Canadians spend a lot of time behind the wheel. Whether we’re commuting to or from work, picking up the kids from school, or running errands, it’s common to spend several hours in the car every day. As a result, we want our cars to feel like a second home. Good music, comfortable seats and a quick GPS system go a long way. However, many cars manufactured as of 2018 come with built-in WiFi. This feature lets your car feel more like a home than ever before. Still, not many Canadians understand the capabilities of car WiFi, and how to properly take advantage of it. Thankfully, we at PlanHub are here to help! In this post, we go over everything you should know about auto connected cars. From how it works to how to set it up, we’ve got you fully covered.
What Is Car Connect?
In Canada, four major brands offer Connected Cars: Honda, Lincoln, Acura and Ford. However, you could easily find other models with WiFi. To put it simply, Car Connect functions like an ordinary mobile hotspot. The car provides its own portable network which users can connect their phones, tablets or other devices to. Obviously, this is appealing to customers that want to save on their data usage while driving. Instead of eating up data for things like directions and music, a Connected Car lets you enjoy these services without worrying about overage charges. This way, you can regularly use your mobile data while on the go, and switch to your car’s hotspot whenever you’re driving. By separating these two connections, you’ll save more while enjoying one of your car’s coolest features.
How to Set up Internet for Vehicles
Does car WiFi sound like something you’d be interested in? We’ll tell you exactly how to get it set up! First, you need to make sure whether your car is capable of doing so. To find out quickly, call up your car company or conduct a quick internet search. If your car is capable, you should download your respective car company’s app. This free app allows you to set up and manage internet for vehicles. From here, you can choose your hotspot’s username and password, and disable it at your leisure. You could also set it up from your car’s touchscreen, but we recommend using the app. Once your hotspot is all set up, all you need to do is find the network on your phone/tablet and connect. Congrats, you’re all set! You and any passengers can now connect to your car’s WiFi at any time.
How to Improve Your Car’s WiFi
So, you’ve got your hotspot all set up for your car. You frequently use it for directions, sending text-to-speech messages, and entertaining your bored passengers during long road trips. However, after using it so often, you begin to crave a faster connection. Maybe you want to be able to stream videos and download apps on your car’s network. Fortunately, you’re not stuck with your car’s WiFi speed! There are a couple of ways to improve your connection and enjoy rapid internet speeds with your vehicle’s hotspot:
Built-In Connectivity
The first method is to improve the built-in connectivity of your network. This can be accomplished with a suitable data plan. Just like the best mobile plans in Canada, these allow you to use huge chunks of mobile data every month. Instead of using your vehicle’s built-in WiFi speeds, these plans let you take advantage of lightning-fast LTE speeds on the road. As long as you’re within range of their mobile network, you can enjoy unprecedented speeds Currently, Bell is the only provider offering plans specifically for cars. Choose from a selection of Bell data plans until you find one that fits your needs. From there, you just need to pay it off like any other monthly bill!
Plug-In Connectivity
If you don’t want to pay for a plan, you could purchase a small, portable device to plug into your car. Once again, Bell offers a Plug-in connectivity device for all kinds of automobiles. Users can track their location, receive performance alerts and connect up to five devices to a hotspot. Above anything else, this device’s best feature is its compatibility with most cars from 1997. Yes, you read that right! Even if your car has no built-in WiFi, this device allows you to enjoy it. Even if you don’t have a brand new car with a touchscreen, cameras and Bluetooth, you and your passengers can still surf the web to your hearts’ content.
Conclusion
Overall, auto connected cars seem like an exciting new technology that more users could start taking advantage of. Even though it’s been a feature in new cars for a few years, most people don’t seem to use it. However, if companies like Bell continue to introduce plans and technologies to improve auto connected cars, it could start to catch on. Still, we don’t predict that it will become a common trend for another few years. Until then, Canadians will continue using ordinary data plans whenever they’re on the go, including the car. Thankfully, we at PlanHub are always here to help make the process of finding a data plan much easier. We understand how exhausting and endless searching for the perfect plan can feel. To get started and make your life easier, click on the green button below:
All you need to do is answer a few basic questions, and we’ll do the rest! In a few short moments, you’ll be matched up with a list of the best, most affordable phone plans in your province. From there, simply choose the one you like the most, and enjoy your brand new data plan!
