Topic: Analog --> Digital affecting OnStar & other telematics

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Onstar may bleed subscribers
Cellular providers drop analog for digital; Lexus and Mercedes are also at risk

Ralph Kisiel and Tim Moran  |  Automotive News / March 12, 2007 - 1:00 am
 
General Motors must dump 10 percent of its OnStar subscribers - about 500,000 users - because OnStar must cut off service to vehicles equipped with outdated analog telematics equipment.

Next year, cellular phone service companies - which provide OnStar with its communications link to customers - are completing the transition from analog to digital service.

When the switch occurs on Jan. 1, OnStar risks losing customers who purchased a GM vehicle before the 2003 model year. That's when OnStar introduced digital telematics service.

OnStar is sending letters to those subscribers offering a year of free service. What's the catch? They must buy or lease a new GM vehicle to take advantage of the offer.

OnStar provides a range of telematics services, including the basic Safe & Sound plan for $199 a year. Subscribers get 24-hour roadside assistance, stolen-vehicle tracking, remote door unlocking, vehicle diagnostics and other services.

Ninety percent of OnStar's 4.5 million subscribers own vehicles that already operate on the digital network or can be retrofitted. Customers with older vehicles that can be retrofitted can buy a $15 equipment upgrade at a dealership.

For OnStar, eliminating analog service will cause a significant loss of revenue. If all subscribers who own older cars and trucks do not buy new vehicles, OnStar will lose at least $100 million in annual revenue.

"It's a frustrating situation for us and our subscribers," says Bill Ball, OnStar's vice president of public policy. "We are hopeful and confident that some of these subscribers will take the offer of an additional year of free service and buy or lease a new GM vehicle."

The loss of analog service also creates a knotty marketing problem. Previously, OnStar emphasized its ability to provide emergency service to customers anywhere in the country - even in remote rural areas. Now, it no longer can guarantee blanket coverage.

An OnStar spokeswoman acknowledged Friday that the coverage area would change. She had no further details.

"For the telematics service providers, their whole proposition is to provide safety and security," said analyst Phil Magney of the Telematics Research Group in Minnetonka, Minn. "It's an unfortunate situation when (the motorist) has an emergency and he doesn't have that connectivity."

General Motors isn't the only automaker grappling with the problem. Other automakers offer similar roadside-assistance services, and early versions of those services were typically analog.

A Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman said Friday that 200,000 of its 420,000 Tele Aid subscribers will be affected by the loss of analog service. Those who own cars or trucks sold in the 2001-04 model years must upgrade their systems if they want to retain service.

They can buy equipment upgrades ranging from $600 to $1,500. Mercedes is offering mail-in rebates ranging from $100 to $200. Customers can have the equipment installed at the dealership.

Likewise, owners of older Lexus models could lose telematics service. OnStar's analog telematics service was installed in some Lexus LS 430 cars and Lexus GX 470 SUVs made between 2001 and 2004. The service was branded as LexusLink.

Lexus stopped offering the analog service because the company anticipated the eventual transition to digital phone service.

Then it reintroduced LexusLink as a digital system, again provided by OnStar. Digital service began with the 2005 LX and GX SUVs. LexusLink did not show up in the LS and GS sedans until the 2007 model year.

Those 17,000 LexusLink subscribers who bought vehicles from the 2001 through 2004 calendar years will lose service Feb. 12 of next year.

Lexus is offering those customers two options: They can remove their system at the dealership for no charge or they can receive a $900 certificate to purchase LexusLink when they buy a new vehicle.

"We can't retrofit the old systems," says Lexus spokesman Greg Thome. "We looked at this long and hard, as you can imagine."

Should be noted VW-Audi and other manufacturers have offered analog OnStar as well in the past.

______________________

Why digital trumped analog

Tim Moran  |  Automotive News / March 12, 2007 - 1:00 am
 
Mobile-phone companies have moved to digital technology because they can cram more phone calls into the same amount of radio bandwidth. Although digital signals are weaker and travel shorter distances, most customers live in urban areas where that doesn't matter.

But the new technology means trouble for motorists on remote rural roads where digital cell phone service isn't available. While digital networks serve 90 percent of the 220 million cell phone subscribers in the United States, many remote areas have only analog cell phone coverage - or none.

Unlike digital phones, analog technology used in earlier cell phones sends strong signals farther and automatically allows phone calls to "roam" from one network to another.

But analog phones are unfashionably large compared with their digital cousins, and their batteries run down more quickly.

In 2002, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that cell phone service providers no longer would have to offer analog service after Feb. 18, 2008. That ruling triggered the transition by OnStar and other telematics providers to digital service.

[UmroAyyar]

A bit painful move, but worth it. A co-worker has the OnStar in her older Malibu. 2 accidents, ditches all over Easter Canada. She swears by it, won't buy a vehicle without it. I wonder what's she going to do about this change.

Good thing on Lexus' part, $900 certificate, WOW!

[Allen]

I like the Lexus offer of a credit .. don't get wht GM is smoking, save $200 by buying a new car now there is a deal no one can turn down

[mmret]

For goodwill sake they should come out with free retrofit kits....

$1500 for the MB retrofit? They must be making a decent profit there.

[bgclarke]

For goodwill sake they should come out with free retrofit kits....

They can't (GM). 

The actual wiring in the cars with the analog only units is different than the wiring for cars with the tri-mode or all digital units.

[tpl]

Well they could but choose not to.    they COULD make   a special gsm/cdma phone like device that could be connected to the mic, speakers and buttons in the car  with a new special purpoise wiring harness but they wont because the cost would be prohibitive. Interesting because a lot of those early cars must have been Cadillacs which were not cheap.


