I subscribe to nothing automotive wise except AAA. There was a time when I had to use them once for a tow and the woman on the phone was irritating me to no end.
My truck died (fuel pump) and it took me just a few minutes to diagnose it. Called AAA and the lady said she would send someone to jump start it. No lady, the fuel pump is dead.
Fifteen minutes of this crap with her…
“Maybe you just need a new battery” she says after being told 15 times it was the fuel pump. God, what a moron.
Just about dropped them over that call.
Safety connect, service connect, destination assist, remote access, satellite radio, there are many subscription services offered but most new car buyers do not buy these services after the service included with the purchase of the vehicle expires.
A few people enjoy these services, push a button, tell the operator that you want directions to the nearest gourmet McDonalds and they load the data into your navigation display. We are living in the space age.
My at least 15 year old garmin wlth lifetime map updates can do that, did not subscribe to Onstar and the nav unit cannot be upgraded in a 2017 gmc acadia limited. Have to watch the signs as some changes in exit configurations have been made, so I usually use the garmin.
And yes I have been to the Gm order the cd update, not available.
I can do voice command search by name category etc. Can even change the voice, wish they had a Sean Connery! You’ve missed your turn, give up and go home! It even moniters traffic through some radio signal and suggests alternate routes and time that could be saved. The other nice feature it displays the speed limit for the road you are on, turns red you are going faster than the posted limit. The voice command sounds really sweet, voice command, “Say a command”, sounds so sweet but shut up does not work.
“I do have Spotify…The Free version. It does use my data, but I have unlimited minutes plan. And Spotify doesn’t use much data. A 4 hour trip listening to Spotify used less then 500mb. With the Free plan I have to listen to commercials. But the commercials are fewer then listening to any Radio station. And the Spotify sound quality is close to CD quality. Far better then any local station. And I get to listen to the music I like all the time.”
Agree and have the free version on my laptop. Will eventually figure out (actually read the manual) on how to transfer from phone to car. Just gasp! driving to places right now.
I really miss the CD players. Planned obsolescence is making me cranky.
No subscriptions for car or house. Just not in the budget.
For the house I have a $20 digital antenna that pulls in about four dozen channels, about fifteen of which I use to one extent or another with the others selected to permanently off. Internet for the past year and half is only through my cell phone. Now that I’m working again, once I pay down debt (first time in my life I’ve been in debt!) I’ll put internet back. In the meantime, in a pinch when absolutely needing computer capability on the internet (rarely) I can use a dongle to connect the computer through my phone’s unlimited data (but throttled if over 2G in a month.) For music at home, I listen to the stereo and radio.
In the car I have radio and a CD player. What I ought to do but haven’t made time for yet is to play and transfer all my LPs and CDs to digital format on my laptop, organize the playlist, then make a copy to a flash drive to use in the car.
I did have a one year “free” subscription of OnStar (included in the car’s purchase price) in the 2007 Chevy Impala. But I never paid to continue it after that one year.
I also have no navigation system in the car, having opted for a basic LE trim level in the 2014 Camry I’ve had for seven and a half years now. I can and do easily access Google Maps and Mapquest on my phone and still have some hard copy maps, a road atlas, and for the St. Louis area I have the Wehrenburg street guide maps for three counties on the Missouri side and two on the Illinois side.
I’ve been in friends cars with integrated nav systems that constantly give verbal commands which drives me crazy. Using verbal nav guidance is handy in some situations but irritating to use very much.
I’m no Luddite. I do use a lot of available technology but I also understand the difference between wants and needs and keeping within a budget.
I hadn’t realized I can access a free version of Spotify through my phone and play that in the car via the bluetooth connection until reading about it in comments in this discussion thread. Aha! I’ll check it out.
The only subscription I have is one for XM radio that I can move from the truck to the house the only other one I had when I was sill driving OTR was a pre pass for the truck scales that the had the weigh in motion that let me bypass most of the scales
If you have Iphone then you need CarPlay or the Andriod equivalent. You don’t transfer the songs (data). The App does all the playing. I upgraded the Audio on my Highlander with one from Kenwood. The unit has the Spotify app built in. The Kenwood is connected to my IPhone via BlueTooth and then accesses the Kenwood Spotify app accesses my account via the Spotify app on my IPhone. My Son’s Hyundai doesn’t have the Spotify app on his cars audio system, but it allows him to play Spotify via CarPlay.
Thanks, Mike- I followed your info up to a point, then a bit lost. My Hyundai does have Appleplay and Android capabilities. I’ll evolve eventually. I’ll bet this is easier done than explained. Will get help from a millennial if all else fails. Cheers
