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Yesterday, I received a ridiculous customer survey for radio issues from Lexus. My AM/FM/CD work flawlessly. XM is dismal! Of course, the survey didn’t include XM. Many of my XM stations cut out & say: “searching for signal” or “signal lost” for a few seconds randomly. Lexus blames it on AT&T cell phone towers & the dipstick Filipino XM telephone agents just want to resend a new signal to the radio, which does nothing but waste my time. It’s impossible to speak with an American. They are not rude, but they are just trained robots thru no fault of their own. I find it ironic that no one has challenged Lexus on their false satellite radio advertising. My window sticker says my vehicle has SiriusXM reception, but the radio only says XM as does the XM website. My other vehicles have both Sirius & XM. I’m done ranting - anyone else have regular XM reception issues?
My SirusXM radio works just as it has in my other Lexus vehicles, quite well. Only time I will have a drop out is if traffic keeps me under a bridge. Other than that it is pretty well flawless.
I do have friends who live in New York and when in the city the building block their signal but only once in a while.
We do agree on one thing for sure, dealing with these SirusXM employees is not so good. Just understanding what they say is very hard not to mention there is low volume to boot. I quit dealing with them and went to the Internet site and did what I needed myself! I would NEVER give these idiots my credit card number and ALWAYS have them mail me a bill so I can have the banks send them a check.
The are the only show so I have little choice but to use them.
The satellite signal is blocked by trees, overpasses and tunnels. In my neighborhood and its surroundings there are a lot of trees. I found in my previous 2012 RX that the Sirius radio did not work until I got out into the open area on a major road about 1.5 miles away. So I never used it and of-course did not sign up for it when the free trial expired. I currently drive a 2016 RX and have never even tried it. They do store several seconds of the signal so brief outages from driving under an overpass or a short tunnel are not heard.
If the radio is not working in open areas, then there is definitely something wrong and I would talk to your local Lexus dealer, the radio may need to be replaced.
I would not believe anything told to me by the support people. They are trained to get rid of people quickly not solve problems.
Yesterday, I received a ridiculous customer survey for radio issues from Lexus. My AM/FM/CD work flawlessly. XM is dismal! Of course, the survey didn’t include XM. Many of my XM stations cut out & say: “searching for signal” or “signal lost” for a few seconds randomly. Lexus blames it on AT&T cell phone towers & the dipstick Filipino XM telephone agents just want to resend a new signal to the radio, which does nothing but waste my time. It’s impossible to speak with an American. They are not rude, but they are just trained robots thru no fault of their own. I find it ironic that no one has challenged Lexus on their false satellite radio advertising. My window sticker says my vehicle has SiriusXM reception, but the radio only says XM as does the XM website. My other vehicles have both Sirius & XM. I’m done ranting - anyone else have regular XM reception issues?
Not sure how anyone would be blaming a cell tower for sat reception, unless you're sitting under it and it's blocking your antenna. The only time re-sending the receivers code does anything is if it reverts back to unsubscribed mode. Also, you do realize that Sirius and XM merged several years ago, so they are one and the same.
Not sure how anyone would be blaming a cell tower for sat reception, unless you're sitting under it and it's blocking your antenna. The only time re-sending the receivers code does anything is if it reverts back to unsubscribed mode. Also, you do realize that Sirius and XM merged several years ago, so they are one and the same.
This is what Lexus service told me - I have a hard time buying it also, but I don’t know what frequencies the XM runs on. The service manager said they were very close to AT&T’s frequencies. I was aware the two companies merged. However, Lexus has never updated their reception to include the Sirius channels. There are a slew of channels we cannot get that other vehicles can get, if they have a SiriusXM receiver. We just have an XM receiver. I think we are being ripped off, but I am paying much less for the satellite on the Lexus than I am on the VW. The VW almost never cuts out, unless I’m under a bridge. Trees don’t seem to bother the VW radio either. I live in Texas & the Lexus XM cuts out even when I’m in the middle of nowhere & the closest tree or building are farther that I can see.
The frequency band is : "The XM signal used 12.5 MHz of the S band: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz."
The seperation is of 2.5 MHz. If the harmonics are not well filtered by AT&T, yes there could be some scrambling occuring. But then again, also the cell phone manufacturers need to make good quality radios with little harmonics. If you pass by a cell phone of bad quality, it could disrupt the XM radio receiver as well.
