Hum

[Brian Stirling]

OK, been seeing a bunch of ads from Verizon for the "Hum" service and I have to say this seems to be just another Verizon money grab. Seems they're pricing this at $15/month with a typical cancellation fee -- typical that is for a company like Verizon.

As best I can tell they are positioning this as an OnStar like service. Actually sounds like a Frank Zappa song...

Anyone planning to give Verizon another $15/month?


Brian

 

[Commodus]

OK, been seeing a bunch of ads from Verizon for the "Hum" service and I have to say this seems to be just another Verizon money grab. Seems they're pricing this at $15/month with a typical cancellation fee -- typical that is for a company like Verizon.

As best I can tell they are positioning this as an OnStar like service. Actually sounds like a Frank Zappa song...

Anyone planning to give Verizon another $15/month?


Brian

It doesn't seem that much different than other "plug a dongle into your car" devices, in practice. Unless there's something Hum does that you know others won't, you're likely best off skipping it.

 

[Brian Stirling]

It doesn't seem that much different than other "plug a dongle into your car" devices, in practice. Unless there's something Hum does that you know others won't, you're likely best off skipping it.

It does include a three button clip in thing that resembles the buttons on the OnStar cars and that's the main reason I think it's aimed at that market. Although the OnStar idea is nice the pricing is totally out of line for what you get and even though Hum is a bit cheaper the price is still totally out of line as far as I'm concerned.

OTH, if you're in the 1% a $15/month charge is inconsequential and I'd imagine that that's the market being targeted.

I have a OBDII dongle and use the Torque app to interact with the car so much of the car and maintenance aspect I have covered for free. What I don't have is the emergency service that OnStar and Hum offer. OTH, I don't know that Hum or OnStar covers the cost of emergency service so that function is little more useful than a cellphone.


Brian

 

[Kaido]

$15/mo = $180/year for Hum

Might as well get a Viper SmartStart system ($200 for 3 years of service, plus hardware/labor cost for installation). Remote lock/unlock, start, and GPS location:

https://www.viper.com/smartstart/

Then combine that with an app-driven OBD-II device such as the Automatic Link:

https://www.automatic.com/home/

So a few hundred bucks up front & then averaging under six bucks a month for service, which is less than half of Verizon's Hum product.