For some reason my 2015 LS is now getting very spotty SiriusXM reception. I have used their "refresh signal" a few times but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference. The service representative at my local dealership didn't have much to offer except to bring the car in and disconnect the battery an allow the car to reboot. Does anyone have any advice?

 

Are you driving where the SW sky is blocked by mountains or other objects? The XM satellites are much lower to the horizon that the Sirius satellites and this results in spotty reception if the SW sky is blocked.

 

My 2013 LS Sirius/XM reception was so bad that I let my subscription expire. Kept losing signal and was very frustrating. Dealer said operating as designed.

I don’t miss it, been without satellite radio for a year now. I use songs on my phone or listen to local sports radio.

 

Satellite radio reception is poorer in the northeast U.S. and more dependent on ground based signal repeaters. It was unusable the last time I tried to use it in a rental car in upstate New York. Here is a link to a map that purports to show coverage in North America: https://www.deadzones.com/2008/08/si...e-service.html

Reception isn't always perfect here in the central U.S. It's excellent as long as I'm not under heavy foliage or near buildings blocking the signal. It doesn't work when parked in our garage or even under the canopy at the Costco gas station.

It was formerly possible to determine the location and status of ground based signal repeaters on the Dogstar Radio website but the website seems to have fallen into disuse. Here is a link to the page on which it was possible to check repeater status: http://www.dogstarradio.com/sirius_map.php

If you have a subscription to Sirius/XM, you should be able to listen to it and many additional channels on the SXM cell phone app as long as you have decent cell phone service and a robust data plan. I don't use the SXM app all that much on my Android phone but it works well enough and is far better than when it was first introduced. Some people think the sound quality is better when streamed to a vehicle audio system from the SXM phone app but my perception is that it is more dependent on the audio quality of the vehicle sound system.

 

Local cell towers have too wide of a frequency spread that blanks out my Sirius when I approach one. The industry is addressing this over time. Not the unit.