Chrysler Offers In-Car Wi-Fi On August 25 > EVDO routers

EVDO routers

Yup, sounds like Chrysler is trying to make the extra buck anyway possible. Who needs internet in the car when people can get it from their cell providers.

Yea! How dare they! How dare companies offer something as an option for people to possibly chose to purchase or not..

Come on.. it's really starting to get thick now. It seems that you'll buy a $500 am/fm CD radio in the car, but damn it if it has internet through it, how DARE they charge for it and make money.

I'm sure they should stop selling in dash GPS, power seats, power windows, A/C, leather seating, etc.. I mean, it's just Chrysler trying to make an extra buck. Seriously....

Why would people buy XM or Sirius radio installed in the car from the factory, a nice clean and better performing service for a couple hundred more rather than go to Target or Walmart and buy a $50 radio and have wires strung all over the place in the car, a half-ass installation, and a magnetic antenna stuck to the roof?

Maybe some people would rather have internet in the car and have it available to all passengers at the same time. Not everyone wants to purchase an individual data plan per device.

It's got to be just me, but what I don't get is why people bitch at every chance over every piece of news coming out. No one is being forced to buy this.. and, when it mentions the all mighty internet, it's got to be free?! If you don't like it, don't want it, think it's too much... exercise your option and don't buy it.. and, as you said, get it from your cell provider. Meanwhile, don't worry about what everyone/someone else may or may not want.

reply to Goldman

Well no question it's all in one nice little package from Chrysler . . . but, um, it's "locked" in your car. So, you end up paying for internet service twice - one for your home (or business) PLUS the one in your Chyrsler vehicle.

That seems a might bit excessive - why not have ONE internet service via USB mobile broadband card from Sprint, etc. that YOU can use ANYWHERE? USB mobile broadband cards are about the size of your thumb.

Put a power converter and Cradlepoint CTR-350 router (about the size of a deck of cards) in your car and, presto, every rider in your car (and within about 200feet) can share the USB mobile broadband connection. This set up, btw, does NOT equal having wires run everywhere in your car . . . it'd be about the same as having an FM modulator for your iPod or MP3 player, plugged into a cigarette lighter.

So, yes, a USB mobile broadband card is less "clean" than an integrated unit from Chrysler - but hardly a mess. And you pay for only ONE internet service (to the USB mobile broadband service) that goes *anywhere* your laptop goes (even indoors) and - with the addition of a very small, relatively cheap router (like the Cradlepoint) allows that USB mobile broadband card to be shared (again, anywhere YOU choose to take the router).

Yes, the market is about choices, but some choices are not rational. The emotion of having a "clean integrated" install may sway you . . . but the logic of it is unpersuasive.

My logic is my logic as is yours.

In your post, you also neglected something.. again, you were thinking about your application which is your logic. You talked about not paying twice.. well, that's great if it's all about you. BUT, say you have the broadband card and your wife, if you have one, takes the car and the kids to grammy's for the weekend which is 4 hours away. They going to fight over the card? You'd be paying for a second account anyway.

And, honestly, I don't like things plugged into my 45K vehicle even hanging out of a power port - again, that's my opinion. Add in a drink, and anything else I have with me, it just gets messy.. I'm not alone when it comes to that, just as I am not alone with people who don't care for the way XM radio is done in many aftermarket applications these days.. I hate the power wire, antenna RF coupler, and satellite antenna running out of the radio into the dash on a post.. to each is own.

I'd also like to find these very cheap routers. I've seen them for about $200+ . Around here, I was blasted for my opinion that the $100 fem-to-cell adapter wasn't that expensive. What I am seeing here, really, is that maybe this whole topic is worthless anyway, being that the price is out of everyone's range..

I don't get your point. Are you mad because there is a more reasonable alternative? Are you mad because somebody might see my post and save some money? Are you mad because you own a Chrysler dealership? Plenty of people DO like cheaper alternatives and spending $200 rather than the Chrysler fee is just common sense. You don't need to take it personally.

Who's mad? Chill! Me thinks that since you're taking that approach that it's YOU that has hurt feelings. Your post is 100% silly at best.. to assume or even ask if I own a Chrysler dealership, ... stop trolling.

I got the point that people like cheaper alternatives.. some don't. Not everyone has a view like yours.. is this site called "how to get the cheapest everything.com?"

The way I see it, if you don't like what Chrysler is offering, go do your own thing and don't bitch about the price.. it is what it is. But, to come here and tell someone else that basically says he doesn't see anything out of line with emerging services, don't come back and throw your own rubbish in my face.

To coin your own phrase,.. I don't get your point. Are you mad because I'm ok with the perceived value in what is being offered even though you and others may not?

Your rant is pretty clueless in its own rights. The only one taking it personally is you.

Let's see:

$499 to start
$35-$50 installation fee
$35 activation fee
$29 subscription fee/month
$29 service charge/month

$627 to $642 total startup

vs.

$169.99 wireless router ( »tinyurl.com/5m4hbr )
$50 /month EVDO service

$219.99 total startup

The router is portable. It can be used at home, in a motel room, at the campground, or anywhere else. I never ranted or "Bitched" about the Chrysler product. I pointed out that you waste $400 going with the Chrysler system when you could pay much, much less for a more portable, flexible system.

In all your ranting throughout this thread, I haven't seen you identify one reason to spend $400 more for a more limited system.