Wi-Fi in your Avis rental car

Link: Avis to offer wireless Internet gear

This is an interesting one. Car hire company Avis are launching a Wi-Fi service that’ll work in your rented car, hotel room, or by the sounds of it pretty much anywhere you go. It’s US-only at the moment and is only available from a select number of locations, but it sounds like a nice idea for a service.

The new Avis Connect service, priced at $10.95 per day, can transmit a Wi-Fi signal to multiple laptops and other mobile devices at the same time.

The service is provided with a portable device developed by Autonet Mobile that gets its Internet connection from a cell phone network. The company declined to disclose which one, though the cellular technology involved suggests that it is being provided by either Verizon Wireless or Sprint Nextel Corp.

Given a choice between fiddling with mobile data and just firing up my laptop and finding the access point, I know what I’d rather do. Wonder if there’s any plans to launch a similar service in the UK?