Bluetooth Options For 2008 Silverado

[loach402]

I installed my new bluetooth VCIM for the 2nd time today. This time - green Onstar light on the mirror - so the reprogramming apparently worked and the vehicle now recognizes the new box as compatible hardware. However, when I called Onstar in hopes of getting my account sync'd up to my new VCIM, they were unsuccessful. Much like Brewboy's experience, they said they were not getting an ESN # from my box and were unable to sync the account to it.

 

Onstar told me I would need to go to the dealer to complete the activation process. At this point I have to admit I'm wavering as to spend any more money and energy on pursuing getting Onstar to work. Bluetooth works flawlessly, and I'm not sure I want to spend another $90 at the dealer getting them to run an activation routine that may or may not work. I'm just not that confident in my dealer's technical prowess, but I am pretty confident that they'll charge me whether they're successful or not. Heck, even if they do everything right, I still might not be able to get activated.

[Brewboy]

I installed my new bluetooth VCIM for the 2nd time today. This time - green Onstar light on the mirror - so the reprogramming apparently worked and the vehicle now recognizes the new box as compatible hardware. However, when I called Onstar in hopes of getting my account sync'd up to my new VCIM, they were unsuccessful. Much like Brewboy's experience, they said they were not getting an ESN # from my box and were unable to sync the account to it.

 

Onstar told me I would need to go to the dealer to complete the activation process. At this point I have to admit I'm wavering as to spend any more money and energy on pursuing getting Onstar to work. Bluetooth works flawlessly, and I'm not sure I want to spend another $90 at the dealer getting them to run an activation routine that may or may not work. I'm just not that confident in my dealer's technical prowess, but I am pretty confident that they'll charge me whether they're successful or not. Heck, even if they do everything right, I still might not be able to get activated.

 

 

Yup your at the same point as me and now you need the TECH2 TIS2WEB ONSA pass-through programming, but as you say that doesn't mean OnStar will activate it.

 

I bet if you did the programming you will get OnStar saying the same thing as I was told.

 

Funny thing now when I push the hands free calling button I can ask for "My Number" and I get an actual phone number....if I try and make a call on the OnStar system, not using BT, I get a message stating I need more minutes and then it connects me to the OnStar Center. Before I couldn't do that, it just said system not currently configured for hands free calling.

 

Im going to keep trying until I hit an OnStar person who accidentally activates it.

 

Somebody has to know somebody at OnStar to help us out here............

[loach402]

Yup your at the same point as me and now you need the TECH2 TIS2WEB ONSA pass-through programming, but as you say that doesn't mean OnStar will activate it.

 

I bet if you did the programming you will get OnStar saying the same thing as I was told.

 

Funny thing now when I push the hands free calling button I can ask for "My Number" and I get an actual phone number....if I try and make a call on the OnStar system, not using BT, I get a message stating I need more minutes and then it connects me to the OnStar Center. Before I couldn't do that, it just said system not currently configured for hands free calling.

 

Im going to keep trying until I hit an OnStar person who accidentally activates it.

 

Somebody has to know somebody at OnStar to help us out here............

 

I'm going to give it at least one more shot with a different Onstar tech and see what happens. One thing that scares me though is the last Onstar tech said he "opened a case number" for me and gave me the case number to "give to the dealer". I don't want the next tech looking at my file, seeing the open case #, and simply parrotting that I should take it to the dealer without even trying to help me.

[Brewboy]

Its too funny but today I got one of those auto-generated online OnStarSQS ipsos-research surveys asking me how I was being treated by OnStar and how my last OnStar tech treated me.

 

So other then clarifying that the actual Tech I spoke to was very polite I explained the frustrating situation we are all faced with and told them I was dropping OnStar because of their position on Generation 8 upgrades.

 

I also ticked the box that asks if you want someone to follow up with you. I realize that the front line staff have no authority to change anything so I also sent an email to the Director of OnStar Services explaining our frustration.

 

Then if and when he writes back and says they don't want to allow Gen8 upgrades because the hardware is not compatible I will call BS and tell him how it works fine. Everyone should do this.

 

After using this OEM BlueTooth I absolutely love it and would never go back......it works so well with the iPhone 3Gs and the voice command.

[Royal Vader]

OK, OK I'm on it!

Waited long enough!

[Vinney999]

Its too funny but today I got one of those auto-generated online OnStarSQS ipsos-research surveys asking me how I was being treated by OnStar and how my last OnStar tech treated me.

 

So other then clarifying that the actual Tech I spoke to was very polite I explained the frustrating situation we are all faced with and told them I was dropping OnStar because of their position on Generation 8 upgrades.

 

I also ticked the box that asks if you want someone to follow up with you. I realize that the front line staff have no authority to change anything so I also sent an email to the Director of OnStar Services explaining our frustration.

