Seems to me that "form factors" might be at play here -- and the lack of industry standards, and the short product cycles, and the limited market (only a few GM brands, and IIRC, a few Hyundai models.) Come to think of it, I haven't heard or seen one of those onstar commercials in about a week. Since the first year is free, they might be coming up against the deadline. John Willkie -----Mensaje original----- De: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] En nombre de Manfredi, Albert E Enviado el: Friday, February 01, 2008 5:10 PM Para: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Asunto: [opendtv] Re: Analog cellular service shutoff http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-279722A1.doc The repercussions of this analog cellular switchoff, to occur at the service provider's option no earlier than 2/18/2008, are amazing. The car companies offering telematics systems, such as OnStar from GM, are using this switchoff as an excuse why the systems on many cars, some no older than 2 years old, either need to be upgraded at customers' expense, or simply "cannot" be upgraded. That's when they apparently tell their customers "please buy one of our new cars to retain this safety feature you really should not do without." Supposedly, systems on cars as new as 2002 or 2003 cannot be upgraded, they claim. No way. And no sensible explanation as to why. Sounds to me like it should be a straightforward upgrade to just change the cell network, without necessarily upgrading the older system's feature set. Customers are screaming, and rightfully so. They aren't asking for new features, they are only asking that their system keep working. And there is no technical excuse at all why this shouldn't be possible. Turns out, the older "non-upgradeable" systems have two separate modules: a cell-phone module and an in-car sensor interface module. It would seem very straightforward to develop a kit with new cell phone module, retaining the other module as is. It's just a link, after all. The hands-off telephone service and the safety features already offered by the older system (e.g. airbag deployment sensor) ought to be very easy to keep operational. In this blurb, they try to blame the FCC: http://www.onstar.com/us_english/jsp/digital_transition.jsp Apparently, a class action suit has be filed. http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/onstar-digital Something to think about, next time an OnStar ad comes on TV, eh? Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.