Has anyone figured out how to change the older analog OnStar equipment to the newer Digital equipment in the CTS? My '04 3.6 CTS Lux Sport Pkg (w/NAV and XM) was purchased new in Nov '03. I'm told by Onstar advisor I do not have the correct equipment for the Verizon wireless package deal or the traffic Nav upgrade . Any advice on procurring and installing the mod?

I think there was supposed to be a program that started last year to upgrade from analog to digital for a discounted cost if you also bought it in conjunction with a multi-year OnStar extension. Then I think it went on hold due to lack of parts. I haven't heard anything since. Maybe someone else has.

I have digital OnStar in my truck and they now offer a service of free monthly diagnostic checks sent to you via email. However, I find the digital OnStar much more particular about pronunciation. I can seldom get it dial a number correctly on the first attempt and saying any of the entries in my phonebook seems to default to calling "Dad" on the first attempt.

When I bought my car in January I inquired about the Verizon plan. They told me if I prepaid 3 years they would upgrade my analog to digital. So sounds like 3 months ago they did it.

Check out this thread:

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/cadillac-cts-forum/65903-onstar-switch-analog-digital.html

In order to get a digital upgrade you must purchase a 3 year subscription.
If you do so, there are no other charges attached to the upgrade.
GM pays labor and supplies the part to the dealership, you have to pay the 3 year contract when you pick up your car after the work is complete.

The packages are:

3-year Safety and Security (S&S) ADT package: $549 plus tax (if applicable)

• 3-year Directions and Connections (D&C) ADT package: $1099 plus tax (if applicable)

• 3-year Luxury and Leisure (L&L) ADT package: $2159 plus tax (if applicable)



Complete and sign http://www.aeorder.com/downloads/ADTUpgradeForm.pdf
THAT form, which only lists 2 plans... they must have changed it recently.
Take it to your dealer and have complete their portion of the form and fax it to Autocraft. Autocraft will get a kit to your dealer within about a week, then take the car in and leave it for them to install the hardware and activate your system.
You will get a new telephone number and your account will be set up for 3 years.

In case you are wondering how I know this, I am our resident OnStar guy at my dealership... I do them all. I have done about 15-20 of them so far. Most of them only take about 1-2 hours but it depends on who's doing the work and whether or not they have done them before.
HTH.

New phone number? That stinks.

Any time the module is replaced you are required to get a new phone number.
They have always done it that way. I don't know why they have to do it that way, but they do.

See this TSB for more info on this subject.

it mentions just replacing the VCIM, which is in the trunk.

Wonder if this could be done yourself? (Big question is how to get ahold of one)

You can't get one yourself, unless you can talk autocraft into selling you one.
I can't even order one without a repair order and a bunch of information out of the module itself. They ask you for lots of information and they bill the dealer for any charges that are incurred.

It's not like a regular part, if I find a bad one I have to call GM and tell them what I did to diagnose it before they will send me a new one. Same thing with XM recievers. You can't buy them from GM, you tell GM what you did to prove that it's bad and they decide whether or not you get a new one.
Crazy... I know. But in the early days on a lot of these systems needless parts replacement was common so they put the parts on restriction.
What can you do?

Yeah, I kinda figured that... Unless you find one on the black market (or on ebay or something) you're SOL..

What about if you found a Gen 6 unit out of a CTS in a junk yard? Could you swap the unit per the instructions and get it re-programmed, and get it to work?

Odds are you won't find a Gen 6 in the salvage yard, not for a few years anyway. Next, the units are typically "deactivated" when the contract is shut off. In other words, when you deactivate your OnStar they go into the unit and change the phone number to gibberish so it won't work unless you bring it in to get it set back up. Sometimes you can push the blue button and it will connect you and they can update the unit so it will work again but usually I have to call, get a generic phone number from OnStar and program it into the unit so it can be reconfigured.

Not to mention some cars need other component replacent when upgrading to digital. The STS gets a new rear view mirror and some CTS and Deville applications get new cellular antennas.

OnStar gets cranky when you swap units from car to car. They have lots of bulletins telling us not to do it. Cadillac only let me do that once in an extreme situation and it was a big mess from the word go.

The short answer would be no, the technical answer would be it's possible, but a bigger pain than it's likely worth.

I did the VIN lookup last summer on my early 2002 built car and it said the VCIM was upgradable, which I'm not sure I believe. Going digital implies a new antenna to match the different frequency(800/1900MHz). Isn't this upgrade for 'analog/digital ready' cars and not analog only cars? Are new antennas installed? If so, where and what do they look like. I hate my 'whip' antenna on the back window. I bought a flush mount 'stealth' antenna that mounts inside the back glass that does both analog and digital, but I don't have the proper adapter for the VCIM antenna connection.

OnStar's web site says analog only is not upgradable and will quite working in Jan 08 (less than two years from now). Only analog/digital ready cars can be upgraded, and I presume use the existing roof mounted antenna, with only the actual VCIM switched. Granted, I'll likely have a newer car by then, but if I chose to give my CTS to my kids, it would be nice if OnStar still worked.

Is the actual Digital VCIM plug and play or are harness changes in order?

Thanks for the answer ewill3rd. I can see where Onstar and dealers wouldn't want to mess with trying to re-program new Gen 6 units people get out of other cars. But, from a consumers stand point, we might want to have a way to continue onstar without signing a 3 year contract. Most people would never even attempt replacement of thier own VCIM unit but look at the folks on this board - how many CTS owners have torn out thier radio heads and replaced it with a NAV unit? Those folks wouldn't even blink when it comes to getting the onstar unit out of the trunk.

