[GraniteBlue05]

​

I wouldn't bother with this, but I think OnStar for $126 annually and 200 calling minutes thrown in is pretty good. That works out to only $10.50 a month. Your mileage may vary on this but it is worth a try.

I know many do not care for OnStar, but I thought I would pass this along. To be honest, I am frustrated with OnStar's website where you sign in with an account ID to "see" account status etc. It is slow and cumbersome and fails to (easily) tell you subscription expiration date, hands free calling minutes left, etc.

We have another vehicle also with Onstar and both had recently expired earlier this month. That resulted in the automatic monthly billing ($16.97?) which I hate. We only have protection package on both and hands free calling. I like to have OnStar for wife who often drives the grand kids around and finds it easier to make quick one or two minute calls using the hands free calling. Plus, the emergency aspect of it.

So I just hit the OnStar button in the truck, and after an initial Q/A with a customer rep and telling her I wanted to cancel, I got transferred to the "Cancellation Dept". I was already steamed because I spent some 45 minutes on the website trying to determine what I was exactly getting billed for the "monthly" billing. Long story short . . . don't bother .. just hit the OnStar button in the vehicle and say you want to cancel.

It turns out that my wife's car had expired first on Aug 8th and my truck on Aug 22. I just told her I wanted to cancel both, but wife still had 284 minutes left from a previous free calling minutes promotion. The rep immediately offered a "promotion" $63/6 month with tax deal and said she could double it up for a total of $126 for a year. She also transferred over 184 minutes I had left over on the truck previously from my trial period. I asked were there any promotional calling minutes at this time, and she said "Yes, I can throw in 200 minutes."

So , there's the deal. We travel in the truck up to remote places where cell phone coverage is spotty at best, so OnStar with the calling minutes is worth it to us for this price. Last year I had gotten an annual plan on the wife's car for about $140 and 30 minutes thrown in, so this current deal was pretty decent.

 

[jagster936]

Doesn't onstar use att for the voice? Not satellite?


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[greco2003]

Doesn't onstar use att for the voice? Not satellite?


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That's what I though too was calls and data was done through att

 

[GraniteBlue05]

Don't know if that is still the case or not. I do know the OnStar has always worked even in the National Forest where a cell phone won't unless I get to the "right spot" and that is always iffy.

 

[Toughsox]

My Onstar canceled whenever it was supposed to, like 6 months after I bought my truck. I didnt want it in the first place and here it is, almost 2 years in and they still send me my monthly reports. :frown2:

Please make it stop !!! :laugh:

 

[MaineMan]

​

I wouldn't bother with this, but I think OnStar for $126 annually and 200 calling minutes thrown in is pretty good. That works out to only $10.50 a month. Your mileage may vary on this but it is worth a try
.

Thanks for sharing this. Not everyone is a big fan of OnStar. But this is a pretty good deal. I belong to another forum and might share this with them. I know some over there who'd consider trying to make this happen.


Gusto

 

[MattFL]

Thanks for sharing. I mostly want OnStar for being able to locate my truck if it gets stolen, I haven't looked as far as to see if they have geofencing with notification.. but the price was so high I had written it off. If they're willing to haggle on price then it's still a possibility.

I'm guessing, entirely a guess, that your better calling in the boonies might be due to a better antenna on the truck than in your cell phone. Assuming it is using cell towers, I really don't know if it is or not.

 

[Chuck_B]

OnStar does use a cellular connection, not satellite. Given the larger battery, antenna and higher transmit power than you'll find in a handheld the transmit/receive range is somewhat improved.

Once the 6 month trial expires basic services continue for the remainder of a 5 year period. For the most part basic services consist of nag messages for service due. You can log into your account and shut off monthly reports, dealer notification etc.

OK, I just checked and I have some functionality through the Android "My Chevy" app with basic coverage. The key fob functions still work, Vehicle status and WiFi hotspot prompt me to upgrade.

 

[CaryBosse]

OnStar does use a cellular connection, not satellite. Given the larger battery, antenna and higher transmit power than you'll find in a handheld the transmit/receive range is somewhat improved.
Once the 6 month trial expires basic services continue for the remainder of a 5 year period. For the most part basic services consist of nag messages for service due. You can log into your account and shut off monthly reports, dealer notification etc.

Part of that 5 year continuing plan is the App to open doors, remote start.

 

[csufsnwbrdr]

​

I wouldn't bother with this, but I think OnStar for $126 annually and 200 calling minutes thrown in is pretty good. That works out to only $10.50 a month. Your mileage may vary on this but it is worth a try.

I know many do not care for OnStar, but I thought I would pass this along. To be honest, I am frustrated with OnStar's website where you sign in with an account ID to "see" account status etc. It is slow and cumbersome and fails to (easily) tell you subscription expiration date, hands free calling minutes left, etc.

We have another vehicle also with Onstar and both had recently expired earlier this month. That resulted in the automatic monthly billing ($16.97?) which I hate. We only have protection package on both and hands free calling. I like to have OnStar for wife who often drives the grand kids around and finds it easier to make quick one or two minute calls using the hands free calling. Plus, the emergency aspect of it.

