Heh… One ‘more’ impact of 3G going away…
While you were probably aware that 3G cellular networks will be shut down in the U.S. next year so the telecom industry can focus in on 5G, you may not have been hip to the fact that this could totally nullify the connected features inside of your car. Unfortunately, loads of automobiles manufactured the early days of phone pairing and internet integration won’t be able to make the journey into 5G like the new phone or tablet you purchased. Worse yet, there are even some modern vehicles that are about to become a lot less feature rich with companies that have no intention of offering updates.
Full article, HERE from The Truth About Cars.
And this article, HERE has a list of cars affected. And the ones that ‘may’ be fixed. It appears a number of high end cars may NOT ever be fixed…
One other item of note, is that this ‘may’ cause significant issues with autodrive/hands free driving (as if there aren’t enough already)…
Sigh…
Huh. It really sucks for the owners of those cars. Their resale value just dropped. I’m glad I prefer cars with less “tech” in them.
I admit that wasn’t a failure mode I expected, but you couldn’t pay me to have a car that called home. There are way too many ways that goes horribly wrong
I’d be a lot more willing to buy a newer car if I know it can’t connect to big brother. This is a plus as far as I’m concerned.
The downside is that 4g and 5g coverage is not nearly as encompassing as 3g. There will be a lot of places that won’t have cell phone data connectivity any more.
This could be interesting. I wonder if this allows easier hacking, corrupt after-market “fixes”, and the mayhem that can follow?
There’s a reason my two go to vehicles are older trucks… a ’94 K2500 4WD long bed and a 1970 C10 long bed stepside…
Me:Call “Home”
Car: please state a command
Me: Call “Home”
Car: multiple numbers for “Hugh”
Say one for Hugh at home
Say two for Hugh at work
Me: Call “Home”
Car: multiple numbers for “Hugh”
Say one for Hugh at home
Say two for Hugh at work
Me: Hey Google, Call “home”
Car: Calling “Home”
I installed a high end stereo with blue tooth capability in my ’06 F-150 so I could have hands free calling. Pair the phone to the stereo and voila!
For some reason, now my phone won’t pair up with my Alpine stereo. I don’t know why. I guess I could take it back by the stereo shop where I bought it and let the guy there think I’m an idiot.
If you are not buying a new car every year or two, they are not interested in you.
This is a problem that will come up with all sorts of connected items… They last beyond update cycles like this, so features quickly lose use.
I suspect it will happen with washers, fridges, etc soon.
I remember that when 2G was going away, it was a choice for companies and many in rural areas kept it for a while. Is that the case here?
I’m relieved to see my 1985 Mitsubishi Might Max pickup won’t be impacted.
All- Good points, and it’s going to get interesting, I think… Yes, having an ‘old’ truck or car is becoming more and more enticing. Now, if I could just afford one. sigh…
Off topic rant removed.
Wait, you mean that the knuckleheads in the surrounding apartments won’t be able to sit in their cars, with their music blaring, talking on their hands-free phones while smoking blunts? So I won’t be able to listen to them order up more drugs and booze and have fights with their current domestic partners all at 4am in the morning?
Ha. There is a positive side to losing 3G after all. Yay me!
Just got a notice from the Friends Against Aviation (FAA) about the whole 5G thing messing with radio (radar) altimeters, making them unreliable when they’re used during some ILS and Enhanced Flight Vision System approaches at certain airfields. Karen & Ken will be able to post to fecesbook in 5G splendor their dismay at their flight being because there’s a 5G tower off the approach end where they were headed and the weather’s on it’s lips.
CAT I ILS except for. Spec Auth is ok, but anything reliant on radar altimeter is out if th airport is NOTAMd for 5G transmissions.
* “…their flight being cancelled…” sheesh, I gotta proofread better after I edit.
I’m ridin’ in a 2013 F-150 Long Bed. I don’t care.
I have to admit that I didn’t read the Starlink manual closely for my ’16 Subaru, and thought it used the satellite comms, but it was set up for 3G. Oops. In March, they sent a notice about the 3G issues, but was distracted due to a blown out knee. By the time I could drive again, I’d forgotten the issue. (The knee is fixed, mostly. Sort of.)
Got the notice again in November, and I scheduled the changeover. The Subaru Starlink setup is interesting. They have the hardware built into the radio/audio system, but the conversion entails a download of new firmware to the relevant computer. The normal conversion takes a couple hours, though the dealer had one go south and it needed a radio swap.
My Honda (’19 Ridgeline) does all of its link stuff through a Bluetooth connection to the driver’s cellphone. I normally use a dumb Tracfone, and haven’t bothered to set up the phone-home system.
FWIW, we also have a ’12 Subaru, and it has no phone-home setup at all. We’re in one of the few areas where you can have a MAGA sticker on a Subie and not get trashed.
Oh yeah, the conversion was to 4G.
And yeah, no charge for the changeover.
Beans- LOL, wanna fix that? Figure out the wind direction, go upwind, and spray some pepper spray in the air. That will clear them out in a hurry. Go back to bed and enjoy your sleep.
P-2- Yeah, that one’s been ignored, and will be until the park the first airliner a mile short of the runway…
RC- Smart moves!
Well, the apartment manager moved into one of the units and suddenly a lot of stuff has gone away.
Hey Old NFO;
The Sync system in the Fords uses the connectivity of the owners phone to do what it needs doing as far as upgrades and other things. Good for me I suppose since the Wife has a 2009 Edge and my ’17 Focus. Of course my 1999 F150 is so old that it don’t matter.
Interesting that Subaru’s in the US have this. Our one in Japan has no call home ability and I greatly appreciate that
Also see this
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/12/toyota-owners-have-to-pay-8-mo-to-keep-using-their-key-fob-for-remote-start/
“[I]f you have a Toyota built before November 12, 2018, you won’t have to pay, even though key-fob remote start for those vehicles was also tied to Remote Connect. Toyota said it has “enhanced” those cars so that owners can use the feature without a subscription.
Why the cutoff? It may seem like an arbitrary date, but it happens to be when Toyota stopped building cars with 3G chips. As telecoms sunset their 3G networks, owners of older Toyotas will have no way to subscribe to or use Remote Connect services. Since key fob remote start doesn’t require an Internet connection, Toyota just flipped a switch and gave it to everyone in that group.
It’s a nice gesture, but it reinforces the fact that there’s no technical reason to include RF-powered key fob features in a remote services package.”
And that, right there, is why I’m having my 2010 repaired when my insurance co. wanted to write it off.
It has an AM/FM/casse … er CD player and that’s all the “high tech” I need.
Bob- Thanks. Didn’t know that.
Francis- That IS interesting…
Stretch- Don’t blame you.
06′ Ford doesn’t care, and I’m going back to a flip phone anyway.