 

Then if and when he writes back and says they don't want to allow Gen8 upgrades because the hardware is not compatible I will call BS and tell him how it works fine. Everyone should do this.

 

After using this OEM BlueTooth I absolutely love it and would never go back......it works so well with the iPhone 3Gs and the voice command.

[Vinney999]

I have a 2008 Silverado LT1 with the non-bose system and no navigation.

 

We're AT&T wireless customers with no interest in changing to Verison to take advantage of the OnStar hands free system.

 

So... my question is...

 

What are you suggestions for adding hands free calling to my truck? I want it to be as integrated as possible, but I'm willing to make concessions to avoid placing any visible input devices in the cab. My only firm request is to be able to hear that phone over the stereo speakers. I don't really need any fancy voice dialing or the need to use any existing buttons in the truck to control the calls. I'd prefer it to be bluetooth to avoid the need to have another wire running across the cab. If anyone could get specific product recommendations, I'd appreciate it.

 

Thanks for your help.

[loach402]

Well, it looks like I might have some success with Onstar after all. Today I decided to give it another (3rd) try. Pressed the blue Onstar button. Once again it beeped for about 6 minutes before Onstar finally answered. Told the Onstar rep that my hardware had been replaced and I needed my account linked to the new box. He asked if I was sure I needed that, because he could see all my information just fine. He knew my name, account number and GPS location without me saying anything. I don't know whether one of the previous attempts had been partially successful or what, but thought this was a very good sign.

 

So I told him it took 6 minutes for them to answer and asked if that was normal. He said no, that they should have answered immediately because call volumes were light this morning. So he transferred me to tech support. I told the tech support guy about the long wait time before Onstar answered my call. He asked if I had recently replaced my hardware. I said yes - a couple weeks ago. He asked if my Onstar light was flashing green and whether I was in an open area with my vehicle running. I said yes to all three - green light flashing and I was sitting in my driveway with the engine running. He said OK, he needed to put me on hold and run some updates. I said OK and waited for about 6-8 minutes. I was sure when he came back on I was going to get the same spiel about the hardware being incorrect for my car blah blah blah woof woof take it to the dealer blah blah. But no - he said sorry about the wait, but he had to do some investigating while I was on hold and thinks he found the problem. He said no phone # had been assigned to my VCIM yet, so he started the process to assign one - he thinks that's why the network was taking so long to process my blue button press - because it didn't recognize my hardware. He told me to wait 24 hours and then press the phone button on the mirror and give the command to find out what my new phone # is, then test the blue Onstar button again to see if it connects to Onstar promptly. So I might be good to go now - will try that tomorrow and see if it works.

[X-man]

Well, it looks like I might have some success with Onstar after all. Today I decided to give it another (3rd) try. Pressed the blue Onstar button. Once again it beeped for about 6 minutes before Onstar finally answered. Told the Onstar rep that my hardware had been replaced and I needed my account linked to the new box. He asked if I was sure I needed that, because he could see all my information just fine. He knew my name, account number and GPS location without me saying anything. I don't know whether one of the previous attempts had been partially successful or what, but thought this was a very good sign.

 

So I told him it took 6 minutes for them to answer and asked if that was normal. He said no, that they should have answered immediately because call volumes were light this morning. So he transferred me to tech support. I told the tech support guy about the long wait time before Onstar answered my call. He asked if I had recently replaced my hardware. I said yes - a couple weeks ago. He asked if my Onstar light was flashing green and whether I was in an open area with my vehicle running. I said yes to all three - green light flashing and I was sitting in my driveway with the engine running. He said OK, he needed to put me on hold and run some updates. I said OK and waited for about 6-8 minutes. I was sure when he came back on I was going to get the same spiel about the hardware being incorrect for my car blah blah blah woof woof take it to the dealer blah blah. But no - he said sorry about the wait, but he had to do some investigating while I was on hold and thinks he found the problem. He said no phone # had been assigned to my VCIM yet, so he started the process to assign one - he thinks that's why the network was taking so long to process my blue button press - because it didn't recognize my hardware. He told me to wait 24 hours and then press the phone button on the mirror and give the command to find out what my new phone # is, then test the blue Onstar button again to see if it connects to Onstar promptly. So I might be good to go now - will try that tomorrow and see if it works.

Did you go to the dealer for the ONSA programming and ESN# after getting it back from Chris White?

[Brewboy]

Well, it looks like I might have some success with Onstar after all. Today I decided to give it another (3rd) try. Pressed the blue Onstar button. Once again it beeped for about 6 minutes before Onstar finally answered. Told the Onstar rep that my hardware had been replaced and I needed my account linked to the new box. He asked if I was sure I needed that, because he could see all my information just fine. He knew my name, account number and GPS location without me saying anything. I don't know whether one of the previous attempts had been partially successful or what, but thought this was a very good sign.

