XM Upgrade from Trial: Thanks to this board, I got the $88.78 rate after my trial period ended 08/20/2010. I asked XM for one-time, no 'till forbid credit card charge. I forget XM terminology for this XM deal, but XM reinstated me in minutes and will send me a bill. Rate = $77.00 plus $11.78 Music Royalty fee. Others on board have asked for phone number: I found that Phone Number is not important: I called (866) 408-2096 and (800) 347-0600. Each answers the same way. BTW, I got disconnected six (6) times before I completed the transaction. XM Nav Traffic: 1.) I did not subscribe to XM Nav Traffic after trial period; 2.) XM Nav Traffic is extremely clever. I heard traffic alerts on my Prius's built-in Nav system. (My wife calls her "Toyko Rose.") For three months, Toyko Rose told me of accidents and traffic slow-downs ahead. 3.) While immensely entertaining, Toyko Rose telling me of traffic problems was of zero practical value. I was already on a course (usually on an Interstate) and had no reasonable alternative route. Side rant -- XM administrative incompetency: XM called my home to ask for renewal. My wife gave them my cell phone number and my office phone number. XM never called me at either preferred phone number. While on the road on a business trip, XM cut me off in mid-stream. After I signed up at $88.78 and had XM reinstated, XM called me again and again to ask me to renew from my trial period. To date XM will not change the phone number on my XM account. Hope this helps someone. David W. Johnson aka Prius_in_Paradise Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Just received a subscription plan notice the other day from XM and the cost for 1 year is $172.45 and if you add NavTraffic it will cost $222.73. I will make a call and ask for a reduction, one can only hope this will work and I will ask them to send me a bill instead of having access to my credit card info.
That's true, but they still have separate channel lineups for now. There are a few "Best of Sirius" channels on XM and a few "Best of XM" channels on Sirius, but subscribing to XM does -not- give you automatic access to the Sirius channel lineup except for the handful of "Best of Sirius" channels. You have to have an account on Sirius in order to get the entire Sirius lineup (and a Sirius radio because the two services are not compatible).
Is anyone getting a good deal to just have XM NavTraffic? Don't care about the radio part...it's not even 100% commercial free anyway...
The music channels are all commercial free (except for the 3-4 channels that are programmed by Clear Channel).
I don't think so... a lot of XM channels from 20-30 were full of commercials. Same with some Jazz channels...
Announcements are not commercials. Commercials are advertisements for products. The only music channels with commercials are the ones programmed by Clear Channel Communications (11, 21, 22, and 24). The remaining 50-60 music channels are all commercial free.
No seriously, I've had XM for years on my previous car and only the trial period on my this new Prius and they are definitely commercial (loan modifications and other services), not announcements. But you're right...channels 21 and 24 definitely had commercials...didn't know it was owned by CC.
Nope, you definitely will NOT hear any commercials for loan modifications or anything else on the music channels (except the ones I noted above). On the other hand, all the other channels (talk, sports, etc.) are riddled with commercials, and many of them are for shady (almost criminal) enterprises.
Here is the official channel listing from XM: XM Channel Lineup Only music channels in the "More Music" Neighborhood have commercials. The rest do not. All the talk/sports channels have commercials (except NPR and PRI) from shady businesses.
Heh, heh...I work for a company that provides XM radio service to passengers of airlines such as JetBlue and AirTran.
I opted ONLY for XM Traffic. After working out a "deal", best I got was about 82 bucks a year. Expensive, but I like the feature. Better then illegally fussing with my iPhone to see traffic issues. And, it auto-reroutes me to avoid issues....and has been successful in doing just that.
I just got my 2010 Prius last Saturday and have the complimentary 3 month subscription to XM and XM Traffic. The only thing my nav tells me is that "in 3 miles, bumper-to-bumper traffic on the route, 1 mile long". It doesn't offer an alternate route. I have auto reroute switched "on" but nothing ever happens. Am I missing something on the set-up? I've tried calling XM but they're useless and Toyota doesn't seem to have an answer either.
[From my post above] While I found traffic alerts on my Prius's built-in Nav system immensely entertaining, Toyko Rose telling me of traffic problems was of zero practical value. I was already on a course (usually on an Interstate) and had no reasonable alternative route -- and like your experience, no alternative route is suggested.
The only time auto re-route appeared to me (it shows up as an audibe note and pops up a button on the nav screen) was when the traffic alert knew a road was completely CLOSED. For the most part, Traffic tells me a lot of "in 20 miles on route, left lane closed ahead, 2 miles long" "in 18 miles on route, left lane closed ahead, 2 miles long", etc, or "in 1 mile, stop and go traffic for 3 miles". Normally my response is "yes car, i see that i am in stop and go traffic. thank you for confirming my own observation". I will not be renewing it after the trial.
