Care Needed With In-Car Wi-Fi
There are signs that ‘in-car wi-fi products will have a big push in the Christmas marketplace.
They are now much more prominent among the gear that the networks and phone shops are pushing.
The idea is to create a mobile wi-fi hotspot inside a car which allows all passengers to connect their devices.
In my case, it will be about keeping the kids quiet on a long journey.
However, before taking the plunge and shelling out on a Huawei 4G or a Buzzard 2, it’s worth thinking through the issues with these devices.
The first consideration is that a stand-alone hotspot product is not the only way of getting in-car wi-fi.
Built-in versions are increasingly being introduced by car manufacturers into their new models.
Because these also have bigger, better, built-in aerials, they have much superior performance.
For anyone considering a new car purchase, that may a better route.
Another alternative is to use an existing smartphone, many of which have a ‘tethering’ option, enabling the device to provide a ‘mobile hotspot’ function by itself.
That provides a much less expensive approach as it avoids the necessity of having a second and separate device ‘on contract.’
Be wary, though, because tethering for long periods seriously drains batteries, so an in-car charger might be a necessity.
Secondly, serval devices running online activities through a single mobile connection will only perform adequately through 4G.
So, on the right network in big cities or on the main motorways, in-car wi-fi should be fine.
But, as yet, even on many bust roads, out in the sticks, responses can lag and expectations of performance should be reduced accordingly.