So I just hit the OnStar button in the truck, and after an initial Q/A with a customer rep and telling her I wanted to cancel, I got transferred to the "Cancellation Dept". I was already steamed because I spent some 45 minutes on the website trying to determine what I was exactly getting billed for the "monthly" billing. Long story short . . . don't bother .. just hit the OnStar button in the vehicle and say you want to cancel.

It turns out that my wife's car had expired first on Aug 8th and my truck on Aug 22. I just told her I wanted to cancel both, but wife still had 284 minutes left from a previous free calling minutes promotion. The rep immediately offered a "promotion" $63/6 month with tax deal and said she could double it up for a total of $126 for a year. She also transferred over 184 minutes I had left over on the truck previously from my trial period. I asked were there any promotional calling minutes at this time, and she said "Yes, I can throw in 200 minutes."

So , there's the deal. We travel in the truck up to remote places where cell phone coverage is spotty at best, so OnStar with the calling minutes is worth it to us for this price. Last year I had gotten an annual plan on the wife's car for about $140 and 30 minutes thrown in, so this current deal was pretty decent.

Just a heads up and might be too late now, but ask your "advisor" if you can buy multiple packages of that cancellation deal if you like keeping it active. They did that for me about 6-8 months ago after I asked if there was a multi-year package so I didn't have to call them back every year and screw with 'em. She told me the multi-year packages costs more, but what I could do instead and she had done in the past, was to buy like "X number" of cancellation package deals (though mine didn't come with the 200 minutes dang it!) which the next one would take effect soon as one ran out. So in a way, you pre-paid "X" years of cancellation packages. I got like 4 of 'em to hold me over a while and want to say it was about that $120/year give or take.
Oh and on the minutes, just call them up and ask what packages they have and you have to toy with them a bit and maybe call back a couple times to get a "helpful" advisor, but eventually you can "buy" 1 minute which they don't charge you for that'll renew your Onstar calling minutes if they just don't outright renew them when you ask.
I just have that as a nice back-up to everything else. They towed my old Silverado home 65+ miles from a ski resort to the nearest dealership out-of-warranty (though I did have extended) when my starter went out. Pretty much paid for themselves for at least a year in that alone!

 

[GraniteBlue05]

Oh and on the minutes, just call them up and ask what packages they have and you have to toy with them a bit and maybe call back a couple times to get a "helpful" advisor, but eventually you can "buy" 1 minute which they don't charge you for that'll renew your Onstar calling minutes if they just don't outright renew them when you ask.
I just have that as a nice back-up to everything else. They towed my old Silverado home 65+ miles from a ski resort to the nearest dealership out-of-warranty (though I did have extended) when my starter went out. Pretty much paid for themselves for at least a year in that alone!

Thanks !
For the minutes, I usually buy the 100 for $29.95 and then at renewal times I always ask for add on promo minutes . Over the past 5 years or so I usually got 30 to 100 minutes for free at renewal this way. This was the first time they gave me 200 for renewing. The "multiple" cancel deal is essentially what I got which was $63 for 6 months including tax. She just doubled up on it for 1 year on both our vehicles.

 

[overock]

I plan to let my OnStar trial expires. At first I thought it was a good idea to have OnStar as a backup connection when I wander to remote locations, but I found out whenever I my phone lost signal, OnStar also lost connection.


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[BobsCreek]

Thanks for the heads up on pricing.

Onstar unfortunately uses AT&T for calls/etc which is junk. Back when I had Onstar I witnessed a massive wreck, could get Onstar to connect but my Verizon cell worked fine...and don't get me started on the Onstar navigation

 

[GraniteBlue05]

Thanks for the heads up on pricing.

Onstar unfortunately uses AT&T for calls/etc which is junk. Back when I had Onstar I witnessed a massive wreck, could get Onstar to connect but my Verizon cell worked fine...and don't get me started on the Onstar navigation

I think it depends on what area of the country a person is in. It does seem that AT&T has good coverage in q lot of areas and Verizon or T-mobile in others. So far AT&T is the only provider that works in the National Forest areas we usually frequent.

We've traveled from the upper midwest all the way down to the middle of Florida and in between and always had good coverage for the most part.

That said, my brother had a 2009 Silverado that had Onstar reception issues. The dealer "said" they replaced the antenna and it still was not as good as my last 3 GM vehicles. He tried connecting in the same remote area I did and my OnStar worked fine while his did not. I think they should have replaced his OnStar module.
So maybe some issues are in areas where a network does not have pariculary good coverage?

We had one problem with our 2009 Saturn Aura out of warranty with part of he Onstar functionality and GM replaced the module no charge which also upgraded the car to having Bluetooth. So far we've been pleased.

At any rate. . . I am trying to get this thread on topic. . .the deal since it is maybe for a short time only.

 

[pltctycanyon]

never used it never will same with sirius all pretty useless for most IMO

 

[GraniteBlue05]

My Onstar canceled whenever it was supposed to, like 6 months after I bought my truck. I didnt want it in the first place and here it is, almost 2 years in and they still send me my monthly reports. :frown2:

Please make it stop !!! :laugh:

Wow. . they still send you mileage, tire pressure, etc? Nice freebie though.

I think there is a way to kill the OnStar module. . some have just disconnected the antenna so then OnStar can't read that data IIRC.