[Chris Tobin]

OnStar is now offering Unlimited Data for $20 per month. I will probably go for it during the spring and summer show season when we are on the road a lot...

Seems like a pretty good deal and I believe GM is the first/only auto manufacturer offering an Unlimited Data plan at all. Seems like a pretty good deal compared to what we spend on our cellular data plans...

What do you guys think?

 

[EricSmit]

It's through AT&T though.

Source- I sell Chevrolet.

 

[EricSmit]

Give me a minute and I'll have more info.

 

[EricSmit]

Yeah, it's truly unlimited data for 30 days. It's not a month, just 30 days at a time, $20 each cycle. That's a great deal. I'm going to jump on it, actually.

 

[ChevyGuy]

I guess it depends on how you use data. First off, I assume this is for models that have the WiFi hotspot. I think that started with the 2014 MY. That might be nice if you got some kids that want to use their tablet to watch movies on the long drive. I have a harder time for other scenarios. I'd think you'd want the unlimited plan on your phone, perhaps with hotspot ability.

 

[johnmo]

It's through AT&T though.

Less bars in less places.

 

[EricSmit]

Less bars in less places.

You know it's funny, because I've had AT&T for 10 years and I've had absolutely nothing but perfect service and signal. In that spread I've lived all over the country, and I never had a problem with my service. It's always been fast enough for me not to notice it slow, and I've so rarely had calls drop that I can't recall a specific time it happened.

 

[EricSmit]

I guess it depends on how you use data. First off, I assume this is for models that have the WiFi hotspot. I think that started with the 2014 MY. That might be nice if you got some kids that want to use their tablet to watch movies on the long drive. I have a harder time for other scenarios. I'd think you'd want the unlimited plan on your phone, perhaps with hotspot ability.

Unlimited data on your phone costs significantly more than that.

In my case for example, I use wifi at work, wifi at home. Generally, if I'm on my phone, it's through wifi. The only time I'm not on wifi is in my car. My girlfriend actually won't use anything that requires data unless she's on wifi or it's an emergency. I can cut our phone bill to 1gb data with rollover and add unlimited data to our vehicles and save $30 a month.

 

[JDH]

I guess it depends on how you use data. First off, I assume this is for models that have the WiFi hotspot. I think that started with the 2014 MY. That might be nice if you got some kids that want to use their tablet to watch movies on the long drive. I have a harder time for other scenarios. I'd think you'd want the unlimited plan on your phone, perhaps with hotspot ability.

mine in a June 14 build and does not have the wifi equipment.

 

[carbon02]

How hard can you push the bandwidth with this onstar data? I guess it's kind of crazy to assume that you'd run an entire household off a wifi hotspot that is mounted in a car but I'm just wondering.

Is there a maximum capacity before the speed decreases to 3G or lower? I know even the new Verizon unlimited plan slows down after 22 or 28 gigs per month.

How much Roku could you do while at campsites and roadtriping? Anyone know?

 

[jblackburn]

I have Verizon (who says they have the 'best coverage', blah blah), and quite honestly, AT&T seems to be more consistent in my neck of the woods (Washington DC area). Haven't had a problem with streaming music over the car's WiFi up and down I-95 either (there's a dead zone right around the NC/VA border with Verizon).

I'll actually probably be leaving Verizon in the near future, and may add this plan to my car for streaming music and things in the future.

 

[EricSmit]

How hard can you push the bandwidth with this onstar data? I guess it's kind of crazy to assume that you'd run an entire household off a wifi hotspot that is mounted in a car but I'm just wondering.

Is there a maximum capacity before the speed decreases to 3G or lower? I know even the new Verizon unlimited plan slows down after 22 or 28 gigs per month.

How much Roku could you do while at campsites and roadtriping? Anyone know?

No throttling, and you can run 7 devices on the car's Wifi.

The wifi hotspot in the car has a range of 50 feet.

 

[jblackburn]

How much Roku could you do while at campsites and roadtriping? Anyone know?

Zero if you're really "camping"

Seriously...the places I go, you don't have cell service for many, many miles.

 

[a2chris]

I heard you could use this to real-time monitor the cameras in the car if so equipped. Might be cool for parents.

