rounder65

I’ve just upgraded my 2011 GS 3LT OnStar. When I placed the order it shows the upgrade is for 3G. I called OnStar to enquire why the upgrade was not for 4G LTE service rather than the 3G. I was told my corvette could not be upgrade beyond 3G.

This seems a little stupid, since my 2010 LTZ Avalanche was upgraded around 2015 to 4G LTE.

Anyone know if the 2011 C6 can be upgraded to 4G LTE?

Corvette_Ed

It really depends on the antenna that was used in the car. An antenna that runs only 3G rather than being both 3G and 4G compatible have a pretty significant cost difference. It's possible the Vettes used only the 3G antenna to keep costs down.

4SUMERZ

The Onstar in Canada was upgraded to be able to access 4G LTE from the 2G service back in 2016. It had to be done at a GM dealership, which I refused to let them F with my car, so I dropped Onstar at that time. The USA market had 3G for Onstar, so they were not affected by their network being decommisioned.

Here is what the letter from GM said at that time for Canadian vehicles.

Canadian wireless service providers have informed OnStar®1 that the 2G wireless network in your area - the network we use to provide service in your 2006 Chevrolet Corvette will be decommissioned in late December 2015.
If your vehicle is not equipped with OnStar 4G LTE ( Vehicle Availability), or you have not had your vehicle’s hardware upgraded, OnStar service will no longer be available in those areas. See coverage map for details.

Affected Vehicles:
All OnStar equipped model year 2014 and older vehicles will be unable - without a hardware upgrade - to access OnStar services once the 2G CDMA networks are turned down by wireless providers in particular geographic areas. OnStar equipped 2015MY vehicles that have 2G CDMA hardware will similarly be unable to access OnStar services once the networks are turned down, including:

•Chevrolet Traverse
•Chevrolet Camaro
•Chevrolet Corvette
•Chevrolet Express
•Buick Enclave
•GMC Acadia
•GMC Savanna
•Certain Chevrolet Silverado HD
•Certain Chevrolet Spark EV
•Certain Chevrolet Suburban
•Certain Chevrolet Tahoe
•Certain GMC Sierra HD
•Certain GMC Yukon and Yukon XL
•Certain Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV

Corvette_Ed

This goes right along with what I was saying about the antenna incompatibility. It makes sense that they'd have to replace the hardware itself to correct this.

rounder65

My 2011 is a US car imported into Canada. Apparently and according to OnStar the hardware upgrade is necessary for it to work in Canada. You would think that in the process of the upgrade that an upgrade on the antenna would be included. The upgrade itself is not cheap....just figured it should be 4G capable. My 2010 Avalanche LTZ was upgraded fro 3G to 4G LTE back in 2015

Corvette_Ed

That would be a question to ask GM, or whoever did the importing for you or the dealer you purchased the car from. I just know the technology. Canada switched from a CDMA-based cell network to GSM a couple of years or so ago, and eliminated CDMA altogether (which cost Qualcomm, the holder of the patent of the CDMA technology billions). This affected numerous industries and products, one of which is OnStar.

rounder65

Yeah, car was imported by 2nd owner around 2015. Thanks for the information, I know a little more now. I’ll check with my dealer who will be doing the hardware upgrade and see What they can do. They’ve been pretty helpful in the past with parts for my 65. Seems like a bit of a let down on GM’s part when one of their top tier vehicles falls short on something as simple as this. But as they say, it is what it is.

rounder65

Checked with the dealer this morning and the upgrade package does include 3G/4G with The WiFi/hotspot options. It just wasn’t stated clearly on the OnStar invoice I received. The dealer work order had more detail.

FAUEE

That's (of if the) downside(s) of tech integration, it's always out of date by design, and many things are designed to be disposable.