Subaru Outback Forums banner

Sirius Radio/Outback Unhappy

8K views 41 replies 21 participants last post by  PhillySubie 
#1 ·
I have found the combination of a 2015 Outback and Sirius to be very unpleasant. I believe this antenna to be very limited. I decided on the Sirius product mainly because I want US music during my winter drives through Mexico. I lost Sirius on my first full day in Mexico about 300 miles south of the border. And up here in Washington State the limitations are just unbearable. Trees, buildings, mountains I can live with.... but fog? Come On!!
Is there a work-a-round for a better antenna. Others with Sirius in different model cars enjoy it as far south as travel in Guatemala.
This January the Seahawks were mid-game with Minnesota in the play-offs.... fog bank in Central Oregon kills the station?!!
 
#4 ·
The Sirius reception on my 16 was so spotty in the hills of New England this winter I couldn't justify paying for it (for many reasons beyond poor reception\sound quality.) I found Pandora to have more consistent reception and far less interruption (on the free version.) I'm not a sports fan, so unfortunately I don't know if an app like Swell or WatchESPN would meet your particular needs for live games.
 
#5 ·
I've had XM on my vehicles since 2004 and have found the reception in my 2016 Subie to be on par with the others. The worst was the 2004 vehicle but the others (3 factory radios, 2 add-on's) have worked about the same. I should note that in the city where I live, SiriusXM has a network of terrestrial repeaters to keep the dead zones to a minimum. But even traveling has been no problem, and having the same programming for the whole trip is a big plus. I've never had an issue with the sound quality and have found it to be on par with FM radio.

If Pandora works for you it means your cell network's data signal is working better than the XM signal. You know you can get the SiriusXM app for your phone and play it that way.
 
#6 ·
The Sirius reception on our recent trip across Utah/Nevada and N. Cal to the coast, then up to the Seattle area and back to Colorado via Idaho presented no reception problems at all until Sirius simply cut us off 4 days from home.

We had waited for the relatively inexpensive 6-month renewal offer to come in the mail as the original trial subscription which came with the car neared expiration, and as recommended by several people here on this forum, then promptly mailed in a check in plenty of time before the deadline, but they cut us off anyway.

When we got home we checked and found that Sirius had indeed cashed the check a full week before the deadline, which is when they disconnected us, so they basically spent about a week simply stealing money from us.

We were able to get the issue sorted by phone, but not before having to firmly correct the on-script functionary who kept insisting the problem was our "fault" for letting the subscription "expire" and continually resisting our attempts to simply get reconnected for the cheaper subscription we had bought and for which they had accepted payment when they cashed the check.
He grudgingly moved from "we can't do it at that special price" because we had "let the subscription expire, to "well maybe I can swing it if you'll put a credit card on file with us", to finally just pushing the button and reconnecting. A process which, once begun, took all of 60 seconds. The entire argumentative and unpleasant phone call, which should have taken 2 minutes at most, lasted almost 10 minutes.

What they want, of course, is to badger you for a CC card number so they can hammer it for the full-freight subscription price for another 6 months if you forget (so easy to do) to cancel the subscription before it expires.

All in all, it's an aggressive and very disagreeable business model, but for people like us, who are miles from the nearest cellphone signals and any decent radio station reception, and who don't have big music libraries on disc or in some electronic device, they're really about the only game in town.
Here in the mountains, if we want to listen to the news at all (the BBC on Sirius isn't too bad, actually), or play a little music we're not familiar with as a change of pace, its Sirius or silence, and they know it.
 
#7 ·
You still have more options than mailing a check. Prepaid gift cards come to mind. Anyway, if you call and complain enough they will give you a better price without having to wait. It's better they make a few pennies off of you, than nothing at all. They aren't stupid. Not to mention, you can always set a google calendar reminder to remove the credit card if that's really a concern.
 
#14 · (Edited)
So, back to my original theory: Is the satellite antenna in the 2015 Outback any weaker or different than other vehicles on the market?
Why are other (non-OB) users happy?
Are all channels in Sirius the same signal strength? I personally am on "Tom Petty-Buried Treasure" %90 of my use. (station 312?)

Edit: I have a large fiberglass molded Rocketbox mounted on this OB.... is that the issue?
 
