Hi everyone, I'm not a big fan of internet in a car, but lately I've found a number of great uses that have really worked well when I'm on the vehicles 4G vs. the 4G on the my phone (and this might be just a verizon thing) - I can connect to all of my home automation, cams, remote consoles, DMZ router, alarm system, watering and all of the other things in the house and they work without a hitch. I'm wondering if anyone has heard of a hack to use other wireless carriers than just being stuck with vzn ? You would think that Toyota would offer connectivity to any of the big carriers or MATCH carriers with your phone!!!! I'm not a fan of Vzn as I travel to EU lots and have Tmo is almost free to use when I travel there. Any thoughts or ideas ? Also, where is the SIM module for the Internet located ? I'll also ask around with some of the Toyota folk I know.

 

You would still need your phone to connect back to your house as all those apps run on your phone. So even if you are able to switch service from Verizon to some other carrier you will still be accessing them via your phone. With T-Mobile's unlimited data you have 50 GB/month before they might throttle you. What benefit do you think you will see by connecting your phone to your car's wi-fi over just using your phone's internet connection?

I have seen very little information on how the car communicates to Verizon's network.

 

Hi nsaldanh, Yeah I somewhat agree. However, during the trial I did some testing of the connectivty from the phone 4G and the Car's hotspot - there were noticeable improvements utilizing the car hotspot vs.4G on the phone. Again, this could all be carrier, location and access to a tower based, but none the less using the car was better. In addition, if I were able to utilize TMo as my vehicle carrier, I would only pay $5 bucks a month for an extra SIM. Again, how practical is it, hmmmmmm I would say not very.

 

I'd love to switch to T-Mobile as well for the car as I already have T-Mobile for our cell phones. Unfortunately I don't think that will happen anytime soon. Lexus probably cut a deal with Verizon.