For anyone with the My Ford Touch in their Explorer, I have a question. Other than the Gee-Whiz Geek Factor (look – I'm a rolling access point!) has anyone found a practical use for the Wi-Fi features in their vehicle?

I mean, if you have a smart phone that has internet access and you’re paying for tethering then the phone probably can act as a hot spot.
As far as using a USB mobile broadband device for internet connectivity, well you need to configure it on your laptop first, and then bury it inside the center console where it will have just great reception, and at least in my area, these things are terribly expensive both for the hardware and for the service and no carrier – at least not AT&T nor Verizon will guarantee that it will work in this application since you can’t access the device from the hardware its connected to. You could buy another Smartphone with a big data plan cheaper.

As far as connecting to a hot spot (McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.) you’re out of luck. These hotspots require that you click on an “I Agree” button on their connection page before they allow you to connect. Since My Ford Touch never implemented a browser function - which they bragged about having in their 2011 press releases, there’s no way to “Agree” therefore there’s no way to connect. Besides, wouldn’t it just be easier to connect your Smartphone, iPad or whatever directly? I’ve found when sitting in a strip mall parking lot that my Blackberry can “see” twice as many wireless networks as my Explorer, and can connect to the open ones.

Ah. Then the manual goes on to claim that the in-car hotspot allows users to share files. Ford engineers ever hear of an ad-hoc network? When was the last time you had a car full of laptop toting people sharing files?

I admit that I might be missing something here, but really, isn’t this just another “feature” in search of a purpose?