Talk:OnStar
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In the current Wikipedia article titled "OnStar", one sentence says: "It is also available in a number of other vehicles" -- meaning vehicles other than General Motors vehicles. This begs the question "WHICH other vehicles?" This should be clarified.
- Added to the opening paragraph. --Holderca1 19:24, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
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[edit] General Magic?
The General Magic article implies some connection to the beginnings of OnStar, but it's not a well written article and I can't figure out if it's saying General Magic started OnStar or some General Magic technology was used in OnStar or what, or why the "Mary" voice is significant—did THAT come from General Magic too? —pfahlstrom 05:16, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] OnStar Crticism
Re-added the text: "At least one group, OnStar Privacy, has dedicated a website to privacy concerns of the service." to the Critics section after it was removed. Its relevant there. The website used to have its own article, which was deleted. The decision was made to redirect the old article to this one. The message apparently being that the site didn’t need its own article, but was notable enough to be mentioned within the OnStar article. Please explain why it should not be here.
[edit] CALEA
The following text appears in the Criticism section:
- Onstar maintains that it is unable to "listen to, view, or record the content of calls". U.S. law (CALEA) requires that telecommunications providers create infrastructure allowing authorities to easily monitor and record telephone calls.
I wonder if we should include in this text that all wireless carriers--including cellular providers that drivers would otherwise use while driving--must follow this law. The way it's worded now, some people might not realize that and falsely believe that OnStar is more of a privacy risk than Cingular or Verizon.
Also, the following text appears in the same section:
- Voice monitoring capability is marketed as OnStar Hands-Free Calling. The use of this type of capability by law enforcement is subject to legal debate and some technical impediments.
I don't have OnStar to verify this, but surely the OnStar system isn't listening to your every word and broadcasting them out to the OnStar communications network (if so, that's an incredible waste of wireless bandwidth). My guess is that you have to either say a specific command or press a button to engage the telephone/voice monitoring feature, so users' privacy should be protected until they engage the system. (Of course, I guess if OnStar representatives can call the vehicle in an emergency and you do not need to press a button to unmute the mic, your privacy might be iffy.)
Last (and unrelated): anyone know the technical details of the wireless communications network? GSM? CDMA? Proprietary? Does it ever lose reception and fail to complete an emergency call, or is there a satellite backup?
cluth 04:51, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Troy, MI
OnStar's HQ used to be in Troy, MI, but they've since moved to the GM headquarters building in downtown Detroit. I'm not sure if they moved the call center as well, but the old OnStar building in Troy is empty. Jbmcb 18:08, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Recent additions by Ayoungonstar
Do the four recent edits by Ayoungonstar seem to be bit slanted? I believe so - WP:NPOV, and so I am editing them to remove some of the slant. Thanks :) -- Whereizben - Chat with me 19:28, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
