Please don't pay full price for XM Radio

[psimon]

I really do not think Sirius/XM has long for this world. I just renewed my Pandora One subscription for $36 for the year. With so many cheaper online services, there is no way Sirius/XM can continue to pay their high operating costs. On top of that, car manufactures are beginning to build Internet access into their vehicles with support for online services like Pandora.

I agree with you that internet radio is the way to go.... as long as you have an unlimited data plan. If you are constantly using Pandora sucking away at the data, and you don't have unlimited data, your data bill will go up.... On top of that you have your $36 Pandora fee (what are you getting for $36 that I don't and I don't pay the $36 for Pandora).

Are you really ahead if you can get 6 months of Sirius or XM for the $25?

Trying to learn! I just re-upped my daughter's XM for the $25/6m.

Thanks

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[Discrazymama]

We havent paid full price in years. We call and cancel at the end of the current term b/c every time they have claimed there are no offers. Within weeks we have a letter for 6months/$25. The most Ive paid in years was the $77/yr promotion.
We have seriously considered other music subscriptions. The issue is our current location is right on the coast and signals here are iffy at best so Pandora/Slacker/iHeart work 50% of the time when we are out and about. Just a few miles down the hwy you get NO signal for 100+ miles.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I should not admit this, but.....

Over 4 years ago I purchased a car with a 6 month free trail...

And today I am still listening on that 'free' trail. I have NO idea how that works, but they don't have my credit card, have never charged me etc... it just keeps going and going and going.

I have no real feelings of "guilt" as I never activated the stupid service in the first place and rarely even bother to listen to it, but.. every time I check it's still on the radio..

 

[DVC-Don]

Two nights ago I got the renewal notice for $167 + fees and taxes. I called and got the $77 (before fees & taxes) offer. First they offered $50 off and when I told them to cancel it they made the $77+ offer which I accepted.

 

[ssawka]

I agree with you that internet radio is the way to go.... as long as you have an unlimited data plan. If you are constantly using Pandora sucking away at the data, and you don't have unlimited data, your data bill will go up.... On top of that you have your $36 Pandora fee (what are you getting for $36 that I don't and I don't pay the $36 for Pandora).

Are you really ahead if you can get 6 months of Sirius or XM for the $25?

Trying to learn! I just re-upped my daughter's XM for the $25/6m.

Thanks

---Paul in Southern NJ

Basically the $36 per year ($3 a month) removes all the ads and provides you with a higher bit rate of music (i.e. better quality)

Yes, it depends on how much data you have in your plan and how much more data would cost you. You would have to compare that to how much your cost for Sirius/XM would be.

The point of my original post is that I do not see how Sirius/XM is going to be able to stay in business with their high costs compared to Internet radio. For now they are profitable, but that has mostly to do with Americans buying new cars again. It will be interesting to see how many of these new car owners will stick with Sirius/XM once their free trial ends. Also, Sirius/XM can currently rely on their infrastructure, but will they be able to make the capital investments necessary to maintain the system?

Don't get me wrong, I was an avid supporter of Sirius when it came out, but once I got a Smart Phone, I really did not see a need to be paying 2 monthly bills for entertainment. Maybe my "tune" will change if I am ever forced to give up my unlimited data plan.

 

[momof3ds]

We had portable Sirius radios in 2 cars. Both broke within a week of each other. I cancelled since they didn't want to offer a deal on new equipment (new receiver, new dock for the house).

Bought a new car, had the free for 3 month deal. Then cancelled when they wouldn't offer a deal. Bought a blu tooth connector for my iPhone and now stream pandora or iheartradio or listen to local stations. I forget what our data limit is but even with streaming and GPS use, we rarely hit more than 75 percent. Bonus, the blu tooth allows me to hear the gos through the car speakers while listening to music!

Now, Sirius is sending me $25 for 6 month offers and I have no interest. They are under cutting their own product, in my opinion. And they are the ones encouraging people to pursue these deals.

Dish network did the same thing. We asked for a deal, they said no. We sent the equipment back, then they offered a deal. Too late.

 

[djbleach]

I love satellite radio! I also love pandora. Problem is, they both don't provide the same thing for me.
Howard Stern, Nascar, live Sports, Fox news, etc are on XM. Pandora I can program what music I want to hear or some comedy.
As long as Howard Stern (people love him or hate him) is on XM, they will survive. If he does retire or starts his own pod cast, you can then say good bye to satellite.
This last renewal, I got the mobile subscription with my radios .
So even now, if I dropped my radio, I'd pay the money for xm mobile. I don't think that's more than $36 a year.
So for me to be able to get Howard and everything else, I'd get sirius before pandora premium.

 

[lucigo]

I should not admit this, but.....

Over 4 years ago I purchased a car with a 6 month free trail...

And today I am still listening on that 'free' trail. I have NO idea how that works, but they don't have my credit card, have never charged me etc... it just keeps going and going and going.

I have no real feelings of "guilt" as I never activated the stupid service in the first place and rarely even bother to listen to it, but.. every time I check it's still on the radio..

I have a 2005 van that has always had it also. I was told it was a rental car before I bought it.

 

[Fruto76]

Just bought a new car a month or so ago. Love XM... but what I love even more is Pandora streaming through bluetooth. I thought for sure I would cave in and continue XM, but I don't think so anymore. Love Pandora!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

am i the only one who thinks they SHOULD pay for the service they get???

