12/21/2007, 4:15pm, EST
Friday, December 21stAnalog OnStar to shut down by February 2008
Some car owners and other users of General Motors' OnStar service may find themselves in trouble this February, the Associated Press notes. As of February 18th, the FCC will allow GM to halt the analog version of OnStar, in a bid to make its network all-digital. The difficulty is that while the approximately one million OnStar cellphones can be replaced, some cars built as late as 2005 can only access OnStar via analog signals, and have no support for GM's $15 digital upgrade. Meanwhile, some home alarm systems with OnStar must default to a backup connection without analog.
OnStar service is actually set to stop before the signals do, with the turn of the new year. This has caused some consternation, as while OnStar began warning its customers through its website in 2006 -- and directly, in recent months -- people have been left scrambling to find alternatives, particularly as the network's digital coverage is still smaller.
The OnStar closure is part of a larger trend though, as the FCC is allowing shutdown for conventional analog cellular services as well. Alltel, Verizon and AT&T will all phase out analog in 2008, Alltel finishing as late as September. The only analog networks likely to remain intact will be local ones, generally those that serve rural regions where bigger companies have not invested.
Filed under: industry, gadgets
Other story tags: AT&T, Verizon, FCC, cellphones, Alltel, OnStar
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I found that funny that Verizon's ancient marketing strategy kind of lives on, although the "fact" that my friend talked about was all messed up - Her modern phone simply didn't have an analog chipset, being all CDMA. And in any case, Verizon's Analog network dies at the same time as OnStar - in two months.
I set her straight, but now she's stuck - she has another 18 months on her contract.
For more information contact: Ronald Jay Smolow, Esq. Smolow & Landis Two Neshaminy Interplex Trevose PA 19053 215-244-0880 rsmolow@smolowlandis.com www.onstarclassaction.com
Please go to the website and enter your information to participate, we all deserve to be represented in this egregious fraud that Onstar and GM have created by selling us a critical feature that now we will not be able to use on our cars.
We need to teach Onstar & GM a lesson here!