Especially given that more-or-less $5 is the floor of monthly subscriptions.
Things that used to cost between $0-$100 for 1-10 years of utility now cost at minimum $5/month and can break, disappear, or become useless at any moment in time.
music subscription is pretty decent. I'd say news also, although I don't like any of the drivel that passes for news which is available via [aggregated] subscription. But in the world we live in, I can understand why and I think it's good.
Living in a cold climate myself and owner of a diesel heater in the car I can see the point of that, as well as the AC for hot days. First instinct was just that it felt a bit funny even thinking about having the motor running when I wasn’t close to the car. Thank you for the answer!
“ What's even more unknown is how technology might affect something like this in the future. For example, cellular providers in the U.S. have earmarked the end of the 3G cellular network, a technology that many vehicles rely on today in order to call home to the mothership, so to speak. We've got a whole explainer on that available here, but the long and the short of it is that the situation is particularly dire for Toyota owners.
While some other manufacturers are retrofitting vehicles to be compatible with newer LTE networks, Toyota is discontinuing Connected Services support for the affected vehicles, all of which are model year 2019 or earlier. A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that it has no plans to offer an upgrade, paid or otherwise, to vehicles affected by the 3G shutdown. Perhaps not coincidentally, the automaker also announced that it has "enhanced" vehicles built before Nov. 12, 2018, to no longer require a subscription for the key fob's remote start feature to function.”
The old ‘be cautious of what you build on’ advice applies here.
Presumably this uses a SIM card, where Toyota is paying a network provider for connectivity. So... it seems reasonable to ask for a subscription payment?
Although, I think making a key fob with a SIM card makes it unnecessary complicated, I wonder if on the fob side it's Bluetooth instead, and requires a smartphone with connectivity, plus a Toyota app.
I guess it'd be better for them to add the x years' (x = average car's lifetime) worth of SIM subscription fee to the base price of the car, to stop this complaining.
Well, that's dumb, then. I wonder how they'll determine if your subscription has expired.. digital certificate that has an expiry date, and get the current date from GPS satellites?
> Presumably this uses a SIM card, where Toyota is paying a network provider for connectivity. So... it seems reasonable to ask for a subscription payment?
I just bought a Tacoma. To be clear, the "remote start" is not what you are paying for. You subscribe to their remote connect service, and that is only one aspect.
You can also see where your car is in near-realtime, set a speed governor, stop the car, and a myriad of other data analytics are available.
If my truck was stolen, not only could I track it, but I could set it to not move.
Anecdotally, I have been told remote start via the keyfob will continue to work if the service ends. You just lose the app connectivity, which means I wouldn't be able to start my car while still in the mall
Just to clarify, this is the normal remote fob that operates on 433mhz, same as the one that opens and closes doors. This is not anything cell based. The same fob that has been doing this for free since the early 90s. Toyota has ZERO opex to provide this. It is not cellular. It doesn’t need a sim. This is just a money grab. Next year maybe you’ll need to pay extra for remote door unlocking. And in 2025, the panic button on the remote will be $5 a press.
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[ 0.20 ms ] story [ 15.9 ms ] threadLike everybody can afford $8 monthly subscription to tens of thousandth pseudo-micro-services ! Madness.
Things that used to cost between $0-$100 for 1-10 years of utility now cost at minimum $5/month and can break, disappear, or become useless at any moment in time.
Fcuk this subscription nonsense.
Genuinely curious.
- They are doing everything they can to slow the transition to electric cars.
- More than any other car company they seem to be happy to price gouge with the most unfavorable financing available.
- Now this. Price gouging and requiring a subscription for something every other car company includes in the price
While some other manufacturers are retrofitting vehicles to be compatible with newer LTE networks, Toyota is discontinuing Connected Services support for the affected vehicles, all of which are model year 2019 or earlier. A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to The Drive that it has no plans to offer an upgrade, paid or otherwise, to vehicles affected by the 3G shutdown. Perhaps not coincidentally, the automaker also announced that it has "enhanced" vehicles built before Nov. 12, 2018, to no longer require a subscription for the key fob's remote start feature to function.”
The old ‘be cautious of what you build on’ advice applies here.
Although, I think making a key fob with a SIM card makes it unnecessary complicated, I wonder if on the fob side it's Bluetooth instead, and requires a smartphone with connectivity, plus a Toyota app.
I guess it'd be better for them to add the x years' (x = average car's lifetime) worth of SIM subscription fee to the base price of the car, to stop this complaining.
If it did, then I'd agree, but it doesn't.
You can also see where your car is in near-realtime, set a speed governor, stop the car, and a myriad of other data analytics are available.
If my truck was stolen, not only could I track it, but I could set it to not move.
Anecdotally, I have been told remote start via the keyfob will continue to work if the service ends. You just lose the app connectivity, which means I wouldn't be able to start my car while still in the mall
I've read the opposite.