And a second point   I suppose that to get country wide coverage on digital in the USA they will have to be able to come alive on GSM or CDMA depending on area.  That will complicate things but from the article, they have been doing something about that for a couple of years.


"Mobile-phone companies have moved to digital technology because they can cram more phone calls into the same amount of radio bandwidth. Although digital signals are weaker and travel shorter distances, most customers live in urban areas where that doesn't matter"

And of course because the rest of the world went totally digital some time ago so the hardware mfrs are not interested in making AMPS phones with just a NA market. then the whole business is complicated by the FCC permitting two different standards for digital.

[UmroAyyar]

Good move by GM. 


OnStar Offers a Free Year of Service to Customers With Obsolete Analog Systems

When the U.S. national cellular telephone grid pulls the plug on its old analog service in favor of the new digital specification on January 1, 2008, cars with analog OnStar telematics hardware will be cut off from the service.

That's because when General Motors started selling cars with OnStar in 1996, there was no digital standard, so the cars had only analog service, explained OnStar President Chet Huber. The cellular telephone industry didn't decide on the CDMA standard until 2002, and cars built before then will not be able to use OnStar next year, he said.

Those customers, some 10 percent of OnStar's nearly 5 million subscribers, must buy a newer OnStar-equipped car if they want to retain the service after analog service ends. To ease the shock for those customers, OnStar is offering a year of free service with their newer vehicle. That means that if they buy a used car, they will get one free year of service and if they buy a new car, they'll get a full year added to the complimentary free first year. A free year of telematics service — at $199 — pales in comparison to the cost of replacing a vehicle, but at least the company is showing customers that it understands their frustrating position.

As soon as the CDMA standard was established in 2002, but before the company started building in digital service, GM initially built cars with provisions to allow them to be upgraded to digital. Customers who have those cars will need to have new hardware installed if they want to retain the service, Huber added. If those customers re-up for another year, GM will swap in a digital system for only $15, with the work done by your local dealer.

What this means to you: If you put your kid in a '98 STS for the car's safety and the peace of mind of the OnStar service, you just lost out. But at least you know OnStar feels your pain.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=120088

[tpl]

"That's because when General Motors started selling cars with OnStar in 1996, there was no digital standard, so the cars had only analog service, explained OnStar President Chet Huber. The cellular telephone industry didn't decide on the CDMA standard until 2002, and cars built before then will not be able to use OnStar next year, he said.
"

I somehow doubt that the big cell compamies that use GSM will go for changing all their customers over to CDMA.   But if Mr Huber means that there is enough CDMA service throughout the USA ( and Canada) that Onstar can be exclusively CDMA then ok.

[Ex-airbalancer]

In todays world, anything electronic that intact with something else is really good for about 3 years
Who here has had to get new equipment to do work.
I had to get a new laptop to run the new version of auto cadd, I was luck as I gave the laptop to one of the kids and it died two months later
But you would think, it would not be so costly to switch systems

[sirAQUAMAN64]

How is this rational? Suing a company that has no control over the government regulation/ruling, and little over the telecommunication company's decision. Plus, demanding refund on the OnStar device and subscription since 2002 when he's used it 5+ years already?! Maybe he should sue GM again in a few years when his Eldorado requires repair or needs to be put out to pasture because it should last forever   To think morons like this actually get awarded and rewarded sometimes.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070510/AUTO01/705100380/1148
GM sued over OnStar change

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

A disgruntled Cadillac owner, whose OnStar service will go dead next year as a result of upgrades to General Motors Corp.'s peace-of-mind roadside assistance feature, filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday against the automaker.

Robert Weaver of Virginia bought a new Cadillac El Dorado in 2002 equipped with GM's OnStar, a much-advertised communication system that links motorists with live operators who can offer driving directions and emergency help.

Weaver is among 1.5 million owners who will be affected when OnStar completes its switch from an analog system to a more current digital network.

While newer GM vehicles are equipped with digital receivers, many older models are not, meaning they will lose OnStar when the analog service shuts down starting next year. Some vehicles made between 2002 and 2004 can be upgraded, but all pre-2002 models will become obsolete.

GM says about 500,000 vehicles have analog systems that can't be upgraded and 1 million have digital-capable systems. A small number of Acura, Audi, Subaru and Volkswagen models are affected.

The switch is a result of a 2002 Federal Communications Commission decision to let cell phone companies shutter their analog networks starting in February. OnStar is carried by Verizon Wireless.

GM has heavily promoted OnStar with commercials featuring dramatic real-life calls between motorists and operators, such as one from a child phoning for help after a car accident.

In the lawsuit, Weaver charges that GM knew it was switching to an all-digital network but continued to sell analog-only systems and failed to inform customers they were to be phased out.

He calls for GM to reimburse all affected customers the $199 cost of the OnStar system along with subscription fees. The suit also seeks to block GM from shutting off service or from charging customers the $15 cost of an upgrade.

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of Weaver and any affected OnStar customers. Weaver's attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

GM, in a statement, said switching to digital was the only way it could maintain comprehensive coverage in the United States and Canada as cell phone companies cancel their analog service. Nearly 90 percent of OnStar subscribers have vehicles that either have the digital system or can be upgraded, according to GM. For those who don't, GM will provide a year of free OnStar service on any new vehicle leased or purchased by the end of the year.

The company said it has sent letters advising affected customers of their options. In addition, by charging only $15 for the upgrades, GM is covering most the cost, said Bill Ball, OnStar vice president of public policy.

"It's a very frustrating situation for subscribers and for us," he said. "The engineers have done their best to try and provide a solution for as many folks as we're capable of doing."