As someone who does undertake several long haul drives every year (usually between Sydney and Melbourne or Sydney and the Gold Coast) it is handy to be able to maintain an internet connection for all of my devices while in transit.
For instance, my iPad doesn’t work that well in regional areas given that it doesn’t have a 900MHz radio in it to connect to the Optus network but if I tether via my Samsung Galaxy S III (which also supports faster HSPA+ speeds) I can still listen to all of my favourite tracks. It’s also great to have connectivity in remote areas doing some sightseeing just in case you want to check Google Maps or another mapping service. Thinking more broadly, families on the move can make great use of a mobile broadband connection be it for watching videos, playing games or checking up on favourite websites and social networks.
Most smartphones these days do have the ability to allow other devices to share its cellular connection via Wi-Fi but also some cars such as the Ford Focus in the USA have built-in Wi-Fi hotspots allowing you to pop in a SIM card or USB 3G modem to get an internet connection up and running. Until this becomes more widespread in Australia we’ll have to rely on our smartphones to provide that capability while hooked up to a car charger to make sure it doesn’t run out of juice.
Just a word of caution though – make sure you have plenty of data allowance on your mobile plan as it would be quite expensive if you went over your quota!
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