Onstar

RyanZ71 · October 14, 2007

So I was reading through the new owners manual and that seperate OnStar packet and saw the part where I should press the blue button and call up OnStar and introduce myself to them. So this morning, on my way down to the dealership to have them put on the Simoniz System 5 treatment to the exterrior and interrior, I press the button, then press it again per instructions, and it says "Connecting to OnStar" then it will beep every 2 or 3 seconds. I waited for over 5 min and nothing. Tried it again at an area where I KNOW there is cell phone coverage, and again, the same thing. Told the service advisor in the dealer and he said they would look into it. After being forced to watch the stupid infomercial on TV in the customer lounge of that very dealer and hearing the phones ring off the hook on the sales floor while the commercial was going on (hey I guess it works even if it was stupid and lame) the advisor came back in and told me that the tech found a wire which was not fully connected above the mirror, and also that there was not yet a phone number assigned out to me yet for OnStar and that it could take up to 72 hours.

What do you guys think about that? I tried it again on the way home, still did the same thing.

NathanL · October 14, 2007

Possible it takes a number of days before they activate it at Onstar.

When I took delivery of my vehicle I had to sign an acknowledgement saying that Onstar has no contract with a phone service provider in my county (ending the last day of Sept. the day I took delivery hahah) even tho we have good cell phone coverage they don't have a contract with Onstar for service - so no Onstar.

2007silveradonbs · October 14, 2007

Onstar takes about 5 minutes to activate at the dealer. They go onto a website and input your information. Once that is done, you just have to hit you little blue button and connect to Onstar. Both my trucks were done in minutes.

Bluedog · October 14, 2007

also that there was not yet a phone number assigned out to me yet for OnStar and that it could take up to 72 hours.

What do you guys think about that? I tried it again on the way home, still did the same thing.

OnStar works on the Verizon network - in fact you can add your truck to the family plan instead of getting raped for OnStar's 10 cents a minute fee.

Verizon is out of OnStar numbers in the Denver market. The dealer told me that there is some way to transfer my old OnStar number to my new truck. Since I don't want it and never used it, I don't care. The dealer told be it could be up to a week before a number was assigned, and it would be one that has only been deactivated for 60 days, so I could expect wrong number calls if the old owner of the number actually used it much and people still had that number...

I picked up my truck on 9/22 and just tried the blue button. Same result as you, so I guess I have no number yet.

Schlogster · October 14, 2007

A little off the main subject but this happened tonight and I'm re-thinking things.

I have a 7 month old Silverado with On-Star and I've used it maybe 2 dozen times, mainly just to make a phone call. I have purchased additional minutes at about 15 dollars for 100 minites, good but not great. Anyway, been wondering if it will be worth the cost of renewal next year, it's one more of those bills I really can do without.

Tonight, the wife and I take a hour drive south to go see my niece play in a marching band competition. For the sake of being cheap we take her new Cobalt (2007) as it gets about 36 MPG and is really easy to park at events. I find a good parking spot just at dusk and we hop out and I quickly grab my jacket off the back seat, seeing traffic coming quickly lock door (manual locks) and slam the door in unison with my wife. Immediately I realized I'd just locked the keys in the car, SH#t!!! Luckily the police in that city were very nice and came out to help us get it unlocked. If I'd just had the On-Star, d**n!!!! We wasted 2 hours sitting out there waiting for help, not knowing first who to call... certainly no yellow pages to look up a locksmith, totally out of our safety zone being too far from home. Monday, I'll be taking the car to a paint shop and maybe a dealer or two to see what the cost of replacing a door seal and fixing allot of scratches, many down to the primer. The slim jim couldn't find a lock mechanism and they ended up using a nylon wedge to make a wide gap, grabbing he keys out of the ignition. Maybe the cost of renewal isn't so bad considering what this may end up running. So much for an easy night out

Zembonez · October 14, 2007

What do you guys think about that? I tried it again on the way home, still did the same thing.

I'm still PISSED that I have to put up with the frikkin shark fin on my roof when I have no intention of signing up for Onstar. I have my own GPS and Nav unit. What an imposing waste of useless technology so that GM can make $$$... I'm gonna remove the antenna and fill the hole, then repaint as needed so I don;t have that ugly antenna.

WFO · October 14, 2007

What do you guys think about that? I tried it again on the way home, still did the same thing.

I'm still PISSED that I have to put up with the frikkin shark fin on my roof when I have no intention of signing up for Onstar. I have my own GPS and Nav unit. What an imposing waste of useless technology so that GM can make $$$... I'm gonna remove the antenna and fill the hole, then repaint as needed so I don;t have that ugly antenna.

I agree with you, that is a ugly antenna. I have no intention of renewing it either. I can see the plastic getting messed up from the sun in a few years and looking like crap.

Ranger · October 14, 2007

My Onstar is having a little problem with the voice recognition...Certain numbers are d**n near impossible to input. The funny thing is it's only doing it with me, everyone else that tried it has no problem at all.

Puggy · October 14, 2007

...Tonight, the wife and I take a hour drive south to go see my niece play in a marching band competition. For the sake of being cheap we take her new Cobalt (2007) as it gets about 36 MPG and is really easy to park at events. I find a good parking spot just at dusk and we hop out and I quickly grab my jacket off the back seat, seeing traffic coming quickly lock door (manual locks) and slam the door in unison with my wife. Immediately I realized I'd just locked the keys in the car, SH#t!!! Luckily the police in that city were very nice and came out to help us get it unlocked. If I'd just had the On-Star, d**n!!!!...

If you would have had OnStar on your wife's Cobalt it wouldn't have done you any good in that situation. OnStar can not unlock manual locks.

NathanL · October 14, 2007

Just tell people you race on weekends and that antennae is the housing for the onboard camera.....I don't like it either - nt a big fan of holes in the roof for whatever reason. Especially if you keep trucks forever like some people - 20+ years.

gmblack3 · October 14, 2007

So this morning, on my way down to the dealership to have them put on the Simoniz System 5 treatment to the exterrior and interrior.

I hope they did this for free as thats all its worth.

topdj · October 14, 2007

thats ok my brother is 100 % deaf and they keep sending him info and asking him to renew, what for LOL.

hotwheels57 · October 14, 2007

Your dealer should have completed all of the paperwork for you at the time of the contract signing since the ONSTAR is part of the package for the first year.

The ONSTAR on our '07 Silverado was working when we drove off the lot. On our Trailblazer, it did take over a week to get a new phone number for the ONSTAR due to a shortage of available phone numbers at that time.

And yes, there are places where reception is limited due to cell tower location. I'd bet your cell phone doesn't work in those places either, but the ONSTAR is a more powerful output phone system according to everything I've read.

NathanL · October 14, 2007

Your dealer should have completed all of the paperwork for you at the time of the contract signing since the ONSTAR is part of the package for the first year.
The ONSTAR on our '07 Silverado was working when we drove off the lot. On our Trailblazer, it did take over a week to get a new phone number for the ONSTAR due to a shortage of available phone numbers at that time.

And yes, there are places where reception is limited due to cell tower location. I'd bet your cell phone doesn't work in those places either, but the ONSTAR is a more powerful output phone system according to everything I've read.

We have nearly 100% cell phone coverage here because the towers were paid for by the company we contract with as they own 45% of the land mass in the county.

But when I bought the truck I had to sign the deal stating they didn't have a contract for this county with a provider. So you can have full cell phone service but not Onstar. Maybe some point in the future they get a contract or more likely they look at the population in the county and say it's not worth it.