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Hyundai Blue Link ending 12/31/21

21K views 31 replies 19 participants last post by  smrjr05  
#1 ·
Part of an email I received this morning -

We want to inform you how upcoming third party cellular network changes will impact your access to Hyundai Blue Link features in your 2014 Hyundai.

The Hyundai Blue Link device in your vehicle requires a 2G cellular network to access Blue Link services1,2. These cellular networks are maintained by wireless service providers outside the control of Hyundai and Hyundai Blue Link. Due to changes in telecommunications technology over time, the wireless service provider of the network enabling the use of your Hyundai Blue Link device has recently announced that it will discontinue 2G cellular network service by December 31, 2021.

As a consequence, after December 31, 2021, we regret your Hyundai Blue Link device will become inactive as a result of the network discontinuation and access to Blue Link services will be unavailable2 . We have adjusted our Service Plans to allow affected Hyundai Blue Link customers to have the maximum duration of service until the network discontinuation. Therefore, after February 23, 2021, annual subscription renewals for Hyundai Blue Link will no longer be available and will automatically renew to a Service Plan with month-to-month billing in order to access Blue Link services through December 31, 2021, unless you choose to cancel. Price will not be increased as a result of this change because all month-to-month subscriptions will be billed at a rate equal to the annual pricing.
 
#2 ·
We just canceled ours for our 2014 Santa Fe. Not because of this, this post is the first I've heard of this info, we canceled because over the past couple months we have had to use the Blue Link and it just rings and rings. This hasn't just been for a few seconds, it has been over 5 minutes of ringing. We ended up using the "roadside assistance" option one time to try to find out why our Santa Fe was telling us a problem was detected with the car and to contact Blue Link. After over 10 minutes of waiting the roadside assistance personnel were of absolutely no help. We've never really used it prior to the past few months, what a sore disappointment. We have had OnStar with a previous vehicle, and there is a huge difference between the two.
 
#4 ·
Hyundai and Toyota cars use Verizon Wireless 3G, except the 2020 models that use LTE.
Verizon repeatedly delayed shutdown of CDMA and 3G, but I think this is it.
 
#6 ·
I wonder what electronic module within our cars contains the cellular transmit / receive technology? As big of a cash cow as the Blue Link subscription service is to Hyundai, I would think they would offer a free or reduced price upgrade to this module for owners that wanted to keep the service in our older model vehicles.
 
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#7 ·
Yeah you'd think they'd have a modem that's compatible with the modern networks that they could retrofit.

The free 3 years on my 2018 Sonata will be up in April. I plan on trading it in this spring or summer anyway but wow I didn't realize what they charge you for that. For all the services they want over $750 for 3 years pre-paid. I look at my Bluelink reports for mileage and maintenance and I used to use the remote start when I worked at the bar but I don't need it that bad. Even if I wasn't trading it in I wouldn't shell out that much.
 
#11 ·
Part of an email I received this morning -

We want to inform you how upcoming third party cellular network changes will impact your access to Hyundai Blue Link features in your 2014 Hyundai.

The Hyundai Blue Link device in your vehicle requires a 2G cellular network to access Blue Link services1,2. These cellular networks are maintained by wireless service providers outside the control of Hyundai and Hyundai Blue Link. Due to changes in telecommunications technology over time, the wireless service provider of the network enabling the use of your Hyundai Blue Link device has recently announced that it will discontinue 2G cellular network service by December 31, 2021.

As a consequence, after December 31, 2021, we regret your Hyundai Blue Link device will become inactive as a result of the network discontinuation and access to Blue Link services will be unavailable2 . We have adjusted our Service Plans to allow affected Hyundai Blue Link customers to have the maximum duration of service until the network discontinuation. Therefore, after February 23, 2021, annual subscription renewals for Hyundai Blue Link will no longer be available and will automatically renew to a Service Plan with month-to-month billing in order to access Blue Link services through December 31, 2021, unless you choose to cancel. Price will not be increased as a result of this change because all month-to-month subscriptions will be billed at a rate equal to the annual pricing.
Notice they don't tell you how you can cancel now or get any money back, just how you can continue going thru to th end of the year. I'm ready to cancel now and renew my AAA.
 
