OnStar Hands-Free Calling Will Be Sunset in 2022
344
Sponsored Links
With the proliferation of smartphones, some in-vehicle technology features are going the way of the dodo. The latest victim is the OnStar Phone feature, also known as Hands-Free Calling, which is slated for official retirement in just a few years’ time.
According to GM Authority sources, General Motors plans to sunset the OnStar Hands-Free Calling service in 2022. At that point, all vehicles on the road still equipped with the feature will no longer have the ability to make calls using the OnStar Hands-Free Calling system.
Last year, we exclusively broke the news that General Motors was discontinuing the OnStar Phone Feature. At the time, we spoke with Stephanie Lang, General Motors’ Advanced Technology Communications, OnStar and Connectivity representative, who indicated that GM would discontinue HFC for 2020 model year and newer vehicles.
OnStar HFC was first made available in the late ‘90s, arriving as the industry’s first built-in calling feature provided by an automaker. HFC is separate from the Bluetooth-based hands-free calling system that connects to a smartphone, and is operated primarily through the infotainment screen, or with voice recognition commands. Users could originally purchase minutes through OnStar, and each vehicle was assigned it’s own unique phone number.
Arriving prior to the proliferation of smartphones, and indeed before the proliferation of cell phones in general, the OnStar Hands-Free Calling system was ahead of its time. Even now, with widespread smartphone adoption, the system remains useful for those who prefer not to have a smartphone, but still want to make phone calls on the move.
Unfortunately, the system is now headed for retirement. However, it’s important to note that the Hands-Free Calling feature uses the vehicle’s built-in OnStar system and model, and that Bluetooth smartphone connections, as well as the various features of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, will continue to be available as they are now.
Are you disappointed to learn about the retirement of OnStar HFC? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more OnStar news and ongoing GM news coverage.
- Sweepstakes Of The Month: Win a 2023 Corvette Z06 Convertible. Details here.
Sponsored Links
GM took away the ability to store phone numbers in the OnStar phone in 2018, then shortened the trial to a month, and kept the minute price outrageously high. Given the number of us with cell phones with far cheaper rates, I don;t see why they even bother with it and are waiting so long to kill thephone feature.
GM made a mistake ..the phone was the best feature of my 08 Hummer.
I’m very disappointed..it worked so good and better than the cell phone.
If I have to use my smart phone why would I pay for on star ?
Just yesterday I learned of the discontinued HFC capability in my 2013 Cadillac On star unit! I have owed six Cadillacs , refuse to buy any vehicle that does not have onstar capabilities. Imagine my disappointment when I learn that one of the features I covet is snatched away!!! Some states make it illegal to operate the car and phone without a hands free ability. So to me, the loss HFC has hampered not only my safety, but made obeying the law difficult.
You have bigger issues than just the HFC going away. For 2015 and earlier vehicles that use 3G connectivity all Onstar functions will go away when the carrier shuts that service down. GM will ship a module that will plug into the OBDII port and you will need to use a downloadable app on your smartphone to pair with it. Once that is done the buttons on the mirror will no longer function.
Will the automatic crash notification go away with the OnStar HFC feature? This is a nice safety feature in the advent of an accident and the inability to call for help with air bag deployment. Will this mean the demise of the hot spot connectivity as well?
While I agree this is a very important feature, I am not willing to pay for this just incase advent as I don’t know anyone who has been so disabled in an accident they could not dail 911 themselves. But to be realistic and fair I hav seen bad accidents on the road, and not to acknowledge the potential of a speedy emergency response that could save someone’s life is just foolish. That being said, it would make more sense to have every car equipped with this life saving feature and only if it is used in the event of an emergency who would argue the charge associated with their life being saved. In addition who would find it useless for GMC to add a 911 panic speed dail with the same charge for usage. It Just makes more sense.
In 2017 my husband was in a serious car crash and was unconscious. An onstar rep. Talked to a man that checked on the accident. The agent called 911 and knew who the driver was. The agent talk to this man until the ambulance got there. Thank you onstar even though my husband did not survive the wreck.
So sorry for your loss.
Sorry for your loss
We have had OnStar phone on our 2009 gmc truck and loved it! It worked in areas that cell phones wouldn’t work! So disappointed that it’s being canceled!
So sorry for your loss. I am a senior and wish they would leave Onstar alone. Not everyone able to use a cell phone while driving. Voice calls are fast and easy.
So sorry about your loss
This happened to me also on I 95. The airbags deployed and onstar was right on phone, called police and ambulance.
I’m very sorry to hear HFC will be discontinued. During the blackout of the Midwest, this was my only means of communicating with my family. It will be missed.
I’m 76 years old and need onstar. Its hard to keep up on a cell phone for mei don’t know what I will do without onstar. Is there any other options,?
