• HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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    8 months ago

    Car manufacturers are. They probably get a bulk discount on relatively cheap data plans. It was enough for GM to keep OnStar running until Verizon got rid of supporting all 2G and 3G service in the USA.

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Do we know how long they are paying for that connection?

      I can’t imagine that’s cheap. Is a 2016 car internet connected without my notice? How do you confirm?

      • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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        8 months ago

        No, but the Wikipedia article seems to indicate that OnStar has the ability to store GPS and phone contact information even if you aren’t subscribed.

        Also, I can’t imagine that buying several millions of data connections would be that expensive, especially if all that those connections are doing are sending out a ping of reports once a month.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnStar