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Do You Have On-Star?

Do you have On-Star?

  • Yes, I have On-Star

    Votes: 119 98.3%

  • No, I don't have On-Star

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • Total voters
    121
Didn't want my cell phone built into my truck - IMO, it's an expensive phone / expensive service and as it uses analog technology, it's already obsolete - only to become more antiquated given the length of time that I keep vehicles! Now, the remote diagnostics, remote unlock, and airbag alert are nice, but I opted to shop for my cell phone service separately.
 
I agree WR...

I asked the rep (upon activation) to send me a rate/price sheet for all the optional ONSTAR services. That was 3 months ago and I've received ZIPPO! I guess if you have to ask, :eek: you can't afford it! :eek:
 
Scroll down for rates of personal calling plans.

Holy Sh!t

I really like the virtual advisor, but when you are using it, you are paying for airtime minutes.


Here are the onstar services:

Service plans



Q. What is the cost of each plan?
A. The Safe & Sound plan costs $199 per year or $16.95 per month. The Directions & Connections plan costs $399 per year or $34.95 per month. Luxury & Leisure costs $799 per year or $69.95 per month. Signing up for a two-, three-, or four-year plan will lower those yearly payments.

These costs are only for onstar, not personal calling.


It took me a while to find the prices associated with personal calling. I think they would rather have your credit card info and surprise you! :eek:


Ron




 
I never even saw an Av that didn't come with On-Star built in when I was shopping around a month ago. Maybe the Convienance Package is standard in SoCal. ???

I always thought it was lame but after setting it up it seems kind of cool. I like the stolen vehicle, engine diagnostics and deployed air bag alert functions. Not sure about the personal calling. You can get a prepaid block of minutes for a year which also may very useful if ever needed but the verdicts still out on that one.

Has anyone really needed it yet? If so let us know.
 
I'm curious as well...I have the basic one year free service with mine but have never used it except when the salesman and I set it up. Seems for 199 a year I would like to chat with them a bit! ha ha.
Does anybody have the route directions and connections? Do you actually use it? Seems like an awful lot of money annually just to ask directions?
My wife is always saying"why dont you get out and ask someone?"

let me know

Ken
 
I am probably one of the few that believes for the built-in convenience of a hands free phone to use in case of an emergency, its not that bad. Sure, there are better cell phone deals to be had so I would not use it on a regular basis. But nice to know you or your wife didn't forget the cell phone when you're in the middle of nowhere with some form of trouble, whether with the vehicle or something else.
 
I have the OnStar installed (was an obligatory component of the "convenience" package) in my Z71. Still coasting under the 1-year "freebie".

Used it once to unlock the vehicle literally out in the middle of SW Texas in late January (deer season) when my hunting partner locked the keys in the car! (Kept the deer out of it, though). Thank goodness I had my cell phone with me in the stand (another story) AND was able to get a signal in the middle of nowhere. Made the call and within 9 minutes (the "vehicle re-set time" according to OnStar) the door locks "popped" open. Amazing!

Still undecided if it is worth the $199.00 annual fee yet. A friend with a Z66 has his phone active and uses it quite a bit. Expensive & "scratchy" when he calls in - but it is "hands free". If I opt for the "safe & secure" renewal I will also purchase a basic phone minutes package to go along with it next year. From what I can see it looks as if you have 6 months to "use 'em or lose 'em" with the phone minutes.

If anyone has any "real life" experiences with the OnStar system that might help justify the cost, I for one would like to hear about them.
 
I use the phone in mine some.. I had some problems with Onstar when I got the vehicle. Onstar gave me 400 phone minutes free so I have been using it a lot lately. I programmed the virtual advisor and set 3 locations in the weather area. I found out that when you go to the virtual advisor it does a GPS loc on you and gives you the weather for the city/area you are driving in. Thats kinda cool.

Gary
 
I have onstar with the directions, it's pretty good, depends on who you get on the other line. I've had a lot of great saves with it. One time I needed to next day a few titles and the post office was closed. I pushed the onstar button and they sent me to the nearest fedex, called them and checked their hours and everything. They will always call anyone, check hours, buy movie tickets, whatever you need. I'm ordering it again next year.

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I have OnStar and am on the free year the dealership gave to me. I fully intend on keeping it for the time I keep my Avalanche. The cell phone part is expensive but I buy about 100 mins at a time, just enough to use Virtual Advisor and for emergencies. I also really like the remote diags, pop-lock, and having many friends who are cops and firefighters and hearing about the accidents they see, the idea of having a truck that will call for help for me if I cant is kind of comforting.
 
Have you voted in this?
 
Now these results surprised me, I didn't expect the % difference to be so high. Seems to me though GM would include this as standard on their more expensive vehicles as they obviously have no hopes of collecting monthly revenue from those that don't have it. I'm sure some financial weenie has worked the numbers before though...
 
Yep got it and ran though cell minutes quickly...nice but..........well I live in one the the most densely populated areas in the US and really dont need the 3 watt cell so I havent picked up any more cell minutes they are expensive though.......lol
I did use the LOCK service once........went to work and drove off in work truck .......couldnt remember.......did I lock doors or not??? same as is oven off???? so I called onstar and they not only looked up my membership number as I couldnt remember it.its in truck ya see...lol They "locked " doors and called me back with my membership number.its great I`ll prollly keep service becuse of that.
 
I have it mainly for the phone feature when traveling.

Voice dialing came in handy one time while coming back from snowmobiling in a snowstorm :eek: I called a friend to have them look at a weather site to see how much longer I was going to drive in the snowstorm.

 
Hah, hah. With their creative packaging it was forced on me.

So much potential...reminds me of Beta VCRs though. Instead of settling for the profit on the hardware, they're tyring to milk us on the services. Which in my opinion are overpriced. Smart customers will go elsewhere or do without and the whole thing will go bankrupt.

Its a white elephant.

BTW, my Avalanche was stolen and the On-Star folks were unsuccessful at locating it. So don't believe the hype too much about stolen vehicle tracking.
 
i did not think it was that great of an idea at the time. seemed like another way for someone to take my money. after reading some stories here on the site i have changed my opinion about On-Star. i feel it is good to have in case of emergency. even if you use it one time, depending on the situation, it could pay for itself in that one instance.
would i opt for it on the next vehicle? yeah, i think i would.
 
Got it. Like it because....

1. Phone's always with me and works in places that my cell doesn't (but I do use my cell first in most instances.)
2. Remote diagnostics. Had OnStar run 'em when the "Service 4wd" message started showing up.
3. Been locked out of cars more than once in my life. Lookin' forward to that never happening again.
4. Very, VERY courteous service anytime I've called them.
5. Safety -- like insurance, hope you never have to use it, and it might not fix everything, but wouldn't want to be without it if I needed it and it could help.

--VM
 
Pretty much the same for me. I have never used the phone. But did lock my keys in my Av......(long stupid story :E:).
OnStar unlocked them for me. When my free trial period is up....I will probably renew at one of the lower levels without the cell phone feature. I think it is great for emergencies and having the security of knowing that you can get your doors unlocked if you have to. I haven;t really looked into what that would cost per year.....but I would will sign up in some way. :cool:
 
Yes i have onstar and it doesn't work onstar sais it works on thair end, and the dealer says it works on thair end BUT IT STILL DON'T WORK check my post in Maintenance and care for my story.
:E: :E: :E: :E: :E: :E: :E:
 
I have used the personal calling a number of times. I can get out when I have no signal on my cell phone most times. Also no long distance and no roaming. I look at it like insurance. Hope I do not need it but if I do I know it is there. The basic package is probably the best vallue as I have a GPS and it is much easier to program it to go to a address than to call On-Star. Also my understanding is the new one work with digital or analog so they are switching around :D 07 it think.
 
I have Onstar and will keep it. Back in july i was in an accedent on my motorcycle, i borrowed a cell to call my wife told her to bring the av to get the bike home, at this point i didnt think i was injured, just a sore shoulder, man i was wrong on the way home i began having trouble breathing and my right leg got very painful, my wife called Onstar and they got the hospital on the phone, we got permission from the hospital to use the ambulance entrance. Onstar also called the police and and gave them our position. as it turned out i had many injuries, but thanks to onstar the ppl at the hospital were ready and waiting. u never know when somthing like this will happen, and its best to use it if u have it !
 
I have On* because of the digital crap I carry around! :8: I thought GSM (Cingular/AT&T) would be better than TDMA (AT&T/Sprint) or CDMA(Verizon). Turns out that it drops out in a good signal area just like the other digital junk. (No offense to the folks that like the goodies.)
I'm happy enough with On* because it works where the others dont! I'll make sure it's in the next Av. and will only be discouraged by the FCC letting the carriers phase out analog. Of course we have to phase out the old inefficient technology, just make the new stuff work right first!
What I don't like about On* is the stupid speech recognition :2:! I changed "Mom" to "Mother" because it sounded too much like "Shawna",(My Daughter). now it's worse! It still tries to call "Mother" when I say "Shawna" :2: :2: :2: machines! :8:. When I was learning it, I spoke the word "Cancel" and it started beeping and dials the OnStar Emergency! I couldn't hang it up with the steering wheel button! (I didn't know you had to reach up to the white button to answer or hang it up then :2:.) Why'd they do it that way? ??? ?
I still want it; the good still outweighs the bad.
 
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