OREANDA-NEWS. The car is becoming a hotspot on wheels: At CeBIT 2013, Deutsche Telekom and the BMW group revealed how high-speed LTE Internet can be reliably introduced into cars. Drivers and passengers can go online with as many as eight WiFi devices at a time and enjoy a broadband connection with a speed of up to 100 megabits per second on their cell phone, laptop or tablet computer.

“Deutsche Telekom has built up a base of 12,000 hotspots in Germany and 50,000 worldwide. We already provide travelers in trains and planes with broadband, and now we’re adding cars to the list,” says Reinhard Clemens, Member of the Deutsche Telekom Board of Management and CEO of T Systems. “Having hotspots for everything makes unlimited digital mobility possible throughout your entire journey, even on different modes of transport.”

The BMW ConnectedDrive hotspot will celebrate its premiere exclusively with Sixt, Germany’s biggest car rental company. Beginning in the summer of 2013, a large proportion of the BMW cars belonging to the rental company’s fleet in Germany will be equipped with BMW ConnectedDrive hotspots. The new service will be free for Sixt and Deutsche Telekom hotspot customers to use for the first 12 months. Plans are in place to make the offer available to further customer groups in the future.

The benefits include allowing the driver to synchronize his or her terminal before departure or during breaks and use it to stream music, for example. Passengers can easily access large amounts of data and download it. Children can stream videos in the back seat, listen to music or play games online using portable consoles. The goal is to enable users to access large amounts of data at LTE speeds during journeys or breaks without charging it to their individual mobile communications tariff.

The hardware installed in cars for this purpose creates a hotspot similar to those in trains, hotels and lounges, which anyone with a WiFi device can then dial into. A built-in antenna in the car ensures the best possible network reception, and users don’t have to worry about their individual data contract or getting a new SIM card. Everything is set up so they can just get on board and start surfing!

In summary, Sixt and the BMW ConnectedDrive hotspot are finally bringing high-speed WiFi into cars. Drivers and passengers can connect with the world in the same way they do at home, in cafes or in hotels.