satellite radio: yes or no?

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XM is given your VIN, the XM radio ID and the day the car was sold by Toyota, which is the start of the 90 trial period. I believe you can go to XM online, create an account and enter your radio ID and you can find your existing account and the end date of the trial period.

You should have full access to most XM channels except the high end channels that you pay extra for. I believe that you have access to XM Traffic, also.

You will be receiving information from XM by mail and by phone if you have not signed up for an account by the time your trial period ends. If you do not sign up for a continuing account, some where around the end of the trial period your access will come to an end. But not before XM tries mighty hard to get you to sign up.

 

I absolutely love my XM Radio. I don't know what I'd do without it. My free trial was coming to an end and I called the number on this website and asked about the $77 deal and the rep was glad to give me the deal. The reception only goes out when I'm going over some hills with trees (as expected), but the quality is awesome. It's well worth it. I'm planning on telling them I'm going to cancel when my year is up, to get another deal.

 

Earlier post about $77. Quoted that so got that price with the licensing fee - rather than the $165 they otherwise wanted. Otherwise, I would not have renewed the intro offer.

 

I kept my other car on XM at that price for two years after my free trial ran out. Third year they wouldn't give me the $77 rate but still offered me a considerably better than standard price, which I turned down. I found it a questionable value at $77/year. It's value to different people will vary from close to nothing to considerably more than $77/yr.

 

Since I got my USB memory stick up & running I don't need/want the radio receiver or the CD changer.

 

XM and Sirius are off my renewal plan. I hook up either my iPod (with my own 1000's of songs) or my Droid and play Pandora. I have had major drop and poor reception areas with XM/Sirius and find no reason to pay for their crappy service.

 

i like sat radio just because of the variety. i like the news channels too, but mostly the music channels. my life would be more empty without Radio Margaritaville.

 

I wish Hawaii was available in Indiana...

 

"I wish Hawaii was available in Indiana..."

+1

 

I live in upstate NY and have owned two Prius. 08 and gen III '10. Both do extremely well in snow (it can't plow it's front end thru snow over the bumper) It has great control for a couple of reasons:

1. front wheel drive
2. B driving lever that adds control in a downshift sort of way

 

Would you say the trouble with your poor reception and signal drop are new to a new vehicle or new because the company xm/sirius are just a crappy service? I used to have a cheapy sirius radio that worked great plunked on my roof ('08) my new ('10) Gen III (moonroof model) has horrible reception.

The differences you report to me will help greatly.

 

Love my XM Radio !
I join the chorus, "I absolutely love my XM Radio."

I travel the entire State of Florida on business.

My two favorite stations during a long drive:
151 Laugh USA
164 Radio Classics

CNBC (127, XM) is indispensable at the start and the end of the market day.

I occasionally listen to one of the plethora of Talk Stations, but they are always mad at someone.

I have had zero reception problems -- no reception problems even in the swamplands of Florida.

I recommend XM radio without reservation --- after you negotiate the nightmare of XM administrative incompetency.

Please see my post at:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii.../83815-xm-upgrade-xm-nav-traffic-xm-rant.html

 

i would say no... because i would go with HD radio, they're going for pretty cheap.
a single din with HD. My shop sells it for $170, the pioneer one.

 

I have XM on mine and get 6 months complimentary service. I had it on the Buick I traded in (expires in Nov). I love XM, the part of Texas I live you either have pop or country on FM

 

Just got the $77.00 deal with $11.78 royalty fee for a total of $88.78 for 1 year of XM radio. The $77.00 deal is not something they are going to volunteer--you have to specifically ask for it. Its good through November, 20, 2011 for me. If you give them a credit card to attach to your account, they extend the service for an additional month (so in my case its good until December 20, 2011).

One catch to watch out for. If you don't call them back before the one year expiration, they will automatically renew your subscription for another year at the then going rate (which at this time is about $180.00 with fees and taxes). So make sure you put a reminder in your calendar and either renegotiate before the year ends or cancel. And even better give them a credit card number that expires before the XM radio subscription expires, so that there is no way that they can automatically renew you without a different credit card.

By the way, this deal will work with Sirius radio as well as any other car in the household with XM or Sirius radio. (Wife bought a new car a week before I bought my Prius, so we had two cars with the 3 month freebie about to expire and I was able to get the deal on her vehicle as well). You just have to be persistent and don't give up on the first phone call if you get a representative who doesn't want to help you on the telephone. The first level of customer service at XM is horrendous. You'll probably need to take this to the second or third tier before you'll get someone with authority to be able to address it. If you notice on the telephone when you do get a live person, they are required to stick to a very tight telephone script and repeat the same things over and over again exactly each time they put you on hold. There is little leeway they have from the script, so it can get frustrating, especially at the first tier level.

There simply is no need to pay more than $88.78 for satellite radio, especially in this economy and this not being an absolute necessity for most people.

 

I received a letter in the mail stating that my current subscription would expire in about a month and it would automatically renew at the full rate of something like $142 plus about $22 in royalty fees. I called XM and asked for the $77 rate and was told it was not available. I explained that others on PC were getting this rate.

I was told again that there were no discount rates available. I told the guy that XM was not worth the full rate to me but was worth it at the discounted rate. He asked if I wanted to discontinue service when my subscription expired and I told him yes if I could not get the discounted rate. He told me that it would be canceled at the end of my subscription and to call them back if I changed my mind

I received an online survey the next night asking about my phone experience. I explained the discounted rate again on the survey. So far I have not heard back.

It will be interesting to see if I hear back from them before my subscription expires.

 

Agreed, I get more hiss than music on XM, and find myself listening to my Ipod instead to avoid the frustration. The fidelity isn't very good either. It kinda sounds like a 1960s AM radio station, no bass at all. Seems like XM doesn't broadcast with enough power. And to be frank, there ARE lots of channels, but it is just like Bruce Springsteen said about cable TV: "140 channels and nothing on". I don't really need to hear Howard Stern use explicatives on air.

Not that I have an opinion!

 

I'm not at all a sports fan, but I do drive 5.5 hours every Friday evening and then back 5.5 hours Sundays. I really love to listen to baseball! However, there aren't enough other interesting channels for me to rationalize the money for the rest of the year. I also can't stand non-service companies such as XM. The complimentary service will expire after baseball season is over and that is OK.

 

They don't give up after your service expires. I had a Sirius receiver that I let lapse 3 years ago. My daughter got married, moved out and bought a new car so she left her starmate or whatever it is called at home. I get an email every few months offering me really cheap deals to re sign with them. I don't pay attention because I have service in all the cars I care about, but people who run out should not be concerned that this is a take it or leave it situation.