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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| Bull F'ing Crap I bought a Saab in 2005 which came with Onstar...but it never worked because the hardware was Analog and Verizon's analog network in Chicago is not the best.
First the dealer and Saab, which is owned by GM, denied the problem. Then they tried to claim that service was working fine when it would only connect one out of every 10 tries or so.
Finally, they confessed and said there is no digital hardware available yet, and to placate me and prevent me from suing their pants off and making a big stink about it, they wrote me a check for 5k. I was pretty happy about that. But prepared for the Analog shut-off, they were not!
Onstar also provides white label telematic services for some other snooty brands which think they're too cool to have OnStar in them....and those brands are SOL too!
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|  Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ | Re: Bull F'ing Crap id imagine BMW and MB services also backbone with OnStar. and just call it something else.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports | |
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imrf
Premium
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI
 ·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by Kearnstd  :id imagine BMW and MB services also backbone with OnStar. and just call it something else. They aren't. Their system is made by themselves. | |
| | Windogg
join:2002-07-24
Cambridge, MA | BMW Assist is digital and has radios for TDMA, GSM, and CDMA networks. | |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| said by kapil :but it never worked because the hardware was Analog and Verizon's analog network in Chicago is not the best. ... and to placate me and prevent me from suing their pants off Why would Verizon's lack of decent analog service be OnStar's fault, let alone legally liable? At best it would be they sold you a product that didn't work well in a given area. If it worked fine in a better serviced analog area, it's hardly a defective product. | |
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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap Because I don't buy the hardware from GM/Onstar and the connectivity from Verizon separately...I buy Onstar and it's Onstar's job to make sure it works. Especially since one of the biggest selling points of their service is the safety/security aspect of it.
They sold it to me knowing full well that Analog is going away...and I suspect I wasn't the only one they sold it to. So, instead of inflaming the situation and possibly ending up with a class action lawsuit on their hands, they did the smart thing and bought off the complaining owners.
I should add that I was rather pleased with how they handled it at the corporate level after the initial BS I had to put up with while the dealer and the service rep were trying to make it my problem.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by kapil :They sold it to me knowing full well that Analog is going away...and I suspect I wasn't the only one they sold it to. What did you expect? It is a car dealership.
When airbags were mandated in cars back in the 1990s (or whenever it was, I don't remember), they still had to sell the cars which lacked airbags. They made up all sorts of silly claims about cars with airbags somehow being more "dangerous" than cars without them.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap LOL. Funny you bring that up...I recently had a similar conversation about a hybrid car with a salesman who didn't have any in stock to sell.
He tried every trick in the book to steer me away from a hybrid...and towards regular car he just happened to have in stock.
I never knew that the chemical in the batteries used in hybrids vaporizes and can enter the vehicle and kill the occupants...almost like carbon monoxide. LOL.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by kapil :He tried every trick in the book to steer me away from a hybrid...and towards regular car he just happened to have in stock. I never knew that the chemical in the batteries used in hybrids vaporizes and can enter the vehicle and kill the occupants...almost like carbon monoxide. LOL. Well there are legitimate issues related to hybrids that will forever keep me from buying them. They aren't related to the bona fide BS that the dealer tried feeding you, but that brings me to another point.
I personally think the best way to buy a car is to research it on Edmunds (no I don't work for them). We bought our last car in June of 2007. We ended up picking out a 2007 Honda Civic EX (non-hybrid) with a bunch of options we liked, and then submitted the quote to a bunch of local dealers. We bought the car from the dealer with the lowest quote. No haggling and no BS were involved, and we paid about quite a bit below the "invoice" price of the car.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
| | | | | Shark_615
join:2006-01-17
Pickering, ON
| Hybrid cars are not as great as the auto-hippies would like you to believe. The batteries are expensive to make both dollar and environementally wise, the MPG is not anywhere near what the sticker says and your net savings in regards to the 'environment' are lower then other more conventional vehicles.
Of course you do get a large does of smug so that may be worth it | |
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kapil
The Kapil
join:2000-04-26
Chicago, IL
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap I think the real value of Hybrids is that they force us to think different. We are not going to save the planet with Hybrid cars...but if we can think up a Hybrid car, we can follow up with Hydrogen cars...and who knows what's next.
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | wtansill
Ncc1701
join:2000-10-10
Falls Church, VA
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap Because many forklifts are used indoors. 30+ years ago as a teenager, I worked in several warehouses driving propane-powered forklifts. Propane was far better than gasoline because the emissions were not harmful enough to kill us in the warehouse. Fuel cells are a further improvement over that. | |
| | | | | | | | | hottboiinnc
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH
·Time Warner Cable
·buckeye cable
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap the company i work for uses LP forklifts they're great. we get about 2 maybe 3 days worth of 12hour a day use out of them. everything else is electric-- we charge them about once a day sometimes more depending on how much use- electric pallet jacks, narrow-isle forklifts; etc.