 

[Chris Tobin]

I guess it depends on how you use data. First off, I assume this is for models that have the WiFi hotspot. I think that started with the 2014 MY. That might be nice if you got some kids that want to use their tablet to watch movies on the long drive. I have a harder time for other scenarios. I'd think you'd want the unlimited plan on your phone, perhaps with hotspot ability.

I think the OnStar website said it is 2015 and newer vehicles...

 

[ChevyGuy]

No throttling, and you can run 7 devices on the car's Wifi.

The wifi hotspot in the car has a range of 50 feet.

But, how fast is the OnStar connection? I know it says "4G", but I'm wondering if it might already be "pre-throttled". Either that or there's some fine print we're not seeing. I can't believe AT&T would give "unlimited" without some throttling or limits.

And how long does the hotspot stay on after the car is powered off? I'm guessing 10 minutes.

 

[EricSmit]

But, how fast is the OnStar connection? I know it says "4G", but I'm wondering if it might already be "pre-throttled". Either that or there's some fine print we're not seeing. I can't believe AT&T would give "unlimited" without some throttling or limits.

And how long does the hotspot stay on after the car is powered off? I'm guessing 10 minutes.

It's fast; I use it daily. I have no problem believing they'd offer unlimited data at full speed; how often do you really use hardcore data while driving?

I'd say that's probably a fair guess. I've noticed it before when I get in the restaurant and can still see my wifi signal.

I should clarify when I say fast. I've never had a time where it was slower than my phone's normal 4G LTE.

 

[carbon02]

It's fast; I use it daily. I have no problem believing they'd offer unlimited data at full speed; how often do you really use hardcore data while driving?

I'd say that's probably a fair guess. I've noticed it before when I get in the restaurant and can still see my wifi signal.

I agree one probably wouldn't use tons of data while traveling in the car. There's no large big screen TV's that your going to throw video up on for hours in the car either.

I'm still looking for a means to do a mobile hotspot unlimited and get rid of the home Wifi. However, most of those plans are either pay by the Gig to get high speed, or throttled after a limit. We have a Verizon hotspot at work that is unlimited high speed as it's a corporate account. I have no idea what the price is per month, but it would be nice to have something that would work remotely, and for home streaming.

Granted there's the hurdle of how to keep the car powered while it's in the garage. That's probably more difficult than I realize. I already plug the car into the battery tender nearly daily so I'm not worried about power.

 

[Chris Tobin]

Unlimited data on your phone costs significantly more than that.

In my case for example, I use wifi at work, wifi at home. Generally, if I'm on my phone, it's through wifi. The only time I'm not on wifi is in my car. My girlfriend actually won't use anything that requires data unless she's on wifi or it's an emergency. I can cut our phone bill to 1gb data with rollover and add unlimited data to our vehicles and save $30 a month.

I'm thinking I might be able to do this too and save some $$$...

How hard can you push the bandwidth with this onstar data? I guess it's kind of crazy to assume that you'd run an entire household off a wifi hotspot that is mounted in a car but I'm just wondering.

Is there a maximum capacity before the speed decreases to 3G or lower? I know even the new Verizon unlimited plan slows down after 22 or 28 gigs per month.

How much Roku could you do while at campsites and roadtriping? Anyone know?

I know that I had problems with the internet at my house one time while I was on deadline and had to use our Cruze as a hotspot with my laptop to upload articles and photos and it seemed to be pretty darn fast. We live in a rural area and have DSL at the house and I think it was actually faster than the house. Heck at $20/30 days it is cheaper than I'm paying for the house too. I wish I could figure out a way to keep it on full time and not let it time out...

 

[Chris Tobin]

But, how fast is the OnStar connection? I know it says "4G", but I'm wondering if it might already be "pre-throttled". Either that or there's some fine print we're not seeing. I can't believe AT&T would give "unlimited" without some throttling or limits.

And how long does the hotspot stay on after the car is powered off? I'm guessing 10 minutes.

My guess at the reason AT&T is willing to do it is sheer volume of customers with OnStar. Most users will not use more than a few GB per month, maybe 2-10GB for most OnStar users I'd guess (at least until someone figures out a hack so we can keep the WiFi on longer with the car off) so they will collect $$ from a huge number of GM customers and GM also wins with a huge selling feature that no one else offers...