#17 ·
There is no promise of providing remote capability anywhere. There undoubtedly is language saying any service can be stopped at any time.

Someone at Hyundai undoubtedly already did the profitability math and determined that the number of people subscribing to their service on older cars is insignificant compared to the engineering costs to build a retrofit case, even if they lost all of that revenue.

Heck, they shot themselves in the foot by now posting stats on My Hyundai of the last time a function was used and the total number of times BlueLink was used. Figuring out my "cost per usage" over the last five years made that renewal decision a very easy "Nope".
 
#18 ·
Part of an email I received this morning -

We want to inform you how upcoming third party cellular network changes will impact your access to Hyundai Blue Link features in your 2014 Hyundai.

The Hyundai Blue Link device in your vehicle requires a 2G cellular network to access Blue Link services1,2. These cellular networks are maintained by wireless service providers outside the control of Hyundai and Hyundai Blue Link. Due to changes in telecommunications technology over time, the wireless service provider of the network enabling the use of your Hyundai Blue Link device has recently announced that it will discontinue 2G cellular network service by December 31, 2021.

As a consequence, after December 31, 2021, we regret your Hyundai Blue Link device will become inactive as a result of the network discontinuation and access to Blue Link services will be unavailable2 . We have adjusted our Service Plans to allow affected Hyundai Blue Link customers to have the maximum duration of service until the network discontinuation. Therefore, after February 23, 2021, annual subscription renewals for Hyundai Blue Link will no longer be available and will automatically renew to a Service Plan with month-to-month billing in order to access Blue Link services through December 31, 2021, unless you choose to cancel. Price will not be increased as a result of this change because all month-to-month subscriptions will be billed at a rate equal to the annual pricing.

I renewed mine last summer (2020) $199 for 1 year to be able to unlock my car (trunk) with my phone 2014 Sonata, after cab company unlocked my car and put the car in valet mode and couldn't use the button on the dash on the trunk to get my keys out.

However, in August of 2020, it was great!

My engine quit (one of the ones with the recalled knock sensor\bearing). I tapped the Bluelink button, awesome service rep, tow truck (20 min later), Uber showed up right as car being literally lifted on the truck.

No cost for the tow, the uber, or the loner for 9 days while getting the engine replaced.
 
#19 ·
Here's what gets me.....I have a 2015 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. The sticker on my car was $34000 and they used the "blue link safety features" as a selling point. When my car was manufactured, 2G cellular was already 20 years old. 4G became available to the public around 2010. Why in the **** did they put 20 year old technology in our cars when they had new tech available to them? Over half my dashboard will cease to function at the end of the year. The value of our cars will decrease more because of the loss of functions. I'm extremely pissed over all this. I'd pay for the upgrade if they'd offer it.

I 100% agree that this should be a class action law suit.
 
#20 ·
Here's what gets me.....I have a 2015 Hyundai Genesis Coupe. The sticker on my car was $34000 and they used the "blue link safety features" as a selling point. When my car was manufactured, 2G cellular was already 20 years old. 4G became available to the public around 2010. Why in the **** did they put 20 year old technology in our cars when they had new tech available to them? Over half my dashboard will cease to function at the end of the year. The value of our cars will decrease more because of the loss of functions. I'm extremely pissed over all this. I'd pay for the upgrade if they'd offer it.

I 100% agree that this should be a class action law suit.
I agree. I would pay for an upgraded module if the option was there. This was one of the reasons I bought my 2016 Elantra!
 