I love my LP forklift. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by kapil :I think the real value of Hybrids is that they force us to think different. We have Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel now. If more car companies started selling diesel vehicles once again we'd get a significant boost in gas mileage.
Of course, the Federal government is wedded to ethanol thanks to agri-business. Most states also tax diesel fuel higher than unleaded. I guess that just proves once again government is the cause of the problem here.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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imrf
Premium
join:2002-06-06
Utica, MI
·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by pnh102 : If more car companies started selling diesel vehicles once again we'd get a significant boost in gas mileage. Only if Americans can get it out of their heads that diesels are not the slow black smoke belching cars that they once were. Fact is, Americans as a whole don't embrace diesel engines like the Europeans do. | |
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3SGTE
ST215W
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-23
there
clubs:
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap Diesel exhaust aftertreatment and emissions component costs are easily as much as any additional costs associated with a hybrid.
In addition to the additional equipment costs for diesel, there are concerns about the longevity of those aftertreatment systems.
Who wants a plugged particulate filter, or a leaking exhaust fuel injector (or in-cylinder injector as in the video)? Perhaps a plugged EGR cooler is preferable?
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=321LwkM7i90
Significant gains for either diesel or gasoline are going to come with costs.
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Overheard: "I could careless matter of Fact"
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
 ·AT&T Yahoo
·AT&T DSL Service
·Cox HSI
| said by pnh102 :Of course, the Federal government is wedded to ethanol thanks to agri-business. Most states also tax diesel fuel higher than unleaded. I guess that just proves once again government is the cause of the problem here. Actually, the cause of the problem is that Government is wedded to lobbyist dollars and large business interests--- not the citizenry. This whole ethanol thing is such a bill of goods. Whatever happens, it's designed to extract maximum profits, not actually achieve anything useful.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
| | | | | | | DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Carrollton, TX
| said by kapil :I think the real value of Hybrids is that they force us to think different. We are not going to save the planet with Hybrid cars...but if we can think up a Hybrid car, we can follow up with Hydrogen cars...and who knows what's next. The problem is that hydrogen-powered cars aren't going to solve much either. They certainly eliminate harmful emissions from the car itself, but since we don't have access to a plentiful supply of molecular hydrogen, one has to consider how the fuel is produced. One option is to produce it chemically from hydrocarbons - i.e. fossil fuels, and another is to produce it by electrolysis of water which requires loads of energy which would probably come from fossil fuels! | |
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factchecker
@cox.net
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by DMS1 :The problem is that hydrogen-powered cars aren't going to solve much either. They certainly eliminate harmful emissions from the car itself, but since we don't have access to a plentiful supply of molecular hydrogen, one has to consider how the fuel is produced. One option is to produce it chemically from hydrocarbons - i.e. fossil fuels, and another is to produce it by electrolysis of water which requires loads of energy which would probably come from fossil fuels! Solar powered and geothermal electrolysis plants... The Europeans have working setups already in testing. | |
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fireflier
Coffee. . .Need Coffee
Premium
join:2001-05-25
Limbo
 ·Skype
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by factchecker :
Solar powered and geothermal electrolysis plants... The Europeans have working setups already in testing.
Solar. Probably. Geo, not likely. Wind will probably supplement demand as well but it's horribly unpredictable from day to day. In most areas of the country, drilling to the depths necessary for geothermal would make station construction prohibitively expensive. Solar has the drawback of limited energy production / ft^2 and worse yet, it could prduce hydrogen at most 12 hours/day (well unless you live in Alaska).
If memory serves, Sweden has a southern highway ring with hydrogen stations for the limited demand but those won't keep up with the current auto infrastructure demand. I'm not even sure if all the existing stations could convert to solar producing hydrogen that enough could be produced to run all the cars on the road if they switched.
Like it or not, the most likely candidate for massive quantities of hydrogen production may well come from nuclear. Nukes are among the highest output plants in existence, and barring turbine/generator equipment problems, they run pretty much non-stop between re-fuelings.
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Wishes: When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor. --despair.com | |
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SuperJoker
join:2005-11-21
Yermo, CA
·Verizon Online DSL
| said by factchecker :said by DMS1 :The problem is that hydrogen-powered cars aren't going to solve much either. They certainly eliminate harmful emissions from the car itself, but since we don't have access to a plentiful supply of molecular hydrogen, one has to consider how the fuel is produced. One option is to produce it chemically from hydrocarbons - i.e. fossil fuels, and another is to produce it by electrolysis of water which requires loads of energy which would probably come from fossil fuels! Solar powered and geothermal electrolysis plants... The Europeans have working setups already in testing. Don't forget Nuclear power, US Navy vessels like Subs and Aircraft Carriers use It and have used It safely for years for their power needs and also make fresh water in abundance too. If You can make water, One can crack It too. 