I am horrified that I’ll be losing My On Star. I received a letter from them telling me to scan the link to be able to get info but my smart phone being smarter than I could not scan it. I called them but they called back when I wasn’t home and I couldn’t understand what she meant.about the link. This sounds just more of the same “new technology” that isn’t friendly for all involved. You would think that someone would care about us 65+ drivers, ( who never had an accident or speeding ticket) and who aren’t glued to their phone and have a good enough knowledge of using it.
I am very disappointed HFC will no longer be available.. As a senior I depended on HFC and wish they would reconsider their decision to discontinue this important feature. I did not have a problem with the cost for the peace of mind of having HFC.
Well, I like to know if any of us that have minutes left will be getting a refund for the remaining minutes.
No. They took 600 minutes from me. No financial reimbursement. I am a senior and HFC was a godsend. But, GM does not care. I also have no reason to purchase From GM. I am very angry.
If OnStar was considering a refund I do not think they would be telling us our minutes expired when they didn’t nor would they cancel our minutes before the service was scheduled to end.
When telephone service providers offer refunds is’s more likely the result of a negotiated settlement from class acton suites or an FCC investigation due to complaints filed with the FCC or state regulatory agencies.
I don’t believe I have Bluetooth in my 2007 Silverado. What will GM give me to replace the HFC they took from me?
Still useful on areas with poor cell service…it will miss it
It will be missed. Hope airbag deployment notification will still be available and engine diagnostics are still around
I have a 2018 Silverado and have NEVER used and kind of ONSTAR, or for that matter even touched the buttons in my truck.
There are just some products that become outdated, I guess this is one of em.
How is that, considering OnStar is just an embedded cell phone?
You get to talk to a real person. Its more than a cell phone.
I went to call my daughter on my onstar phone and it didn’t work. I called representative and was informed as of Nov. 21 2021 I no longer had on star. No prior notice that it was being done away with. There are places where a cell phone doesn’t work.
There should have been a notice about it.
This is really scary. There’s enough bad things going on in this world, why can’t on star see this ana figure out something else
I think what you are meaning to say you no longer had OnStar HFC minutes. OnStar as a service isn’t going anywhere.
I had the same thing happen to me today in my Malibu, On Star rep told me that the phones were 3g equivalent they wouldn’t work with 5g lte technology. So GM was just using up old stock not upgrading as time went on, and they wonder why more people buy foreign cars?
That was half the reason I liked my car. The safety
More than half! I wouldn’t buy any other brand than GM. NO LONGER!
Hi John
When I found out that HFC was being scrubbed I did a little digging, it seems that the equipment that OnStar is using is not 5G compatible, so they have been putting outdated equipment in our cars for years. The old equipment will not work when 5G service becomes the norm. So no more GM for me. I have been paying top dollar for outdated equipment for years now. Ford has a similar issue with their app, it is cell phone based, they offered to upgraded the equipment for $375 if you want to keep using the app, I’m not buying, but I am guessing that a lot of manufacturers who use cell phone technology will have issues. I’m not defending GM they dropped the ball on us, we had no option to buy OnStar it was built in the car, but they could have given us something better than an iPhone 5
I am very disappointed in GM . I have a 2011. Buick Lucerne. After 4 years my automatic garage door opener was canceled by the company. Then in February when I tried to make a hands free call I found out it was no longer available
and I never received a notification this was going to happen . Today I received notice no more air bag deployment emergency service, no notification on the mechanics on my Buick as of December 2022 . Having these features were one of the reason we stayed with buying Buicks. We are not up to date on the mechanics of a car so appreciated the notification. Use to recommend Buicks when friends were buying new cars. That has now ceased and as much as we have enjoyed our Buicks there will be no new Buicks for us.
I think because of GMs decision to stop HFC and other OnStar features GM may be the only cat company with cars to sell, but nobody, including myself will want them after pulling this stunt
That is a cellular based system, if you don’t have a signal on your phone it is doubtful OnStar going to either.
The ability to make OnStar call when a cell phone couldn’t was a big plus. With the additional amplifiers, larger antennae and a three watt transmitter (vs .25 watts for a cell phone), we could go places with no cell coverage and still make calls. That to me was a safety feature which will be missed.
Actually, it’s a much higher wattage signal so no, it works in areas where .2 watts won’t! This is one of the only reasons we have ever used OnStar….we needed this feature in our remote area!
Big mistake!! we had a family member that had a heart transplant and when he passed out your system notified me and called EMS and got him to the hospital. We rely on your system when a driver cannot make that call. Big mistake to discontinue this service.
Makes you wonder who is really behind this drastic change
Probably the accountants at GM trying to save 5 bucks per car!
Is not Onstar satellite¹based, not cel?
Not true I can use Onstar in places cell phone won’t work
Wrong I get to make calls on it when my cell phone has no service.
