Pro tip for those who have a newer car with Sirius XM

Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

Touchdown! Greaser!
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May 11, 2010
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Snorting his way across the USA
My '26 Outback came with Sirius XM. The free subscription ran out six months later. Oh well, it's not worth enough to be to buy a subscription.

I was randomly playing with it a while ago, and went backwards from Channel 1, and found myself in a group of four digit channels that are free, with ads like a radio. This only works with newer receivers that get channels beyond 700. I played with a friend's '18 and it didn't work.

Sure was nice on a cross country trip to Indiana. You're welcome.
 
My experience was they seemed to change the channels. I listened to a channel that played old radio mysteries for a while.

They sometimes give free listening ~twice a year, usually around July 4 and Labor Day.
 
farmrjohn said:
Will that get you the weather data back (asking for a 2026 Crosstrek)?
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Naw. I used to have it in my 2014 Flex, when I drove a lot. They didn't integrate it with the GPS (though traffic was integrated) so you got a separate map. When I dropped that and traffic from the plan, they simply disappeared. You can ask the system for them, but you get nothing. The price wasn't that much, but as I drive 2K miles a year (a quarter of that to the airport weekly) I'll buy more flight time instead.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Protip: use Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, or any one of the major streaming services instead. I'm not even sure how SXM exists these days subsiding on XM Weather subscriptions from aviation/marine folk.
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Pro protip: Alcohol will ease the ache of the stump of the arm you have to chew off to get away from the sales people when you cancel your Sirius subscription.

Nauga,
disarmed
 
SoonerAviator said:
Protip: use Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, or any one of the major streaming services instead. I'm not even sure how SXM exists these days subsiding on XM Weather subscriptions from aviation/marine folk.
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I haven’t used Sirius in years. My favorite is how they required auto renewal, explaining that it was “for your convenience.” At first, they would notify you of impending renewal so you could call (no online chat) and play the cancellation-better=deal game. Then they stopped the advance notification.

nauga said:
Pro protip: Alcohol will ease the ache of the stump of the arm you have to chew off to get away from the sales people when you cancel your Sirius subscription
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Pro Tip. I finally used Privacy.com to pay with a virtual credit card that I cancelled immediately after the charge went through. That was truly for my convenience. Especially when I cancelled simply by not renewing. No arm chewing involved.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Pro Tip. I finally used Privacy.com to pay with a virtual credit card that I cancelled immediately after the charge went through. That was truly for my convenience. Especially when I cancelled simply by not renewing. No arm chewing involved.
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Thanks. I'd shake your hand but we'll have to wait for mine to grow back.

Nauga,
AKA Patrick Star
 
SoonerAviator said:
Protip: use Spotify, iTunes, Tidal, or any one of the major streaming services instead. I'm not even sure how SXM exists these days subsiding on XM Weather subscriptions from aviation/marine folk.
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Well I do that too. But why not use it if it's free.
 
Pro tip, you’re dating yourself by even thinking about dealing with Sirius XM radio. Ok, I’ve heard out in the sticks cell service can be limited, maybe. I’d liken it to built-in vehicle navigation, went the way of the buggy whip.
 
sourdough44 said:
Pro tip, you’re dating yourself by even thinking about dealing with Sirius XM radio. Ok, I’ve heard out in the sticks cell service can be limited, maybe. I’d liken it to built-in vehicle navigation, went the way of the buggy whip.
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It's still built into new cars. They give a few months free, and sometimes after dealer service. I sometimes forget about the free offerings as a streaming service of some sort works.
 
sourdough44 said:
Pro tip, you’re dating yourself by even thinking about dealing with Sirius XM radio. Ok, I’ve heard out in the sticks cell service can be limited, maybe. I’d liken it to built-in vehicle navigation, went the way of the buggy whip.
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It's a 2026. And yes, it has built in navigation too. But Google maps on the iphone works better. And it will show on the display as if it were built in.
 
If you call SiriusXM every month and say that you are going to cancel, they'll try to keep you with them by giving you a huge discount. Works like a charm!
 
I like SXM simply because I don't HAVE to have my phone with me to listen, and it's built into both cars. No need to screw around with the screens to bring up another app, or in the case of my 2020 F150 have to plug in the phone to bring up Carplay for an app. And right now, for the next year, I'm paying less for it than I would for a subscription to Spotify or Pandora or whatever, especially to listen without ads (if I wanted commercials I'd just use FM), and I don't need to build a playlist of preferences or anything - there are enough channels I can bounce between that I don't have to listen to what one channel is playing.

The last time I called them to cancel it was far less painful than it was before. I didn't get an extended argument, just an offer or two. I declined, and let the subscription end. Within a week I had an offer in the mail for a year at slightly under $5 per month. OK, I'll pay that. And they do indeed email me every month before charging my card... I think you can turn that on or off in your online account settings. After the year, I'll drop it... and wait for the next "please, we're begging you, re-subscribe at 80% off" letter.
 
Lindberg said:
What benefit do you see from SiriusXM over a streaming service like Spotify + Bluetooth?
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Listen to a ball game while out of cellular range?
DaleB said:
or in the case of my 2020 F150 have to plug in the phone to bring up Carplay for an app.
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You know that there exists wireless adapters.
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nauga said:
It's definitely an option if you want to hear the same 15 songs over and over (and over and over).

Nauga,
ad nauseum
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There is that. I find though that if I add multiple channels to my presets, I can turn it into 45 songs over and over again.
 
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