GM Onstar equipped vehicles were in a transition period in 2001-2003, some platforms were analog-only hardware (e.g. Suburban, Tahoe), while others were hybrid analog w/ digital upgrade support (e.g. Trailblazer, Envoy).

I'm actually from Canada, just moved to the US. I worked in the oilfield, in very remote areas.

The reason we loved analog and used it almost exclusively, is because it was the only thing that would reach us. If I'm working 5km away from the NWT, where there are only 3000 people in the nearest town, four hours away. The service provider, isn't likely to put in a shiny new digital tower every couple of km to provide us with service. With the analog service, all of the rigs in the area put on boosters, so that we at least had a minimum of service.

The problem is, like this story suggests, analog is going away. The main provider in the area started dropping towers, rather than repairing them. Which has had the unfortunate affect of isolating us until we reach an area where we can hook into our sat system for voip.

It's good in that we can no longer be bothered on that four hour drive... but bad if we need to get turned around at hour 3. Also a bad situation, in that if I drive off the road and get ravaged by a bear.... I won't be able to share the story with anyone until I limp my ass back to the rig.


Analog isn't just for owners of antique phones. The US is divided between CDMA and GSM (not much DAMPS-TDMA left), but analog was the common denominator for 800 MHz. So if you had a tri-mode CDMA phone, you could roam analog in a TDMA or GSM area, and vice-versa. A fair number of rural areas, and some urban ones, only get one carrier, and roaming is frequently at no charge, so it works transparently.

A few rural carriers will retain analog because of its superior long-range coverage.

GM cars with Onstar system older then 2002 are also affected. The upgrade path is buy a new car.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/04/onstar.html