Wrong! The OnStar phone signal was much stronger than my cell phone signal. OnStar signals always got through loud and clear even when the cell signal was zero. The car has a much better antenna and stronger signal than a standard cell phone.
While in the Adirondacks a few years back, I had a flat tire. There were no cell towers around which meant no service. Being alone and female, I don’t have to tell you how concerned I was. Not thinking Onstar would help either, I tried it out of desperation. How relieved I was when the adviser not only connected me to the closest garage but also notified the local sheriff who came out to make sure I was okay until the mechanic showed up. GM is making a mistake getting rid of it.
It is my understanding that the transmitter in the car is more powerful than your handheld mobile phone. That means you can use it in spotty coverage areas. My 2013 Buick is still on the Verizon network, and I get very good coverage with it compared to my AT&T iPhone.
As I Understood the system, unlike your cell phone which is tied to one carrier, OnStar would use any cell carrier with coverage. While in metro areas that is irrelevant, in fringe rural areas (like Michigan’s UP), it would use AT&T or Verizon or whichever carrier it could reach. No doubt that is why the per-minute charges were higher, but for rural locations when combined with greater power and a superior antenna, it provided service where cell phones could not.
many times I have made calls on HFC when a cell wouldn’t connect due to”no coverage” My understanding is that it was using a satalite to connect. The only time I couldn’t connect was if I was directly under a very bushy leaved tree. In Michigan UP, cell coverage is not so great. I loved always being able to connect with HFC. Of course I am an older senior, and am not so reliant on a cell phone. If I didn’t have to almost be forced to use one, itI could do without. I hate no more HFC. Oh well!
So sad to read of OnStar HFC is being retired. A huge loss of a very useful feature that actually provides a safe method of placing or receiving a call while driving. A huge loss for GM products overall.
I have had it for many years and never used it. It was in a package that you couldn’t decline HFC with out canceling other features.
Total waste of money, glad to see it go.
Now work on getting rid of driving directions, something else I’ve never needed to use.
The “Directions and Connections” was okay five years ago, but they started hiring anyone with a pulse., This resulted in a lot of confusion, stupidity, and wrong instructions.
Add in a dose of “OnStar is presently serving other customers; please stand by” becoming the norm even on paid subscriptions, and it getting worse after each price increase, I stopped renewing.
Many people will try using cell phones while driving. Ridiculous that China will get this. Guess those if us who buy American don’t count. I have had on star for 10 years.
GM owns On Star , Barra made the decision to get rid of that important feature to increase her bonus.
Citation needed. Off-the-cuff barbs are not helpful to the discussion.
I’ve always bought GM, but losing Onstar ruined everything! This was part of why I bought GM! Now my 2015 Camaro doesn’t feel as sporty or as safe! This was not handled fairly. I feel cheated! I feel a class action suit is called for. I never got a notice and found out when I was renewing my Onstar plan. What I feel for the way we were treated is beyond angry.
That doesn’t make any sense. Not to mention that you didn’t provide any source to back up such a claim.
Crazyest thing on star could do is discontinue HFC.oo9
The feature that I miss the most is being able to lock and unlock my 109 thousand dollar Corvette with My Chevrolet app! ( the service used to be free) GM also eliminated one free oil change service from my vehicle. Through my career, General Motors was also the most ruthless auto maker to their suppliers, demanding price reductions each year and dictating that their parts be sourced in China.
This is such an extremely important feature and I have no clue why GM would get rid of it. It’s bad enough that my 2019 Terrain didn’t have Sirius XM in it now I’m not going to have a phone capability. I think it’s time to move on from GM. This was my first GM and I think now I may go back to my previous dealer and get what I had before I got the GM. It’s little things like this that may seem meaningless to this company but make a big difference to the consumer when going to make a purchase. You blew it GM.
I am very disappointed on eliminating On Star HF C. i used often
There are enough times that I forget my cell phone, that it makes it handy to have phone service in my Canyon and Cadillac CTS. I’m thinking that when the next generation Canyon comes out, I was going to trade in my 2015 Canyon. I was disappointed when it was announced that the V6 in the Canyon will not be available at all. Now no hands free calling…………that is enough to reconsider other brands for my next vehicle. No hands free calling, no V6, no spare tire in the Cadillac ( hard and noisy run flats instead). It doesn’t make much sense………a hands free phone and talking to a OnStar representative is about the same, plus it is a service I was willing to pay for.
There are areas in the country where my cell phone service did not work but my On-Star HFC did.
Me also! When asked why no more HFC I was told that it was because the current system is operating on 2 G, and technology is currently at or around 5 G. So is it just a question of Band width not being compatible with older vehicles, so do away, and possibly bring back at a later time with 5G system? I will just wait and see I guess.
