[geeks] Opinions on T-Mobile and Verizon

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: Patrick Giagnocavo <patrick at zill.net>
>Date: 2007/12/10 Mon PM 04:50:14 CST
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Opinions on T-Mobile and Verizon

>On Dec 10, 2007, at 5:26 PM, Nadine Miller wrote:
>>>
>>> "In April, 2006, GM notified approximately 500,000 of their OnStar
>>> customers who have analog service that their service would be  
>>> terminated
>>> effective December 31, 2007, because starting February 18, 2008  
>>> the FCC
>>> will no longer require US cell phone systems to operate in analog  
>>> mode. If
>>> the vehicle is from the 2003, 2004, or 2005 model year, an adapter  
>>> costing
>>> approximately $200 (includes a One year subscription)can be  
>>> installed at
>>> the customer's expense. If it is older, it will simply no longer be
>>> usable."
>>
>> That's pretty lame, actually.  I have never considered OnStar, so  
>> didn't
>> know much about it.  Glad I never bothered.
>>
>> =Nadine=
>
>Consider this (from the article):
>
>"In a given month OnStar receives 900 automatic airbag notifications,  
>helps with 500 stolen vehicles, connects 15,000 emergency calls,  
>provides 44,000 remote door unlocks, takes 25,000 roadside assistance  
>calls, receives 5,500 good Samaritan calls, offers 32,000 remote  
>diagnostics and facilitates 12.6 million hands-free calls."
>
>So you are paying $200 per year, for what exactly?
>
>Out of 4 million subscribers, the serious safety events (that I can  
>see some benefit to) are:
>
>10,800 airbag deployments (1 in 370 chance of it being you)
>6,000 stolen vehicles (1 in 667 chance of it being you)
>180,000 emergency calls (1 in 22.2 chance of it being you)

OK, would it be better if the folks that bought OnStar drove like a-holes and smashed into everything on the road (to get their monies worth from their OnStar fees?

>Better to throw away $200 on horse racing - odds are you would get  
>$160 of it back.

That $160 won't help if your car is stolen or involved in an accident...

>You would think, given the profit margins on this, that GM would be  
>offering a free retrofit for anyone and everyone.

I bet that rather than using a conventional cell phone (meaning an off-the-shelf model) they have some odd circuit-board OEM contraption that is expensive to get (due to low numbers in comparison to say, a Trac Phone).

At $200 they ARE giving the hardware away for free, an annual contract is $200 and the upgrade includes one.

On a related note, for $299 you can get 1,000 minutes that are good for the year and use the in-car phone...[0]

Lionel

[0] http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/plans/hands_free.jsp