Anyone using the Unlimited Wifi through OnStar?

[DennisT]

A few months ago I signed up for the unlimited wifi plan at $15/month. Our cell data is not unlimited and we travel a lot in the Denali. I also used it while in campgrounds with our camper. The speed was never at full LTE speeds but was acceptable at 5 to 10 meg. Recently, we're finding it to be unusable with download speeds less than 1 meg. Does anyone else use the service and what are your experiences?

 

[sealandsky]

A few months ago I signed up for the unlimited wifi plan at $15/month. Our cell data is not unlimited and we travel a lot in the Denali. I also used it while in campgrounds with our camper. The speed was never at full LTE speeds but was acceptable at 5 to 10 meg. Recently, we're finding it to be unusable with download speeds less than 1 meg. Does anyone else use the service and what are your experiences?

I have it and it works well. However, I don't use it for downloading movies or anything like that. I'd also expect that multiple users will slow it down considerably. For my use it's one or two users.

 

[RST Dana]

I have it with ATT. It’s about $20 per month. Not fast, but does have connectivity in places where ATT normally has issues via smartphones.

 

[Staggered 02]

Thanks for asking. I have been considering the service for the Duramax. I'll research it a bit more.

 

[DennisT]

The service has worked well at times. We use it running I75 to Florida and it mostly works OK. My problems recently have been within 5 or 10 miles of my home and it has been so slow that we have to turn wifi on our phones off in order to access anything on the internet while in the truck. I know the service is provided by AT&T, but does it use cell towers or satellites to communicate? If towers, maybe it is just that the ones in my area are over-congested. However, our AT&T phones work just fine in the same area.

 

[Bob2C]

I think they treat the the data plans in the cars and trucks like prepaid plans which are not prioritized meaning they are in line behind post paid subscribers. That’s the reason the cell phones work fine. I run exclusively prepaid cellphones and it happens to me from time to time and when the tower is congested forget it. Hardly any service. But it doesn’t happen often where I am.


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[wjburken]

The service has worked well at times. We use it running I75 to Florida and it mostly works OK. My problems recently have been within 5 or 10 miles of my home and it has been so slow that we have to turn wifi on our phones off in order to access anything on the internet while in the truck. I know the service is provided by AT&T, but does it use cell towers or satellites to communicate? If towers, maybe it is just that the ones in my area are over-congested. However, our AT&T phones work just fine in the same area.

In looking at the plan details a few things come to mind.

1). After a certain amount of data, AT&T can throttle your network speed to 2G speed.

2). AT&T may prioritize phone accounts over OnStar accounts.

That would explain why phones work better on their own vs with OnStar.

 

[RST Dana]

In looking at the plan details a few things come to mind.

1). After a certain amount of data, AT&T can throttle your network speed to 2G speed.

2). AT&T may prioritize phone accounts over OnStar accounts.

That would explain why phones work better on their own vs with OnStar.

The throttling is per device, so only the device using the mega data would get throttled and the others on the account would work fine where coverage is great.

 

[wjburken]

The throttling is per device, so only the device using the mega data would get throttled and the others on the account would work fine where coverage is great.

Interesting. So if your family has their phones going connected to your OnStar WiFi connection, AT&T doesn’t treat the OnStar connection as a single connection but instead looks past it and treats each device connected to it as an individual device? I assumed it was like having internet in my house that was limited to a certain amount of data and it is split up among all the devices connected to it. Not challenging what you said, just trying to understand how that all works.

 

[BG1988]

I have it with ATT. It’s about $20 per month. Not fast, but does have connectivity in places where ATT normally has issues via smartphones.

that is because cars don't have power or Antenna size limitations wise and can have a HIGH gain Antenna in/output....



as soon as your cellphone has a Mr.Fusion reactor then it will be less of an issue