WiFi

URDRWHO · Post by **URDRWHO** » 21 Mar 2019, 05:11

On my 2016 V60 I have the WiFi option but I find that unless you are paying for an AT&T subscription it is almost useless.

I remember asking the sales guy if it can connect to a WiFi spot like coffee shops, etc. and he said yes. Well not true. It can see the network but it won't connect because 99.999% of the time those connections are open networks. The car WiFi will not connect to an open network. So unless you are parked near a source that has WPA and you have the password, it is a crippled system.

Tethering to your phone? Maybe as long as your carrier allows tethering, mine forbids tethering.

I'd probably only use the WiFi on long trips and maybe I could buy some data from AT&T when needed. Or maybe just pay $10 a month for their 1 gig plan?

Just one more invoice for all the stuff (Sirius, call phones and not WiFi) feels like the financial death of a thousand cuts.

Post by **jimmy57** » 21 Mar 2019, 07:29

All the car brands with this feature are just like yours. You get a free service period or a data amount when purchased new and after that it is on you. There are some that allow tethering but the passthrough bandwidth is limited. Even tethered is costing you as cell phone providers that have "unlimited" data will throttle speed after a few GB as they have no intention of you using that cell account as your home or vehicle internet, only unlimited for most users that watch video on the phone. Every business is in business for profit.

URDRWHO · Post by **URDRWHO** » 21 Mar 2019, 08:25

Yep, I know about the cost. I guess my big beef is that I can't connect to open wireless networks. Yes the carriers do throttle the data and I wouldn't be streaming youtube over the cars internet. I just wish my carrier didn't have it in their TOS that you can't tether.

My friends tell me that cell plans are less costly and more competitive in Europe. Not sure if that is true or not but there is some truth to the broadband issue.

"Our reporting suggests a one-word answer: Government.

Not government spending. The UK's administration hasn't invested a penny in broadband infrastructure, and most of the network in the Netherlands has been built with private capital. (The city government in Amsterdam took a minority stake in the fiber network there, but that's an investment that will pay dividends if the network is profitable -- and the private investors who own the majority share of the system plan to make sure that it will be.)

The game-changer in these two European countries has been government regulators who have forced more competition in the market for broadband."

https://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/why ... -governme/

jimmy57 wrote: ↑21 Mar 2019, 07:29 All the car brands with this feature are just like yours. You get a free service period or a data amount when purchased new and after that it is on you. There are some that allow tethering but the passthrough bandwidth is limited. Even tethered is costing you as cell phone providers that have "unlimited" data will throttle speed after a few GB as they have no intention of you using that cell account as your home or vehicle internet, only unlimited for most users that watch video on the phone. Every business is in business for profit.