New incar wi-fi setup

[Jarrod Cook]

Patience people! They'll get it done. Besides, chasing season is primarily over...don't get your pants in a twist. Maybe they are choosing to act differently than most companies and actually taking the time to engineer a high-quality product and not some cheap toy.

 

[rdale]

...but it's out already for Avis... Are you saying they are providing the rental customers with an inferior unit?

 

[beaudodson]

Chase season over? It is just beginning for some of us! lol Depends on what you are chasing.

 

[Jarrod Cook]

...but it's out already for Avis... Are you saying they are providing the rental customers with an inferior unit?

No, I'm not saying that. They could be fixing any bugs that were discovered with these units though. Sort of like a trial or "beta" version perhaps. If they are making it available to the public they will want to get any bugs fixed.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

It is great that they've updated the site, but they are still leaving out the one vital piece of information that will determine whether I get this system or not which is.. will there be a contract that says I have to have the service for a minimum amount of time (1 year, 2 years.. etc) or can the service be turned on and off?

I know I've asked this a few times, but I think this is the one answer everyone wants to know but yet it's the answer that we cannot get. Surely they have the billing details worked out and know, especially if it's starting to be released..

 

[Jay McCoy]

I am betting the reason it isnt available to the general public yet is they have to fill the order to Avis first. that is alot of cars and alot of units. How many can they build per month?? Once they are in all Avis cars they will start selling to the general public. Same way with any preorder. Avis was 1st on the list so it has to be filled 1st.

And I agree the big factor for most chasers will be whether it has to be a yearly contract or we can subscribe for only a few months.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

I know everyone is really excited here . But this product is no different than having an EVDO card and plugging into one of the available routers such as the Nexaira.The beauty of having a card is that you can always upgrade the card to newer technology . Because this unit has an embedded chip such as the laptops out there being offered you cannot upgrade from one level to the next easily like swapping out a card.Maybe they are reworking the units to have the New REV. A technology as compared to REV. 0 that I am sure thier original prototypes had . The communication there definatley needs improvement . I have tried to contact these people no less than 4 times through thier site over the last 6 months and never heard a peep back.

I am betting the reason it isnt available to the general public yet is they have to fill the order to Avis first. that is alot of cars and alot of units. How many can they build per month?? Once they are in all Avis cars they will start selling to the general public. Same way with any preorder. Avis was 1st on the list so it has to be filled 1st.

And I agree the big factor for most chasers will be whether it has to be a yearly contract or we can subscribe for only a few months.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I have tried to contact these people no less than 4 times through thier site over the last 6 months and never heard a peep back.

Customer service is obviously not a priority to them. This seems to be consistent with anyone who's ever tried to contact them. It would seem to me that if a company is putting out a new product that they would want to spread the word, communicate with interested people and do whatever they can to get potential customers.

 

[rdale]

" But this product is no different than having an EVDO card and plugging into one of the available routers such as the Nexaira."

Are you sure? I thought EVDO was tied to one provider? This does several. Also doesn't EVDO disconnect on occasion? This keeps the signal live regardless of tower & carrier...

 

[beaudodson]

" But this product is no different than having an EVDO card and plugging into one of the available routers such as the Nexaira."

Are you sure? I thought EVDO was tied to one provider? This does several. Also doesn't EVDO disconnect on occasion? This keeps the signal live regardless of tower & carrier...

That seems to be the selling point. The chasers that reviewed the product said they rarely - if ever - lost connection.

 

[David Drummond]

I don't know what "main" service they use, but this year my Sprint data card has had unbelievable coverage. Sometimes roaming, but I have had data about 98% of the time everywhere I went. The EVDO speeds were limited to major metro areas (like Dallas/FtWorth) however.

 

[Gordon Spencer]

Thier unit is EVDO and it will be tied to one provider for sure. If you go with Alltel or Sprint they have roaming agreements with each other. I heard through the grapevine that will be a deal in place soon between Verizon and Alltell as well.

" But this product is no different than having an EVDO card and plugging into one of the available routers such as the Nexaira."

Are you sure? I thought EVDO was tied to one provider? This does several. Also doesn't EVDO disconnect on occasion? This keeps the signal live regardless of tower & carrier...

 

[Andrew Revering]

I haven't read this whole thread, just the first 2 pages and the last page, but I would be very cautious about using this service for several reasons:

1) Sprint has roaming agreements that cover just about everywhere with their agreements with both AllTel and Verizon. These agreements I believe are backwards compatible, so if you have Alltel or Verizon, you have access to data through all 3 networks as well as any smaller networks they have roaming agreements with. Also note that roaming is no longer something to pay for with data.

2) The initial map shown by this company is a Verizon map, so they aren't doing anything extraordinary. They are just piggybacking an existing cell company.

3) Its important to have the latest PRLs on your device to make sure you're going to get access to the towers. If you have data with a company directly, and are up on updating your device manually (which is easy to do and updates it more frequently than the 'push' system they usually give you for software updates) you are more likely to have better coverage than relying on something that sits in your cig lighter that may or may not be something you can (or easily) update with the proper PRLs.

My advice is get Sprint, Alltel or Verizon and then you know that you're with a company that you can have more control over with your device, and don't have to worry about the contract or terms that this company may have to use 3rd party data network.

I'm Sprint's number 1 fan. I used it for 10 days this past spring across I think 9 states and honestly can't remember losing data, even in the most remote areas of texas, oklahoma, western kansas which used to be vast nothingness.

I'll add one more thought... the technology is rapidly changing with wimax and EVDO rev B coming in the future... I would just stay on top of your favorite phone company, see who has the most and best roaming agreements in place and just upgrade your device for the fastest/backwards compatible equipment they offer each year.

Andy

 

[John Erwin]

Whether these guys use a main provider or not is irrelevant; apparently they have roaming agreements with other EVDO/1x companies and all of that is transparent to the end user, which is the way it should be. I think that is part of the reason why this unit is so attractive, and ultimately so reliable from the reports we've seen here.

Having said that there is some good points raised; the fact that technology is changing so rapidly it would be nice to have some easy means to update a unit of this type; either by use of a slide in card or at least an architecture that permits easy firmware updates.

The point was raised that one of the new routers with EVDO card type functionality is just as good as this unit; I think the usability aspect was missed. The fact that you can hit the road and not worry about who/what provider is being used (use em all!) and ultimately have good coverage is the main strength of this autonet unit (apparently).

 

[Jay McCoy]

Another advantage to this unit is unlike a data card from Sprint or Cingular that slided into 1 laptop. this unit is actuallya wifi spot which means anybody in the vehicle can use it. if you have 2 or 3 people with laptops (carpool chasing to save $$) then everybody can get on and download data instead of each person having to use a card.

easy math for chase partners riding in the same car. 2-3 cards at $50 a month or 1 wifi unit at $50.. hmm.

That fact plus it using multiple carriers so you wil nearly always have a connection is very very appealling. I used a Cingular card this year and had good connetion in many places but there were a number of spots including much of the northern Tx panhandle that was blank. You can get a signal but the towers are not data capable. really sucked having 4-5 bars but no connection. Sprint seemed better but also had holes in NW oklahoma so combining all services just makes sense.