SteveBC16

As the owner of a 2010 E350, delivered in Oct 09, I was one of the folks whose vehicle was delivered with Teleaid. You may recall MB switched from Teleaid to Mbrace in the beginning of Nov 09. Thinking that Mbrace would eventually offer some promotion for those of us that were stuck with Teleaid after the switch, I intentionally chose not to renew Teleaid in spite of a $150 annual promotion rate. This morning, I learned that Mbrace has a promotion that offers those of us who switch from Teleaid to Mbrace a lifetime $299 subscription rate. While there has been some debate with respect to the merits of having this service, the $299 offer is too attractive to pass up.

Good luck,

Steve

El Cid

Unfortunately this rate is only available to people who switch from TA to Mbrace. If you started with Mbrace, it's about $280 per year best rate.

jp2369

I received 3 years free of mbrace if you bought your car after nov 2nd you can get that promotion

220S

I wouldn't get too flustered about all this. A "lifetime" subscription sounds great, but who knows if Hughes Telematics (Mbrace) will even be the provider for MB in the next couple of years. After all they signed a lucrative contract with Hughes from the previous ATX Group (TeleAid.) What's next?

The telematics industry is heating up and things will be changing constantly. imho, just get what works for you now. I have a feeling this sort of changing vendors and pricing structures will be happening a lot more these days. Both Hughes and ATX have been changing their pricing structures already and with no real logic or continuity, as witnessed by these posts. The Telematics arena is getting much more competitive. There are other companies coming on board, too. And contracts with auto mfgs are all about profitability, nothing else.

fwiw, there are several industry journals and websites that reveal a lot with what's going on. http://social.telematicsupdate.com/index.php

SteveBC16

If you buy into the need to have either Teleaid or Mbrace, $299 for the length of one's ownership is a no brainer. The regular price of Mbrace is $280/year, Teleaid is $250/year and even OnStar is $199/year. This is a two year payback even if Mbrace goes under in the future.

bigevil

+1

bought mine mid oct 09' and just did lifetime mbrace as well, its a good deal but as the mbrace person told me it only applies to vehicles purchased before nov 2009, for all others its the 280/yr

mnje350

I was offered 240/Yr for the mbrace+ for two years. Claimed it was a special. Was not going to do it till this offer came up. Basically 30 months for 480 bucks. It was pretty cool that they would download an address to the nav while I was on the phone to them. Seems to end the problem of being able to enter and address while the vehicle is in motion.

Time will tell if it is worth it. Hope I never have to test the SOS feature. Mbrace will do it for you.

DCubed

There is a qualifier, you have to finance with MBF, great for leases but if you pay cash or use and outside bank you will not get the 3 year free mbrace.

El Cid

Seems to end the problem of being able to enter and address while the vehicle is in motion.

You can enter address while in motion with Voice controls.

mm9351

Today I was just offered the lifetime subscription to mbrace for $299, if I made the switch from Teleaid. I only had to forfeit about 6 months of remaining teleaid service. I think the deal is too good to pass up; they still offer vehicle alarm notification (e.g. text messaging), downloading maps, and the iPad app, which is vastly superior to the simplistic app offered for Teleaid.

ni2mi2

My 2008 C300 Sport had Tele-Aid and I was one of those who took the lifetime offer for $299. When I got the 2011 E350 I transferred the lifetime service onto this car. I was told that this was a one-time deal and the next time I would have to re-sign under the existing package fee structure. Oh - also they would charge $99 for the transfer. Not bad to keep the features for the next 3 years.

gvaughn

Do the newer MB NAVs prevent you from entering destinations while driving? My 2006 E500 and 2008 ML-350 do not...

park423

Yes on the E Class. My 2010 ML still allows me to enter addresses while driving.

maxmini

Was going to stay with Tele-Aid but the APP really sucks. Couldn't find POIs, no matter how simple. You can't enter an address either. Still I liked the more concierge services (such as traffic). But I miss the google maps download to car availability

The deal for lifetime service won me over in the end and i went MBrace.

listerone

To me the ability to automatically notify an ambulance in the case of a serious accident is worth the price of admission.Any other capabilities are just icing on the cake.

azzurribaggio

What is Mbrace? I bought a 2011 ML in April and received a second notice that I haven't activated my Mbrace account.
I might've recalled that my dealer said I'd have to call to cancel it once the complimentary subscription ended else they will continue to charge me. I already have AAA membership for emergencies..any input on this?

grane

I have no idea what either mBrace or Teleaid is. I do know I am getting notices about the former and when I go online to review mBrace features I see a lot of fluff. What does it do that I need that I cannot get from a mobile, a AAA membership, and the Nav system?

listerone

IMO it's a really good feature.It has many capabilities all the way from allowing you to email the location of a place you wish to get to and have the nav system direct you there all the way to *automatically* notifying the police,fire department and ambulance that you've had a serious accident and your current location (done when the airbags deploy using a built-in cell phone and GPS technology).It has many other capabilities as well...including summoning help for a break down.But Mbrace does that better than AAA because of the GPS technology that's employed.

IMO,the automatic notification or ambulance/fire/police in an accident is,by itself,worth the price of admission.

myared

Agree. If you're in an accident and are physically incapable of using your cell phone to get help, your AAA membership is pretty much of no use. Mbrace, on the other hand, might save your life and that of all others with you in the car by automatically summoning help for you if the accident was serious enough to deploy the airbags and/or trigger the belt pretensioning system.

And since the OP is about an mbrace promotion, I just activated my 6 month free membership. In addition, I prepaid for an additional 42 months (to completely cover my 48 month lease) at a slightly discounted price (I think it came to about $240 or $260 per year, versus the usual price of $280).

davidbijan

MBRACE is more expensive than you think. For 289$ you get the crash assistance and towing , car alarm notification, lock/unlock. Now if you want the good stuff like calling MB for locations to send to vehicle while driving, concierge service(which i use and saves time and money), weather, live traffic updates (dont use), then thats another 21$ a month. So if you want Mbrace plus included its about 560 a year. Im debating how much I need Mbrace plus, but i really like calling and having them look up the location and send the coordinates to vehicle while in motion. So Many decisions such little time, oh what to do?

hyperion667

good thing you're a dr huh?

davidbijan

LOL did you get your rocket yet? I guess Ill change it.

WEEE63

mBrace is crap. I got a 2007 E63 and basically none of the features even work. I was told my Navi is too old. Uh, 3 years is too old? Then I went to cancel and they told me I wouldn't get a refund. Why? Because due to the fact that they couldn't figure out their own accounting system, they put the 3 free months at the end of the period. And look, you made several calls to our service. Yeah, that was to tell you that it wasn't working. From what I hear, even the newer cars have issues with it. Save your money.

listerone

Can't speak for older versions of mbrace...I only have experience with the setup in my 2011.The only use I've made of the system so far is to email destinations,via google maps,to the nav system and I've never had a problem with that.I opted for it mainly for the automatic accident notification which seems to me could actually save someone's life.I assume that *that* will work if the need should ever arise but....