From next year Chrysler, the third-largest automaker in the States, will provide most of their Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models with a “uconnect” system that will give the vehicles a 3G cellular Internet connection shared throughout the car over Wi-Fi. This, as a similar service I reviewed last March, proves how WiFi keeps thriving as a common language spoke by laptops and gadgets (like the ones built by Apple, Nintendo or Sony) and turning 3G into a WiFi signal will keep making a lot of sense for more then a few years.

Chrysler is an American brand and we don’t see many of its cars here in Europe, so if you want to turn your car into a WiFi hotspot you’ll soon be able to do it with Fon‘s help. We are making a lot of progress into enabling our users to plug an HSDPA modem (like the ones most operators give you for free if you pay for a monthly data plan) into our upcoming Fonera 2.0, that as you know has a useful USB port. Once you’ll have bought a Fonera 2.0, got a HSDPA modem from your mobile operator of choice and found a way (there are many)  to power your Fonera, you too will have WiFi in your car for all your family’s gadgets (iPod touch, Nintendo DS, PSP, laptops, etc), and probably at a much lower price then Chrysler’s option.

Follow Martin Varsavsky on Twitter: twitter.com/martinvars

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uconnectweb on June 28, 2008  · 

Awesome! I’ve been keenly interested in this new emerging technology since I’ve first watched it on foxnews channel. I’m seeing a great potential for this technology which can probably drive Chrysler’s sales for 2009. Also, I’m predicting this will be the trend and most other car companies will follow suit and would not dare leave themselves behind on this.

I’m carefully watching the developments from here on and I’ve actually started a blog dedicated to this as well.

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Arnd on August 22, 2008  · 

I love the idea! The German version would be a Fonera 2.0 with a USB socket, allowing a UMTS receiver to be plugged. With a Fontenna attached this would make an awesome hotspot on the road.
And I could sit on the boat pier with my notebook and share the signal with others.

Ideal setup: 2nd car battery and a 12 V to 220 V converter, the fonera plugged in and sharing signals for as long as the battery lasts.

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