And - I wonder if Analog onstar is really going to be dead in 2008. That date is based on the FCC's mandate for cellular carriers no longer being required to carry analog. I keep track of Cellular news a little, and from what I hear, there are actually still Cingular and Verizon customers that use analog only phones (hard to believe but true). Granted, the carriers would like to get rid of those phones, but they can't force them to switch. Will analog really disappear in 2008? No one will tell you it won't, but my gut feeling says no. If it doesn't disappear, will onstar drop service of analog only customers? I would submit that wouldn't make sense either. Will analog disappear SOMEDAY? Yes, probably, but it will take awhile. How long will it take for VHS to completly disappear? Same question.

When millions of people find out that their cell phone doesn't work anymore you can expect the schedule to slide. The big crunch is that you can handle many more phone channels with digital over analog service and there is a shortage of bandwidth everywhere.

That's true, yes. There arn't that many analog only users out there, but they do exist. Carriers can't just shut them off.

One of the reason's the FCC mandate exists is because say, you carry an old clunker phone in your car as an emergency backup to call 911 only (because you don't have to have service to dial 911 on a cell) the FCC says that call has to go through. But not after 2008. (Brings up another question - if you don't have onstar service, and you try to call 911 with personal calling, will the call go through? And if not - is that an FCC violation?)

Also - there are still pockets of the country that are analog only. Not many, and they are in very rural areas, but they exist. My cell phone has both digital and analog capability for this reason and I don't think I'll go all digital for awhile because of this.

Replacing the VCIM is a no brainer, all you have to do is find it.
On CTS it takes about 5 minutes, maybe 10 if you are feeling down.
It's behind the trunk liner on the passenger's side and it has I think 3 connectors and 2 antenna leads (maybe 4 connectors). There are 3, 10 mm nuts holding it to the sheet metal and that's it.
The numbers you need are on the side of the module. The problem is OnStar is picky about how things get done. I have to follow certain procedures whenever I make a change and if there is a problem it's usually a nightmare because they have to solve it long distance. All I can do is replace the hardware. If the numbers get messed up it can be a real ordeal.
I could tell you stories that would bring a tear to your eye.

I think analog will disappear, mainly because of $. I think the companies won't want to maintain A/D equipment and they'll just switch everything out for digital. Some places will probably lose service. They might lose some customers but I predict that for every analog customer they lose, 2 digital customers will appear. I agree it's a matter of time.
I thought I heard that the FCC was going to start revoking analog licenses in a couple years?

Also the bulletin that covers analog/digital upgrades doesn't cover anything older than '03.
I was told once a while ago that they are adding vehicles all the time.
I honestly doubt they will worry about going back farther than that or the cost of the upgrade might increase since it's more likely the cars have fallen out of warranty, by increase I mean to the customer.

They want the 3 year contract so they don't suffer the out of pocket expense of upgrading your equipment for 1 year of service.

I agree, it's pretty nuts. I can't believe they built such new cars knowing this would happen with analog only boxes.

Only some models require new cellular antennas, they look essentially like the old ones, however they have a new "twistie" antenna. It looks kind of strange actually.
I'll snap a shot if I do another one so you can see. But the short answer is you get basically the same kind of antenna, a glass mount mast, only it has a curly cue in it.

Thanx for the information. I am completing the form and submitting to Caddy dealer on Monday. Will the OnStar A>D conversion allow me to get the NAV traffic update also? I have a TRAF button left of my NAV screen which has no function now.

It won't change your nav traffic abilities.
Nav traffic is dependent on make/model/year then you must have some specific hardware. The correct radio, XM tuner and the proper nav disc.
Nav traffic is a function of your XM radio system, not the OnStar module.

I haven't studied in great detail the use of the traf button.
It does appear to be related to the nav traffic option based on what I see.
Nav traffic is also a subscription service, you have to pay for it before you'll see it. But you have to be sure your car will work with it before you should buy a subscription. Plus it only works in certain areas of the country.

ewill3rd,

Excellent information and I agree that OnStar has to at least recoup costs through a three year contract or people would simply be having them installed as a selling feature and nothing more. I am holding out for Reed's Bluetooth conversion as OnStar is too proprietary for my needs. Besides, I am getting sick and tired of my friends calling from their Bluetooth carphones and then further rubbing it in by telling me they are now pushing a button and transferring to their handheld mobile phone; one friend of mine does this continually as a joke and always asks me why Cadillac CTS, supposedly being the American luxury icon, does not have the same features; both his automobiles have it. OnStar is currently too far behind the times.

Reed's Most Excellent Bluetooth Adventure (Click Here) (http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/cadillac-cts-v-series-forum/68578-ctsvett-any-bluetooth-info.html?highlight=bluetooth)

Thanx for the information. I am completing the form and submitting to Caddy dealer on Monday. Will the OnStar A>D conversion allow me to get the NAV traffic update also? I have a TRAF button left of my NAV screen which has no function now.

No, that's a completly different system, XM Nav Traffic has nothing to do with Onstar at all. Unfortunatly, if your car didn't come with Nav Traffic, there's no way that I know of to add it. In another thread, a forum member discusses the nav traffic issue in detail where he describes a "hip box" piece of hardware that is required to have Nav Traffic. I believe this is an XM piece of hardware, which means it's probably parts restricted and you can't get it.

And yes, your traffic button does nothing! That is correct.