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(25.92GHz crunching for SETI with the PC Perspective Killer Frogs) | |
| | | | | | | | | | jay_rm
join:2002-04-12
Netville
 ·Fox Valley Internet
·ViaTalk
| Re: Bull F'ing Crap said by SuperJoker :Don't forget Nuclear power, US Navy vessels like Subs and Aircraft Carriers use It and have used It safely for years for their power needs and also make fresh water in abundance too. If You can make water, One can crack It too. You don't need to do ANYTHING else to make H2. In a boiling water reactor (BWR - one of the two electricity generating types of plants used in the USA) hydrogen gas is produced as a BY PRODUCT of the nuclear steam cycle. The plant operators have to make a significant investment in re-combination equipment to reconvert the hydrogen and reduce system operating pressure. The nuclear operators would LOVE a market for their hydrogen. Not only can they make money selling it, they can do away with a major expense in electrical generation.
BTW, I'm told that the military has lost or misplaced more nuclear material then all the US commercial operators combined (who have lost or misplaced NONE).
Also, did you know the reason commercial generating companies have a disposal problem with spent fuel is that a Carter Administration law prevents them from using high-grade fuel (like the military uses), which is recyclable ?? Yep - your Government at work...
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"Peace through superior firepower" | |
| | | | | | | Ulmo
join:2005-09-22
San Jose, CA
·Comcast
·SONIC.NET
| said by kapil :I think the real value of Hybrids is that they force us to think different. We are not going to save the planet with Hybrid cars...but if we can think up a Hybrid car, we can follow up with Hydrogen cars...and who knows what's next. I agree.
Next is nuclear power to replace coal, oil, and natural gas based electrical (and perhaps in some areas heat) production, and shift our almost half to one century or so national natural gas reserves into automobiles, thus ending our dependence on foreign oil for good (since after about half a century of natural gas use, we'll still have nuclear power which will allow us to use something like fuel cells). First, the pollution from nasty Gore-coal and Bush-oil burning plants will disappear (which is much more pollution than what the automobiles make), then the pollution from the natural gas use would slowly phase out as we start using the then cheaper and abundant electrical supply to do more and more (replacing natural gas use in heaters (space, water, cooking) and vehicles).
Yes, it's a first step. Not a very big one, but a first step, and a good one, to get experience with hybrid driven vehicles.
BTW the conversion to automobiles using natural gas is relatively cheap compared to the investment necessary to fire up our new nuclear power plants. I suggest using safer more failure resistant versions of nuclear now available, just for their safety aspects, but either way.
Oh, you know, much of the world, including now Asia has overtaken us in broadband penetratation. Well, much of the world, including now Asia, is overtaking us in environmentally friendly nuclear power production, too. And, much of the world, including now China, are in on nuclear fusion experiments, which will allow much more electrical production than before from what I understand. Nevertheless, it would make sense to start building modern nuclear power plants now in this country to replace all of our coal, oil, and natural gas burning plants.
Windmills are great when the wind is blowing, and I can see their energy being used to pump into buffers -- such as pump water into storage tanks. That would require higher volume pumps for their relatively shorter running times, higher transit (pipe) and buffer (tank) sizes to handle the sporadic nature of windmills, but in many situations it would be making good use of such an energy source. However, without a good financial, design and mechanical model for such windmill use, their usefulness is much less than nuclear power plants. I'm all for windmills, though, if such designs can be implemented -- their age has come again.
Let's not stop at hybrids by any means. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | margaf77
join:2000-12-22
Bayonne, NJ
·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FIOS
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by kapil :LOL. Funny you bring that up...I recently had a similar conversation about a hybrid car with a salesman who didn't have any in stock to sell. He tried every trick in the book to steer me away from a hybrid...and towards regular car he just happened to have in stock. I never knew that the chemical in the batteries used in hybrids vaporizes and can enter the vehicle and kill the occupants...almost like carbon monoxide. LOL. They only trigger that if you dont make your payments | |
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KA3SGM
- -... ...- -
Premium
join:2006-01-17
West Chester, PA
clubs:
·Cricket Broadband
·Verizon FIOS
| OnStar Digital Locked To 1 Technology: 1xRTT CDMA Their big deal is with Verizon, but the new Digital equipment is supposed to be Dual-Band CDMA (800MHz-1900MHz), so Sprint, Alltel, MetroPCS, Cricket, are possible other providers.
GSM/UMTS/WCDMA not an option, but it looks like EVDO Rev.A/B/ or LTE isn't in the cards either.
My 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix plays nice with Verizon 1x CDMA, but there are no promises that I won't need to buy an upgrade radio module for whatever they try over the next 5 years.
I think they hesitated until the last minute to see what digital technology would prevail, or at least offer the best coverage/service reliability.
That is why they just woke up to including digital technology in the past few years.
They had to consider Analog, TDMA, GSM, CDMA, plus multi-band operation.
By 2012, the current digital equipment might need replacement as well.
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"Lithium is no longer available on credit" | |
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AnonProxy
Proxy of Anon
Premium
join:2001-05-12
ß | I'm with you! Your story sounds like Bull F'ing crap. | |
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