The frequency band is : "The XM signal used 12.5 MHz of the S band: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz."
The seperation is of 2.5 MHz. If the harmonics are not well filtered by AT&T, yes there could be some scrambling occuring. But then again, also the cell phone manufacturers need to make good quality radios with little harmonics. If you pass by a cell phone of bad quality, it could disrupt the XM radio receiver as well.
The frequency band is : "The XM signal used 12.5 MHz of the S band: 2332.5 to 2345.0 MHz."
The seperation is of 2.5 MHz. If the harmonics are not well filtered by AT&T, yes there could be some scrambling occuring. But then again, also the cell phone manufacturers need to make good quality radios with little harmonics. If you pass by a cell phone of bad quality, it could disrupt the XM radio receiver as well.
This does lend credibility to the service manager, but it also raises the question of why is my VW satellite radio unaffected & the Lexus is?
This does lend credibility to the service manager, but it also raises the question of why is my VW satellite radio unaffected & the Lexus is?
The only answer I could give you that it may be "listening" on a wider passing band than it should be and picking some extra noise. It could be an issue with your radio.
If your dealer tells you again excuses, propose a test drive with a loaner and listen to the XM radio. You will see if there is a difference.
I am from Canada, but when I travalled in the US East Coast for my summer vacation, I did not experience any problem. For long trips I like to listen to XM, don't need to scan for a radio station from town to town due to fading stations due to the distance. With satellite radio, it is continuous.
This does lend credibility to the service manager, but it also raises the question of why is my VW satellite radio unaffected & the Lexus is?
Maybe this:
The XM radio platform uses two geostationary satellites that cover the continental U.S. and Canada. Geostationary satellites orbit directly over the equator at a distance of about 22,300 miles from earth. They rotate in perfect synchronization with the earth’s rotation, making them appear fixed in place in the sky. As a result, they’re a nearly perfect radio relay platform. XM service is assigned 12.5 MHz of bandwidth in the frequency range of 2332.5 to 2345 MHz.
The Sirius radio platform uses a different approach, employing a single geostationary satellite and three geosynchronous satellites in highly inclined elliptical orbits over the U.S. The apogee is 29,300 miles and the perigee is 15,300 miles. The rotational period is 24 hours, and the satellite spacing is set so each satellite spends 16 hours a day over the coverage area but not at the same time, ensuring full coverage at all times. The high elliptical orbit helps reduce blind spots created by tall buildings and other obstacles that may affect signals from geostationary satellites.
There may be some truth in this. Cell phone towers often/usually (always?) carry antennae for multiple providers.
Satellite radio isn't just being broadcast from space. SiriusXM has many hundreds of land based signal repeaters with their antennas on towers with all the other antennas. One supposed expert described SiriusXM as really only "terrestrial radio augmented by satellite radio" instead of the other way around. In some areas, receiving SiriusXM signals is mostly dependent on land based repeaters. When SiriusXM tried to get approval to offer service in Alaska last year, the service was going to be based 100% on terrestrial repeaters since signals from the satellites cannot be picked up there.
So, if your SiriusXM is sometimes particularly bad or nonexistent, it may be because the closest repeater is completely out of service or having a problem.
This is what Lexus service told me - I have a hard time buying it also, but I don’t know what frequencies the XM runs on. The service manager said they were very close to AT&T’s frequencies. I was aware the two companies merged. However, Lexus has never updated their reception to include the Sirius channels. There are a slew of channels we cannot get that other vehicles can get, if they have a SiriusXM receiver. We just have an XM receiver. I think we are being ripped off, but I am paying much less for the satellite on the Lexus than I am on the VW. The VW almost never cuts out, unless I’m under a bridge. Trees don’t seem to bother the VW radio either. I live in Texas & the Lexus XM cuts out even when I’m in the middle of nowhere & the closest tree or building are farther that I can see.
Are you saying that your radio in XM only?
I thought all SAT radios in Lexus are SirusXM now.
Well Kansas, there are no repeaters for 200 miles of me. So, does that Dog Star Map only list Sirius repeaters? I stand by my comment that we are getting ripped off with this satellite radio.
Greg - yes, we only get XM in our RX & not SiriusXM. We are getting ripped off by Lexus for not keeping up & offering both channel lineups, and SiriusXM really isn’t true satellite radio (when compared to a satellite phone that works almost anywhere in the world).
10-19-17, 08:13 AM
Ridiculous Radio Survey