#21 ·
Remote lock/unlock and remote start were my biggest reasons for buying my Hyundai over other cars. Heck, I had pay extra $4,000 for the package AND pay $200-300/year for it!
First I was mislead that I couldnt pay just for remote servies and had pay for emergency services to keep remote action (extra $99/year all these years!). Now I won't have the main reason I bought the car!
I am upset they would do this!
I think need class action as Hyundai should pay to install remote actions since it cost us THOUSANDS!
 
#22 ·
3G will be gone as of Feb. 2022. If you own certain BMW cars <<If you received an email or postal mailing stating that your vehicle is eligible for a technology upgrade, please schedule an appointment with your local BMW Center to receive the upgrade, which will be free of charge. >
These car manuf. show have realized all these G's would not last forever. There should be a path to upgrade ... seeing as they will loose $$$ from their monthly fees should be their incentive.
It seem my 2016 Sonata Hybrid with GPS...will somehow still work, according to an article on this problem ? ?
 
#23 ·
I recently received an update -

Earlier this year we notified you about upcoming third-party cellular network changes that would impact your access to Hyundai Bluelink features1 in your 2014 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. We previously indicated that Bluelink features for your vehicle would discontinue after December 31, 2021, due to sunsetting of the cellular network maintained by third parties.

We want to notify you of an extension to this date.

While the Hyundai Bluelink device in your vehicle requires access to cellular networks maintained by wireless service providers outside the control of Hyundai and Hyundai Bluelink, we have continued to work directly with Aeris Communications, the wireless service provider of the network. Aeris Communications has announced that it will be extending the life of the network beyond December 31, 2021. We currently anticipate the network will continue to operate until January 1, 2023.

We are pleased to announce this extension of your services and provide continued access to your Bluelink experience. Please see below for important notes about this network extension:
• Hyundai Bluelink services for your vehicle are expected to have network connectivity throughout 2021 and the full 2022 calendar year. Once Aeris Communications has determined a final network end date, we will notify you.

• We will continue to offer the current monthly2 pricing for the remainder of the program: All plans will still renew monthly on their next renewal date at the lower monthly rate that was implemented in February. All new package purchases will only be offered monthly at that same rate.

• We are upgrading your Automatic Collision Notification service at no additional charge: As a token of appreciation, we are upgrading the Automatic Collision Notification feature to ACN+™ for all active vehicles at no additional charge. ACN+™ will provide:​
• Faster delivery speeds for data sent to dispatchers in life-threatening incidents
• Increased access to crash data that can help first responders make lifesaving decisions​
We hope we can continue to provide you with excellent service. If you have any questions, please contact us at 855-753-3485 or visit us at https://www.myhyundai.com/2gwirelessupdate. Thank you for being a valued Hyundai Bluelink customer.
 
#25 ·
I doubt they care. BMW buyers usually are repeat buyers of luxury cars. I'd bet that most Hyundai buyers just chase the best deal/value regardless of the manufacturer.

When I wrote custom software people always fretted about backward compatibility, and this BlueLink issue is a perfect example. Many, many people wanted to assure that their old customers could continue to run new version upgrades and paid a steep price for all of the hacks needed to assure that could happen (that a new version could convert every old version and everything that needed to be done to upgrade really old versions).

Other companies decided they would treat old customers as former customers because they weren't spending any money on regular upgrades. The Hyundai owners this will affect haven't bought a new car in six or more years. That makes them current Hyundai owners but former Hyundai customers.
 
#26 ·
So what now? Has anyone had their remote start ready vehicle fitted with another remote start module and have to carry 2 key FOBs with them?
I love the smart start and didn't mind the subscription charge has anyone moved in to one of these?
 
#27 ·
I had a Viper installed on my kid's 2012 Fusion some years ago and it works really well. Several hundred feet of range or more. I had the option installed that allows remote start to turn on the rear window defroster when the temp inside the car is 45 degrees or less. The car system gives feedback to the remote so you know if the car actually started.

And it also allows a run time a lot longer than10 stinkin' minutes.