I'm still on my 90 trial of Sirius XM radio, and I'm curious what others end up doing long term as far as the subscription.

I've found so far that I really like the traffic feature and it's pretty accurate. The weather and sports, not so important. The talk radio portion has lots of good choices, but the music quality is so poor, it's like listening to AM radio.

I see in the brochure that there is a feature that shows nearby gas prices, anyone using that? I don't even see that as an option in my car.

Anyway, this is more of a survey, what are people doing as far as satellite radio?

 

I paid for XM radio for three years. During the honeymoon phase (the first 6 months) I was delighted with all the music, talk, comedy, sports and news channels available. I would flip stations like crazy... I couldn't get enough.

As soon as hockey season started I don't think I ever left NHL Radio. I would even make up excuses to make late night runs to the grocery store so I could listen to live out-of-market games. I love my hockey.

At the end of the third year my bill was up over $140 (I see now that its $199!) and I decided I had enough of the rate increases. For me it was a financial decision.

Nowadays most of what I listen to are podcasts on my iPhone connected to the car radio via the aux port (I have the 2007 ES350). I use iCatcher, which downloads all my subscriptions every morning so by the time I leave the house I have enough content for my 2 hours of round-trip drive time.

ETA: the above story was for an XM radio in my Tacoma pickup, not the Lexus. Just wanted to share my XM experience.

 

You can get a lower rate from XM if you call and threaten to not renew your service. When you call there is an extension number to press to discontinue service. The reduced rates vary but they beat their regular prices.

 

I just renewed last week for the same rate of $89 + taxes = $109ish.
I had to go to three people but nicely said I would not renew at a higher price.
I do see deals for $25 for 6 months once in a while.

 

Do you have XM or Sirius. I know they are the same company but the delivery method is different. XM uses two satellites in geosynchronous orbit while Sirius uses an array of satellites where two or three may be over the US at any one time.

I've been an XM subscriber for years and have noticed a downgrade in some of the channels especially since I upgraded the system in the Lexus. Is it AM quality? No. Or at least not the channels I listen to. Are there digital artifacts when compared to a real CD? Yes.

As others have said, threaten to cancel. My auto renewal is scheduled for next week and I will cancel the day before. My plan is to get a lower rate for the car XM and switch my home XM to internet only.

 

I have about a month left on my trial period and I have been getting mailing in the mail about renewal. A few weeks ago it was like $120/yr (advertised discount price) and yesterday, I got an ad for $72/yr.


GasBuddy.com will be your best friend , it gives real time data on gas prices based on your location. There's an app on the App Store if you have an iPhone (not sure about Android), else you can just use the mobile site.

 

This. I've had XM since '02 (3 Tahoes and now in this '12 Lexus), and FINALLY did a couple of months ago what LexBob is suggesting here. I think it was 5 or 6 months for $25. I don't like doing this dog-and-pony show but it is a decent savings.

 

Cancel this piece of crap. They are annoying, and it takes always 30 min to call them. they keep giving you lower and lower prices, the lowest they will offer is $20 for 6 month. you can take it and then call them again in 6 month and be on hold for hour. Not worth my time. I switched to internet radio long time ago, XM is BS low quality sound with not so many choices.

 

I agree that it's a pain to have to contact them to renew at a lower rate. I try to get a lower rate for 12 months to reduce the # of times I have to deal with them. It's normally not as good as the $25 deal though.

 

Agreed, I'll take the 12-month plan next time.

 

Just to make sure I'm following you correctly, internet radio in your car would be via TuneIn or IHeartRadioo, etc, correct?

If so, I've thought about doing that as well, but then my phone's data package would get eaten up w/ the time I spend in the car. I nearly hit my data limits now and don't use as much internet radio now as I would if I cancelled xm.

 

Yep. I am on TuneIn, connect it via BlueTooth Audio.
Just to give you numbers on data. I drive to work 50min one way, 5 times a week. Listen to TuneIn all the time, my data use is under 3GB per month.
I have 5GB data-plan, never went over it. T-mobile also now offers unlimited-data plan.
Internet radio offers so many choices, that can't possibly match XM. Google is now coming up with subscription radio. I rather get bigger data-plan and dump XM.