Slashdot Mirror


Chrysler To Offer Wireless Internet In 2009 Models

sunny in Seattle writes "'Have you ever thought rush hour on the 405 Freeway might be more bearable if you could check your e-mail, shop for a book on Amazon, place some bids on EBay and maybe even, if nobody is looking, download a little porn? Then perhaps you should be driving a Chrysler.' LA Times reports that the nation's third-largest automaker is set to announce Thursday that it's making wireless Internet an option on all its 2009 models. The mobile hotspot, called UConnect Web, would be the first such technology from any automaker."

2 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Re:wardriving by FrameRotBlues · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah, they corrected that; it's supposed to be 600-800K, not 600-800M.

  2. Re:Yeah but it's a Chrysler by value_added · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's typical recently of American automakers to offer this kind of gimmicks instead of making decent quality cars.

    I'm not sure it's a gimmick, but to the extent it is, I'm sure that Chryser will, in typical American automaker fashion, implement it badly.

    That means owners will get probably end up with a square woodgrained plastic panel insert emblazoned with a metal "The Intarweb" logo (in a cursive script and painted to resemble chrome), that contains a few oversized cheap-ass rocker switches, only the one of which can be reached without leaning far out of your seat, and possibly some light indicators that glow too brightly at night. Luxury model owners can opt for a foot pedal switch, an extra steering column lever, or an in-dash touch screen that displays garishly coloured pie charts, columnar graphs that update every second.

    In similarly typical fashion, the rest us will have to sit back and wonder why they just didn't buy a Honda.