Buy an Audi, get virtually unlimited WiFi in your car for $15 per month. The Audi Connect WiFi hotspot service, backed by a 3G T-Mobile connection, may be the biggest tech leap by an automaker this year, even if it's as much a pricing-and-marketing leap rather than a technology tour de force. There's only one gotcha: You sign up for 30 months in advance for $450 ($15 per month) after the first six months free for new-car buyers. Users who want month-to-month service can still use Audi's $30-per-month plan. Service is on the T-Mobile network, which Audi uses worldwide.
No limit to WiFi? Make that virtually no limit. "It is essentially an all-you-can-eat plan," says Audi communications manager Brad Stertz. "T-Mobile reserves the right to limit highly extreme users, but I'm not aware that has ever happened." Audi says the data plan includes car access (via apps using the the Audi LCD display) to real-time news, weather, Google Earth, Google Voice Local Search, plus connections for as many as eight devices in the car. If anything is going to kill the rear seat DVD player, it's a pair of iPads with an always-on connection.
Audi was the first automaker to embed a factory-installed cellular modem and WiFi hotspot in 2011. (Chrysler was earlier but with a dealer add-on.) Audi of America's senior manager for connected vehicles, Anupam Malhotra, enthuses, "The T-Mobile-powered Audi Connect service delivers unmatched connectivity to our customers at a rate that will turn their Audi into the ultimate mobile device. This plan will help move us toward the goal of one million connected Audi vehicles on the road worldwide by 2015."
According to Audi's pricing plan on myaudiconnect.com(Opens in a new window), the data plans include 12 months for $324 ($27 a month), $600 for 24 months ($25 a month), and $450 for 30 months ($15 as month). So, yes, you pay more total for 24 months than 30 months. How's the competition doing? BMW has announced but not yet delivered a dealer-option cellular modem with WiFi. It will connect into the smartphone dock in the center console to make use of the car's cellular antenna. But BMW is still working out details on which carrier to use and how many simultaneous connections to allow. The device can be removed from the car but it's big and only rated for a half-hour of on-air time until you have to plug in a supplied external battery. If you've ever seen a mobile hotspot that's the size of a deck of cards, the BMW solution is about 10 times as big.
The only knock on Audi Connect(Opens in a new window) is that T-Mobile doesn't have the reach of Verizon in some less populated areas of the US. Audi chose to go with a single cellular partner that has a presence in almost every country.
Now read: T-Mobile announces LTE, prepares to take the US wireless market by storm
Tagged In
Audi Mobile Hotspots T-mobile Automobiles CarsMore from Cars
