In-car Wi-Fi set to debut in Canada next year

A Canadian wireless giant is hoping to bring Wi-Fi to your vehicle starting in 2014.

Rogers and US carrier Sprint are working together to introduce the Sprint Velocity service to this country sometime next year.

It would bring customized content like news, sports, and driving directions to your fingertips through an in-dash touch screen, but it seems the real advantage would be for passengers.

“Think about it: going on a long road trip, the kids have the iPad or a tablet in the back seat, they want to be able to download games, they want to watch movies and things like that,” explains City Tech Specialist Mike Yawney.

“Typically that hasn’t been an option unless you use your smartphone as a hotspot but, of course, [the cost of] data racks up pretty fast.”
Cost remains a big question mark.

“Are people going to have to buy a data plan specifically for their vehicle? Is it going to be part of your monthly data plan already,” Yawney wonders.
“So, it will be interesting to see how Rogers and Sprint roll this out across North America.”

Research suggests nearly 100 million cars will be connected this way in the next three years.