General Motors (GM) is turning vehicles into Wi-Fi hotspots on the move. On Monday, the company released a menu of prices for car owners who are interested to adapt Wi-Fi capability of vehicles.
OnStar, a wholly owned subsidiary of GM, will provide the in-vehicle 4G LTE broadband connection for a new generation of innovative vehicles next month, with a trial duration of three gigabytes or three months. First vehicle to be equipped with the connection is the 2015 Chevrolet Malibu, and to follow at the end of 2014 are over 30 vehicles by Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC.
"...we're excited to give millions of customers an opportunity to explore the technology without paying extra for a data plan for three months or three gigabytes," Mary Chan, president of OnStar, says in a statement.
Car owners subscribing to OnStar Directions & Connections or Safe & Sound plans can get 200 megabytes of data for an additional of $5 monthly. Based on the data usage calculator of the AT&T, this is deemed enough for music streaming of over 6.5 hours, Internet surfing of 13 hours or sending over 10,000 emails with no attachments. However, for customers of OnStar who aren't subscribed to the advisor-based services will have to begin at $10 monthly. The rates are for US customers, though. Canadian and other navy customers will have their pricing released separately.
Vehicle owners can also purchase one-time packages in two ways. For OnStar subscribers, data usage of 250MB for one day is $5, while 10GB for a year is $150. Non-subscribers get the same day rate, but for the one-year 10GB subscription, it is $200. Existing customers of AT&T can have their vehicle's LTE connectivity be included to the Mobile Share Plan that costs $10 monthly.
Apparently, car owners not only get 4G LTE connectivity, but a few more things of great value.
"OnStar with 4G LTE is embedded into the vehicle, meaning customers get simple connectivity for not only a Wi-Fi hotspot, but also improved access to traditional OnStar services like vehicle diagnostics, remote vehicle access, and others," Chan says.
OnStar's 4G LTE broadband connection allows passengers of the vehicle with up to seven devices to connect through the built-in Wi-Fi hotspot whether inside or around the car. Nearly all devices can be paired with the connected car, such as smartphones, tablets, video game consoles, or laptop computer.
To know more of the in-vehicle broadband connection, you can check out the video here.