 

So I told him it took 6 minutes for them to answer and asked if that was normal. He said no, that they should have answered immediately because call volumes were light this morning. So he transferred me to tech support. I told the tech support guy about the long wait time before Onstar answered my call. He asked if I had recently replaced my hardware. I said yes - a couple weeks ago. He asked if my Onstar light was flashing green and whether I was in an open area with my vehicle running. I said yes to all three - green light flashing and I was sitting in my driveway with the engine running. He said OK, he needed to put me on hold and run some updates. I said OK and waited for about 6-8 minutes. I was sure when he came back on I was going to get the same spiel about the hardware being incorrect for my car blah blah blah woof woof take it to the dealer blah blah. But no - he said sorry about the wait, but he had to do some investigating while I was on hold and thinks he found the problem. He said no phone # had been assigned to my VCIM yet, so he started the process to assign one - he thinks that's why the network was taking so long to process my blue button press - because it didn't recognize my hardware. He told me to wait 24 hours and then press the phone button on the mirror and give the command to find out what my new phone # is, then test the blue Onstar button again to see if it connects to Onstar promptly. So I might be good to go now - will try that tomorrow and see if it works.

 

Thats great to hear.......I wonder if the difference is the fact they see your Acadia as a 2008 and my Yukon is a 2007. We have the exact same VCIM with the same programming........I will try again as well.......I was also curious if you did the ONSA set up yet?

[loach402]

Did you go to the dealer for the ONSA programming and ESN# after getting it back from Chris White?

 

No, I have not tried the dealer. But I'm not out of the woods yet. I waited the 24+ hours and then did the "my number" command to find out my new number. It came back with a 500 prefix number - bad sign. I think this is just the generic prefix that comes with the box before it's assigned to a customer. The Onstar tech rep yesterday told me I should get a number with my local prefix.

 

I then pushed the blue Onstar button and it just beeped for a couple minutes until I cancelled the call - it should have connected quickly if all was well. I'm going to give it another 24 hours because I think I read somewhere that sometimes it can take 48 hours for everything to activate. I wonder if that is the case especially on weekends.

[Brewboy]

Did you go to the dealer for the ONSA programming and ESN# after getting it back from Chris White?

 

No, I have not tried the dealer. But I'm not out of the woods yet. I waited the 24+ hours and then did the "my number" command to find out my new number. It came back with a 500 prefix number - bad sign. I think this is just the generic prefix that comes with the box before it's assigned to a customer. The Onstar tech rep yesterday told me I should get a number with my local prefix.

 

I then pushed the blue Onstar button and it just beeped for a couple minutes until I cancelled the call - it should have connected quickly if all was well. I'm going to give it another 24 hours because I think I read somewhere that sometimes it can take 48 hours for everything to activate. I wonder if that is the case especially on weekends.

 

 

OK so we are both at the same spot then because I did the same thing and the when I pushed the button and said "My Number" the phone number OnStar said back to me and what showed up on the DIC was 500-223 9370 (last 4 might be wrong) When I called it from home it wouldn't connect.

 

Maybe were getting closer!

[loach402]

OK so we are both at the same spot then because I did the same thing and the when I pushed the button and said "My Number" the phone number OnStar said back to me and what showed up on the DIC was 500-223 9370 (last 4 might be wrong) When I called it from home it wouldn't connect.

 

Maybe were getting closer!

 

So I take it that when you push the blue button, it still take several minutes for Onstar to answer?

 

When I tried to make an outbound call using the Onstar phone it said I'm out of minutes.

[Royal Vader]

OK so we are both at the same spot then because I did the same thing and the when I pushed the button and said "My Number" the phone number OnStar said back to me and what showed up on the DIC was 500-223 9370 (last 4 might be wrong) When I called it from home it wouldn't connect.

 

Maybe were getting closer!

 

So I take it that when you push the blue button, it still take several minutes for Onstar to answer?

 

When I tried to make an outbound call using the Onstar phone it said I'm out of minutes.

 

 

Getting closer!!!

I just got my VCIM and antenna.

[Brewboy]

OK so we are both at the same spot then because I did the same thing and the when I pushed the button and said "My Number" the phone number OnStar said back to me and what showed up on the DIC was 500-223 9370 (last 4 might be wrong) When I called it from home it wouldn't connect.

 

Maybe were getting closer!

 

So I take it that when you push the blue button, it still take several minutes for Onstar to answer?

 

When I tried to make an outbound call using the Onstar phone it said I'm out of minutes.

 

 

yes exactly the same as me...then it says if I push the button one more time it will connect me with OnStar to add minutes