AutoNet Mobile Brings Wi-Fi To Automobiles

Do you want Wi-Fi in your car? Autonet Mobile might just have what you’re looking for. The company markets its recently announced AutoNet Mobile Unit for vehicles, promising to transform cars into Wi-Fi hotspots that let users send instant messages, stream media, send emails, play online games, listen to music, and perform other online tasks.

However, although the AutoNet Mobile Service bills itself as Wi-Fi-enabled, the Wi-Fi is used to beam the service from the in-car router to mobile devices. The router, on the other hand, receives the signal from cellular towers. So it remains to be seen whether the service can match the performance of connections found at the average non-moving hotspot. Still, early reports indicate that the service can deliver speeds ranging from 400Kbps to 1Mbps, which certainly isn’t shabby for an on-thego connection.

AutoNet Mobile plans to release the AutoNet system for retail sale in August with a $399 price tag, plus another $49 per month for the service subscription. If you want to try out the technology sooner than that, you’ll need to rent a car from Avis. Avis Rent A Car System recently announced that its customers in 10 major markets would soon be able to rent AutoNet-equipped vehicles for an additional $10.95 per day.