I Pushed the Blue Button
03-10-2015 | 09:42 AM
#21
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Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 390
Likes: 0
From: Perry Lake, KS Lake of Ozarks
Call the dealer, as mentioned I bet there are some free services.
The car based phone does have significantly more power than our hand sets so that can be an advantage. Old timers may recall the difference between .6 watt Bricks and 3 watt bag and installed phones? Still applies. OnStar is a full 3 watts.
Agree too on the "wait them out sales approach" Keep putting them off as they start hassling for renewal. They will usually load 100 min and roll over any unused from the prior year as well as come down significantly in price. Take the one year lump payment, then they have to beg again and give up the deal. If you go monthly subscription, they will simply roll you to a higher plan after 12 months. You can call them out on it and they will usually credit the higher charges to a renewed subscription. I would rather make them do the sales work to keep my business than be at their mercy to give me a price.
The car based phone does have significantly more power than our hand sets so that can be an advantage. Old timers may recall the difference between .6 watt Bricks and 3 watt bag and installed phones? Still applies. OnStar is a full 3 watts.
Agree too on the "wait them out sales approach" Keep putting them off as they start hassling for renewal. They will usually load 100 min and roll over any unused from the prior year as well as come down significantly in price. Take the one year lump payment, then they have to beg again and give up the deal. If you go monthly subscription, they will simply roll you to a higher plan after 12 months. You can call them out on it and they will usually credit the higher charges to a renewed subscription. I would rather make them do the sales work to keep my business than be at their mercy to give me a price.
Last edited by ChargeIt; 03-10-2015 at 09:45 AM.
03-10-2015 | 02:28 PM
#23
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,879
Likes: 8
From: Southeast Michigan
Temporarily install the Onstar Remote app on somebody's phone, at least. It's great for starting the truck out of remote range, and if the app is used once during the trial period, it's a free service for 5 years.
03-10-2015 | 04:00 PM
#24
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 404
Likes: 0
From: Southern Michigan and Elk Rapids
Gonna do that for sure. Turns out my HTC phone is android so I'll be good.
03-10-2015 | 04:42 PM
#25
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 409
Likes: 88
From: W. Mich.
The OnStar app is cool for sure but does have some limitations.
The vehicle can't be buried in the middle of a concrete parking structure or the signal may not reach the vehicle.
Also, the vehicle has to have been started at least once within (I believe) a week for it to work.
We're in MI, went on vacation and left our coats in the truck thinking we'd start the truck when we landed back in GRR with the O/S app and the truck would be warm when we got to it. The problem is we were gone for 10 days and it wouldn't start the truck & it was COLD.
My wife was neither impressed with me (dork!) nor OnStar ("who the hell goes on vacation for less than a week?")
Congrats on the new ride
s
The vehicle can't be buried in the middle of a concrete parking structure or the signal may not reach the vehicle.
Also, the vehicle has to have been started at least once within (I believe) a week for it to work.
We're in MI, went on vacation and left our coats in the truck thinking we'd start the truck when we landed back in GRR with the O/S app and the truck would be warm when we got to it. The problem is we were gone for 10 days and it wouldn't start the truck & it was COLD.
My wife was neither impressed with me (dork!) nor OnStar ("who the hell goes on vacation for less than a week?")
Congrats on the new ride
s
