of paying $45 a month for something that T-Mobile offers for $30. My question is this, can the sidekick 3 be connected to a laptop and used as a wireless modem? And also, if the coverage in my area is not too great for t-mobile (which i know for a fact) will that affect the download times noticably? Thanks for anyone that answers...