[56chevywagon]

$40 is not the cost of OnStar. My wife currently has the Safe and Sound plan through OnStar and we are only paying $18.95/mo for her 06 Malibu Maxx SS. The car phone plan minutes are separate...you purchase the minutes separately from the OnStar plans. For the Directions & Connections plan like what we got its:

Directions & Connections
Model Year 2007 and Newer Vehicle Pricing:
$28.90/month* or $299/year (plus tax)

And the Safe & Sound plan is:

Safe & Sound
Model Year 2007 and Newer Vehicle Pricing:
$18.95/month* or $199/year (plus tax)

This was taken directly from the OnStar website.

As far as the phone sharing Verizon's network...I really do not think that is true. I have seen nor read anywhere that supports this. I can't say that they don't. I would have to say that they wouldn't be sharing considering no matter where you are you can always make calls through the car phone which tells me that it is a satelite supported phone carrier not a tower to tower. Just my $.02.