I would like to know about the metrics the vehicle sends to On-star monthly. Mileage for computing service and oil change intervals is one metric. Also, will this mean that a stolen vehicle no longer can be disabled remotely? What about mapping features? Currently, you can send a destination to your vehicle, or someone else’s vehicle. Perhaps all these items will be fee based in the future. If there is an adaptation to make them Wi-Fi features, then there might just be a monthly fee for the mobile Wi-Fi rather than separate fees for cellular and Wi-Fi.
Where my house is located in rural northeast PA, there is no cell phone service. My cell phone only works when it can connect to my satellite internet wifi. If there is a storm and the internet or electric go out, I have no cell phone service at all. I have to use OnStar to contact the electric company and report the outage. OnStar always seems to work even when my cellphone won’t. I rely on OnStar at home as much as I do on the road. I will be very sorry to see it go.
That is because the antenna and everything in your car is about four or five times more powerful than the one in your phone.
You had better start calling GM and complaining.
Everyone on here needs to start calling their friends and family and having them call GM and then having those people call their friends and family and relay the message to call GM and complain.
“I want my HFC!” Just like we did in the 80’s with MTV.
BEST COMMENT ON HERE !!! I have a 2003 Cadillac CTS, and I LOVE the HFC!! Use it often, had it since I had that beautiful car! AND , I absolutely love having a separate ‘phone number’ and ‘ phone’ !! I actually hate cell phones, although you almost can’t function without the darn things….but will be totally, totally MISS the HFC if you don’t KEEP IT !! I don’t understand those that say it’s ‘not worth it’….then don’t have it…don’t buy the minutes!! Don’t rob the rest of us who found something worthwhile and a luxury they could afford if they want it !!
The other day when cell T-Mobile service was completely out for hours. OnStar was the only way I could comunícate to my kids & work. Its also the best, most reliable communication I have while in road trips. I wish it wasn’t going away.
Then call and write GM.You had better start calling GM and complaining.
Everyone on here needs to start calling their friends and family and having them call GM and then having those people call their friends and family and relay the message to call GM and complain.
“I want my HFC!” Just like we did in the 80’s with MTV.
They are making a huge mistake. They most likely will find out very soon. We are in our 70’s and we have been paying top dollar for this service. I sure hope they will wake up and listen to their clients like all of us.
I for one will miss it. I use it in place of my cell phone when I’m in my car (since my state has a law now where you can not even hold your cell phone while driving) and I don’t have a way to use the Bluetooth feature on my cell phone as my car is not equipped with an Infotainment system. I also like knowing that if my cell phone can’t get a signal my OnStar will. Plus having been the victim of domestic violence I feel much safer in my car with the Hands Free calling feature.
Had it years ago then never renewed a few years ago. “Smart phone” linked with Bluetooth works for me. Don’t need to pay for my Smartphone plan AND Onstar’s phone service too. I could care less that it’s being cancelled. It’s bad enough how expensive SiriusXM is.
Nuts. I just signed up for OnStar and now they start chipping away at it? Given how costly it is paid by user,?why would they feel they have to drop it? What does it save them?
I wish companies would leave well enough alone with services instead of feeling like they always have to screw around with things.
I had HFC OnStar in my earlier Suburban when I was crossing the country often. Also in a Volt, Cadillac, Encore. I never had a case where OnStar didn’t come through when my cell phones proved unreliable. Not once.
OnStar was a security blanket for many GM customers and eliminating too many options could cause GM business.
Sorry..but this is a bad move on GM’s part. Older vehicles like mine that is not equipped with bluetooth makes it impossible to use the phone..as more and more states will “ticket ” you for talking on a..non hands free phone. This as well as On Star..was a neccessary item when my wife and I was looking to buy an automatic
Basically like it or not just accept it. I always liked the feature because my Verizon service sucks when I go up north in Michigan. The tiny little one bar I get still makes me question why I keep looking at the signal indicator. I could always count on the phone in my truck working. Used too…now I guess I have to put some hope that 5 g may help , but disappointment in cell service is the one thing you can count on.
I’m disappointed that hands free calling is going away. It was my security when my phone was low on battery or i was in an area that I could not get a signal on my cell phone. BIG MISTAKE to retire it in my opinion. It was one of the reasons I bought my car. Wish they world leave well enough alone. PLEASE KEEP HANDS FREE CALLING!!!
VERY disappointed to learn hands free calling is being disconnected. It SAVED MY LIFE during a snowstorm. None of my home/cell,phones worked but managed to get help using ONSTAR!
Very disappointed, much wider range than cell phones. GM products provided this only in Canada maJor advantages
👎👎
On-Star Hands-Free Calling is my backup in the event I leave my cell phone at home or I am in an area with no cell service which happens more than is realized in the rural parts of the Nation. If I as the owner pay for the cost of Hands-Free minutes what should it matter? BIG MISTAKE TO DISCONTINUE.