Onstar - The Truth!

[peachin]

From My experience:

Onstar is a cellular telephone service - usually
Verison. No cell signal - no Onstar! Onstar also
has a GPS service that can locate you - If you do not have cell service where you have an
EMERGENCY - No Cell signal - it is Useless - Including the GPS location - as they do not know you are in trouble.

So, If you have a cell phone that can dial 911
you have a GPS to give your coordinates and have
two hidakeys (fail safe) what you have is as good as Onstar.

Oh, some might say there are additional diagnostic tools in the GPS/Cellular system -
well which is it - and do they? And Remember - no cell service no nothin'! I'm pi$$ed!

Wasn't I surprised when I had an EMERGENCY in the Flattop Wilderness of the western slopes of the Rockies - with total clear sky above - What did I have by having onstar - NOTHING!

The dealers tell you that you have a modified sattilite service - (when they talk they are talking and liable for Onstar - as agents)

If you feel you have been mislead as I do - there is a remedy.

I called the Onstar upper problem solving people
and they say they are more than a cellular service
and a GPS locator service - They will get back to me!

If you have any experience - or feel that I have not covered this subject correctly - PLEASE respond to this post!

Thanks, Paul Peachin
peachin@msn.com

[sdaver]

mine onstar is up this month....and I have had similar outage experiences (non911)....my understanding is that onstar as we have it is analog and all of the carriers are moving away from analog..........there was another post about about this recently......going to call them on monday........dave

[Wayne Dohnal]

I think there is a general misconception that OnStar communicates via satellite. The only thing I'm ticked about is that GM forced me to buy it to get the seats I wanted, and now I'm getting bombarded with OnStar's junk mail.

[DMAX Daddy]

Its a button my wife can push on a dark rainy night to get help.

Thats good enough for me.

[DMAX Daddy]

Additionally, from the ONSTAR site:


Q. How does OnStar work?
A. OnStar uses existing emergency service providers, cellular telephone and satellite technologies. It operates alongside the electrical system in your vehicle and is powered by your vehicle's battery. If your vehicle's battery is damaged or disconnected, our service will not function. Onstar currently uses the analog cellular network maintained by separate cellular companies. This provides the broadest geographic coverage of any current wireless system in the United States and Canada. The comunications is analog cell phone, GPS is satellite, and any place without Analog Cell means no Onstar. :(

Now for me, where I do 99% of my driving it isnt an issue.

But for Paul and you folks that head off the beaten path, I think that your dealer should have been a little more up front in describing its capabilities.

But the old cell phone, GPS, and a few hide a keys is always a safe bet anyway.

And as the other thread mentioned, once the Analog systems go away we will need a retrofit or be screwed :eek: :confused: :eek:

[Murf]

Preachin - yeh, I found out the same thing - I thought it was satelite communication - definately a drag cause the cell phone is very sporadic. Don't you get the service free for a year? They were nice enuf to give me an extra hour for all the messin around they had to do in order to get me up and running - out here in the central rockies of CO.

Saw your using cell and laptop to connect. I've been using the osi-tech system with my laptop and are able to get connected at about 19kbps, mainly use it for emails as web browsing is just to slow - I'm in the market for a new phone -
hows your system work and can you recommend it?

Murf

[peachin]

Laptop thru cellphone - 19kps. Morotola via serial port. I think the only faster way
(11 X 56K) which is 11 times faster than a regular phone line - is WiFi - which will be the coming thing - it will be small area networks with built-in antenna in your lalptop - or with an older computer there is a pc card.

If you are interested one of the companies is
"Boing" or search wifi. you'll find lots about what is technically called 802.11b wireless service.

I would like to keep this posting related to
OnStar as I feel they committed corporate fraud
in how they marketed their service - yes they spelled it out "on page 3" but they talked satellite on page one and the GM dealers talked
satellite too. They have even had complaints from dealers - who had complaints from customers as the dealers were thinking and talking sattelite
It's going to be a classic class action suit - as
many courts have said "small print don't fly"

I purchased additional telephone minutes - 30 cents+ which I allready had for free with Verison
I hate standing in a barrel naked like a fool!

[bhinrichs]

One thing you guys might consider, even though I have never ever tried to use OnStar, my insurance is down 25% because it is there. What it costs me to renew is far less than what my insurance would go up with out it.

Seems the insurance co's like the idea that they may be able to track a stolen vehicle.

Bert

[mackin]

Originally posted by bhinrichs:
One thing you guys might consider, even though I have never ever tried to use OnStar, my insurance is down 25% because it is there. What it costs me to renew is far less than what my insurance would go up with out it.

Seems the insurance co's like the idea that they may be able to track a stolen vehicle.

Bert Understandable .....

Based on 25 per hundred, and basic service at 199 per year, Your annual premium would have to be 800 for break even ... In my case it's still a lose ....

Mac


:rolleyes:

[DMAX Daddy]

I guess I was lucky, my dealer pointed out the cell phone was Analog service.

Satellite Cell service is still extremely expensive. The is no way ONSTAR could give it at that price.

[bhinrichs]

Mackin,

Must be where you live, here at the base of the Rockies in CO, having a 4x4 gets you shafted.

The best I seem to be able to do is $1300/year. The OnStar saves me $325.

Bert