In-Car Net Access: Spotty and Pricey

The advantage of EV-DO is that it can be used just about anywhere the technology is available. But in many parts of the country, that's limited to major cities. For example, it's great in Las Vegas, but drive outside the city and the system reverts to a far slower cellular technology. EV-DO coverage is particularly widespread in Southern California -- it's available in most parts of Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

An even cheaper way to get mobile Internet access is via PC cards that can pick up EV-DO signals and those of a competing cellular data service known as Edge. Those cards can be had for about $150, plus monthly cellular fees. They don't provide service to a whole vehicle, but can supply Wi-Fi to a single laptop anywhere these cell data services are available.

All of this raises an obvious question: Who really needs Wi-Fi in the car?

For one thing, it's no use to the driver unless you pull over and park.

Even for passengers, typing in a moving vehicle is not much fun. I tried to do some writing on the way to Las Vegas while a colleague drove, and I was soon feeling queasy -- although some of the blame could be assigned to my 1997 Honda Civic, which is hardly a smooth ride.

Maybe kids would enjoy Web access in the car, but they already have lots of mobile entertainment options, including portable DVD and music players and game devices.

Given the lack of an obvious need for it, and the cost and limitations of the technology, I don't see a big future for rolling in-car Internet access, at least not soon.

But don't make any investments on my advice -- I once was sure that no one would want to buy ring tones.

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David Colker can be reached via e-mail at technopolis@latimes.com. Previous columns can be found at latimes.com/technopolis.