Tenth-Gen OnStar Hardware Doubles Vehicle Stand-By Time

The 4G LTE-based tenth generation OnStar hardware brings with it some noteworthy features and benefits, the most prominent of which are significantly faster OnStar core services as well as the 4G LTE-based OnStar Wi-Fi hotspot. But there is one more almost-unknown benefit brought about by the 10^th-generation OnStar hardware: a two-fold increase in the stand-by time of the vehicle’s OnStar system.

Prior to the Generation 10 OnStar hardware and associated 4G LTE connection, OnStar-enabled vehicles had a maximum stand-by time of five days. This means that the OnStar system remained in active, yet-power-efficient stand-by mode for five days after the vehicle was parked and not started. After the five days had elapsed, the system would hibernate so as to conserve the vehicle’s battery. By contrast, vehicles with the OnStar Gen 10 4G LTE hardware will remain in stand-by mode for ten days before hibernating. GM-Onstar tells us that the increase in the stand-by time is a by-product of the 4G LTE signal and hardware being more energy-efficient than the outgoing 2G CDMA signal and hardware .

“So, what does that do for me”, you may ask. “What a great question”, we would say.

For vehicle owners, the increase in the stand-by time of the OnStar system translates into the ability to use the OnStar RemoteLink app for ten days after leaving and not touching the vehicle, say, in an airport parking lot. As such, the longer stand-by time can be highly convenient for those who forget which parking lot they parked their vehicle in when coming back from a trip, as they can use the RemoteLink app’s Vehicle Locate feature to find their vehicle on RemoteLink’s map. In fact, the same goes for any feature of the RemoteLink app, including door lock/unlock, remote start, lights/horn, and to check how much fuel/battery charge their vehicle has. Isn’t technology wonderful?