Two Android phones.
Do any cars have active WiFi hotpots when the car is turned off ?
Why can't cars have a time limit for WiFi on or a switch to leave on or
something to make the car hotspot more usable.
Especially electric cars that could use the main battery.
My 2016 Chevy Volt (Hybrid) has a starting battery and main driving
battery. Battery mileage down from 50 to 41 miles on the battery. I
typically drive less that 10 miles in any one day.
I stopped paying for my cars phone number because I never used it to
call or as a hotspot because it only works with the car running.

I had hoped to use my car hotspot while I was inside a restaurant when
the car was parked right next to my table's window.

Aoli wrote:

> Two Android phones.
> Do any cars have active WiFi hotpots when the car is turned off ?
> Why can't cars have a time limit for WiFi on or a switch to leave on or
> something to make the car hotspot more usable.
> Especially electric cars that could use the main battery.
> My 2016 Chevy Volt (Hybrid) has a starting battery and main driving
> battery. Battery mileage down from 50 to 41 miles on the battery. I
> typically drive less that 10 miles in any one day.
> I stopped paying for my cars phone number because I never used it to
> call or as a hotspot because it only works with the car running.
>
> I had hoped to use my car hotspot while I was inside a restaurant when
> the car was parked right next to my table's window.

https://www.att.com/plans/in-car-wifi/
Does my car Wi-Fi keep working when I shut off my vehicle?
Powering on your car or truck also starts up your In-car Wi-Fi. The
connection stays active while driving and for a bit of time after
you turn off your vehicle.

"Bit of time" is not defined. Maybe it's configurable, but I suspect
not. The purpose is to provide wifi access to the Internet for
occupants of the car.

I'm not sure I see the point of an in-car wifi hotspot for use with your
phone when you are away from the car. The in-car wifi hotspot lets you
connect via wifi to the hotspot's cellular connection. Your phone
already has the cellular connection. You'd be consuming the data quota
on your phone, or the data quota for the in-car hotspot.

https://www.highspeedinternet.com/resources/car-wi-fi

That mentions using a standalone mobile hotspot device instead of your
car's mobile wifi hotspot. Perhaps the mobile hotspot device is more
configurable, or you could use a power port that doesn't turn off when
the car is turned off. If you have any old smartphones gathering dust
in storage, you could use one as the wifi hotspot in your car. The car
might have built-in wifi usable as a hotspot, but that doesn't preclude
you from using a different wifi-to-cellular capable device, like an
alternate or old smartphone.

One more thing to drain your car's battery, so upon return you turn
the key to hear click-click instead of the car starting. Leaving the
head unit always powered on is not a small drain when the car is off.

Did you ask the restaurant if they had their own hotspot (for open or
public use)? There might've been other public wifi hotspots in the area
(there are apps and sites to find them); however, range is limited for
wifi: 100 ft for 5Ghz with higher bandwidth, 300 ft for 2.4 GHz with
lower bandwidth. If the restaurant didn't have a public wifi hotspot,
another shop nearby might. I don't have to eat/drink at Starbucks to
use their wifi hotspot.

On 3/5/2022 9:45 AM, VanguardLH wrote:

<snip>

> I'm not sure I see the point of an in-car wifi hotspot for use with your
> phone when you are away from the car. The in-car wifi hotspot lets you
> connect via wifi to the hotspot's cellular connection. Your phone
> already has the cellular connection. You'd be consuming the data quota
> on your phone, or the data quota for the in-car hotspot.

Until AT&T figured out what was happening, people were signing up for an
unlimited data in-car Wi-Fi hotspot that plugged into the OBD-II port of
the the vehicle for power.

It didn't take long for people to buy an OBD-II extension cable, cut off
the male side of the cable, wire the female side to a 12 volt power
supply, and have unlimited data at home for about $10 per month.

VanguardLH wrote:

> "Bit of time" is not defined. Maybe it's configurable, but I suspect
> not. The purpose is to provide wifi access to the Internet for
> occupants of the car.

Don't think the wifi on mine stays enabled, the 4G does since you can unlock it
or check status (locked, fuel level, oil level, location etc) remotely, I think
it will even continue with a map update.