OnStar Launches 4G Next Month

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OnStar 4G

OnStar confirmed it will launch 4G service next month starting at $5 per month after a free trial.

The service will launch on the 2015 Chevrolet Malibu and then roll out to more than 30 other Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles by the end of this year, in the largest deployment of 4G yet by a car maker (Audi offers it in the A3).

OnStar will also become a WiFi hot spot for the car. And as 91 percent of tablet owners use their tablets exclusively with WiFi (versus a cellular connection), the service may prove useful to car passengers. The hotspot is active any time the car is on.

Users will get free 4G/WiFi for the first 3 months and then switch to a choice of about 6 plans.

“Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac will be the first vehicle brands to market with 4G LTE connectivity offered on such a broad scale, and we’re excited to give millions of customers an opportunity to explore the technology without paying extra for a data plan for three months or three gigabytes,” said OnStar President Mary Chan.

Even if you aren’t an OnStar subscriber you can get a 4G plan starting at $10/month for 200MB a month, which is enough to stream more than 6.5 hours of music or cruise the web for 13 hour or send more than 10,000 emails (without attachments), said OnStar.

Data plans are as follows:

Data/Month 200 MB 1 GB 3 GB 5 GB
OnStar Subscriber $5 $15 $30 $50
Non-Subscriber $10 $20 $30 $50

One-time packages are available as follows:

Data/Duration 250 MB/1 Day 10 GB/12 Months
OnStar Subscriber $5 $150
Non-Subscriber $5 $200

For existing AT&T customers, a 4G-ready cars can be added to a Mobile Share Plan for $10 per month.

Most 2015 model year Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles with OnStar hardware will come standard with five years of a new OnStar Basic Plan that includes remote start from a phone, as well as six months of an OnStar Directions & Connections plan.

The new OnStar Basic Plan includes RemoteLink Key Fob Services to remote start and lock/unlock a car, and activate the horn and lights from a compatible smartphone with a data connection. It also includes OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics where OnStar which runs monthly checks of select systems in a vehicle’s engine, transmission, antilock brakes and more, and Dealer Maintenance Notification, which sends a diagnostic report directly to a preferred dealer to make service scheduling simple for the customer.

2015 Model Year Retail Vehicle Models With Available OnStar 4G LTE

Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac
Spark
Spark EV*
Sonic
Cruze
Volt
Malibu
Impala
SS
Corvette
Trax
Equinox
Tahoe*
Suburban*
Colorado
Silverado
Silverado HD*
Encore
Verano
Regal
LaCrosse
Terrain
Yukon*
Yukon XL*
Canyon
Sierra
Sierra HD*
ATS sedan
ATS coupe
CTS sedan
XTS
ELR
SRX
Escalade*
Escalade ESV*

*Not available at start of production.  Available later in the model year.

Source: OnStar (General Motors)

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