I'm paying, I just don't think it's worth their set retail price. For what their "rack rate" is, I'd rather just listen to the radio or use my phone. When they bring the price down to something I'm willing to pay (which they invariably do) then I pay that price.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I love satellite radio! I also love pandora. Problem is, they both don't provide the same thing for me.
Howard Stern, Nascar, live Sports, Fox news, etc are on XM. Pandora I can program what music I want to hear or some comedy.
As long as Howard Stern (people love him or hate him) is on XM, they will survive. If he does retire or starts his own pod cast, you can then say good bye to satellite.
This last renewal, I got the mobile subscription with my radios .
So even now, if I dropped my radio, I'd pay the money for xm mobile. I don't think that's more than $36 a year.
So for me to be able to get Howard and everything else, I'd get sirius before pandora premium.

DH has it for Howard too. He drives all over for work, so it is a good investment for him. I might have to check into what we pay for it tho, and try to bring it down a bit now that I am reading all the great deals ya'll get!

 

[scrapquitler]

We think its worthwhile to keep Sirius (we have mobile and two radios) because DH Is a huge NASCAR fan and we spend a lot of time at our family's cabin in the woods where there is no cable or satellite tv service, so without Sirius he would miss the races. He won't let me cancel and wait to get the $25/6 months ofer because he doesn't want to miss a single day of his race talk shows. LOL. The time I tried to get it while i was on the phone several different people told me there was no such offer grrrr. He doesn't mind paying, and I'm not going to argue with him about something that doesn't bother him.

 

[Nature Mom]

I am so glad I opened this thread and started reading. I let my Sirius/XM cancel last month because there was no way I was paying $180 for it when the new bill came in. I had no idea they would do a rate as low as $25 for 6 months, so I am even happier now that I held off. I love streaming music in the car so didn't think I would mind. I stream Pandora, iheartradio, my Amazon Cloud, but I am missing some of the stations from Sirius/XM, especially talk radio (the only thing that keeps me awake on the drive home from WDW when the kids are asleep!). I think I will call tomorrow and see if I can negotiate.

 

[CuppieCake04]

I should not admit this, but.....

Over 4 years ago I purchased a car with a 6 month free trail...

And today I am still listening on that 'free' trail. I have NO idea how that works, but they don't have my credit card, have never charged me etc... it just keeps going and going and going.

I have no real feelings of "guilt" as I never activated the stupid service in the first place and rarely even bother to listen to it, but.. every time I check it's still on the radio..

About 8 years ago I had a dodge neon that i bought brand new came with a 3 month subscription that was never turned off. lol

I drove the car for 2 years, sold it to my mom, who drove it for 5 years, than gave it to my niece who drove it for 6 months before her boy friend totaled the car.

And we all had free XM... I was wishing and hoping that the same would happen with my new car i got last year.. but nope after 3 months they turned it off..lol

 

[elgerber]

We think its worthwhile to keep Sirius (we have mobile and two radios) because DH Is a huge NASCAR fan and we spend a lot of time at our family's cabin in the woods where there is no cable or satellite tv service, so without Sirius he would miss the races. He won't let me cancel and wait to get the $25/6 months ofer because he doesn't want to miss a single day of his race talk shows. LOL. The time I tried to get it while i was on the phone several different people told me there was no such offer grrrr. He doesn't mind paying, and I'm not going to argue with him about something that doesn't bother him.

I have never had to cancel, just call and threaten to cancel, it's worked every single time, and I have had Sirius in 3 different cars for the last 6 years.

 

[GAGirlInVA]

A little off topic but in the same vein....

I don't have XM or Sirus in my van (I did have XM in the Pilot I had.. loved it!)

I listen to Pandora on my iPhone at the gym, is there a way to connect my phone to the speaker system in my van, or are you guys just listening through your phones?

 

[ssawka]

A little off topic but in the same vein....

I don't have XM or Sirus in my van (I did have XM in the Pilot I had.. loved it!)

I listen to Pandora on my iPhone at the gym, is there a way to connect my phone to the speaker system in my van, or are you guys just listening through your phones?

It all depends on what kind of connectors you have in the van. Do you have and Auxillary-In or a cassette player? If not and depending on where you live, you may be able to use an FM transmitter. These options are assuming that you do not have bluetooth in the van that is capable of carrying audio.

 

[momof3ds]

I use a blu tooth fm transmitter connected to my phone:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003PPGOC0/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


It's been working great for the past year.

 

[livsmom04]

I have only had to pay $25 for 6 months for the past year that I have had my van. I just threaten to have it turned off ad they give me this awesome deal. Will never pay full price for Sirius Nd if we have to then we will definitely cancel it.

 

[wannagoback]

We just went through this and I was quite disgusted by the process. We had closed the CC account that was on file. When our 6-month subscription came up for renewal we did not receive notice but they renewed anyway. Of course, the payment was declined. So then they called to collect their money. I said I wanted to cancel and I wasn't interested in paying for the renewal. She said they wouldn't cancel until I paid for the week that had already been charged. I said I didn't know what to tell them but I didn't even have my wallet to pay so please cancel and send me a bill and I would pay it. She said she couldn't cancel until I paid... The next guy that called, I went back and forth with too and he hung up on me. I did finally go online to resolve the account but I was not pleased with their customer service and policies. I think it's time to cancel for a while...