#15 ·
So, back to my original theory: Is the satellite antenna in the 2015 Outback any weaker or different than other vehicles on the market?
Yeah, sorry, I did allow my irritation to drag your thread out into the weeds a little.
My apologies.

We had no reception problems except in situations where one would expect them, as in a tunnel or under some kind of roof, like many gas stations have at the pumps for example.
We drove through some heavy coastal fog and many miles on roads hemmed in by very tall trees, and experienced only momentary hiccups in reception at most.

I don't have experience with any other vehicles' ability to receive Sat Radio, so I can't comment on comparisons between them, but I've certainly not noticed any signal strength variation between Sirius channels.

In your situation I might be tempted to conduct an experiment without the Rocketbox. It could well be causing the signal to be obscured in certain conditions.

Edit; Our trip also passed through your neighborhood, as we took the coast road up from Oregon to northern WA, across through Sequim, a few days in Bremerton and then down and out via Tacoma, and didn't experience any of the frustrations you describe in your original comment as unbearable.
 
#18 ·
Have you ever tried to cancel Sirius? took me almost 3 hours once because they literally kept hanging up on me (google Sirius Hang up) - I was not physically able to cancel. Finally going into hour 3 and my 6th call I was able to I GUESS cancel although they never confirmed and I had to wait to look at my bill which . . . . . .

Why the reluctance to leave a credit card on file for a service you enjoy?
because even when you are canceled they will charge your card the full price - I had to call AGAIN even when I had successfully canceled (according to their Customer rep) because even though we were no longer getting Sirius - they continued to charge - "by accident".

I will never EVER use their service.
 
#19 ·
Have you ever tried to cancel Sirius? took me almost 3 hours once because they literally kept hanging up on me (google Sirius Hang up) - I was not physically able to cancel. Finally going into hour 3 and my 6th call I was able to I GUESS cancel although they never confirmed and I had to wait to look at my bill which . . . . . .

because even when you are canceled they will charge your card the full price - I had to call AGAIN even when I had successfully canceled (according to their Customer rep) because even though we were no longer getting Sirius - they continued to charge - "by accident".

I will never EVER use their service.
Another reason to use a prepaid credit card, or a virtual card.
https://business.americanexpress.com/us/supplier-payments/vpayment

I'm not saying that Sirius is a reputable company, I'm just saying that find other ways to protect yourself. There are lots of solutions out there. I know plenty of people that have used one-time use cards for overseas payments.
 
#21 ·
A call to Sirius to cancel
Not an option as that was a FAIL 5 times. There was a reason my CC would not NOT accept charges as I had to prove something or other, can't remember. Some legal mumbo jumbo they made up LOL

BUT - Sirius and Pandora both suck on the Outback "premium" Harmon Kardon anyway so I won't even bother. Maybe if there was a decent sound system in the car to begin with . . . .

I can't remember what it sounds like it's been so ling since I had my car! (recall)
 
#23 ·
I have zero need or desire to drive south of the border so can't speak to reception in that area.

I have been up and down the east coast and in the mountains of Virginia, western Maryland and Pennsylvania without issue. Same great Sirius experience as with my other XM equipped vehicles, a GMC Acadia and a Chevy Silverado.

Your issue may be the roof mounted box you mentioned in a previous post. If it were me and I found myself in an area with no reception I would remove the box to see if it made a difference.
 
#25 ·
Sirius is clearly a company in a certain amount of chaos, where one department routinely fails to communicate to another.

As I described upthread, they switched our subscription off even after the check for payment had cleared our bank more than a week previously.

Then they resisted a phone-call attempt to get reconnected without imposing a "reconnection fee" because we had "allowed our subscription to expire". After several minutes of firmness explaining that we had done no such thing, we were reconnected for the 6 month subscription we had originally sent payment for.

Now today, in the mail, comes a "generous offer" to "reconnect" the trial subscription that has "recently expired" at "half the usual rate". Furthermore if we respond within 24 hours they are willing to "waive the re-connection fee of $15".

The thing is, this offer is almost double the price of the subscription we had already paid for, which they recently reconnected.

Also today, by email, comes notice that our "new" subscription has been activated, and "welcome to the World of Sirius". For convenience (whose convenience they neglect to specify) we are invited to place a Credit Card number on file to ensure uninterrupted service henceforth.

A company run by chipmunks would have their act together better than these bozos.
 
#27 ·
Their business model is to charge your card, or try to, as a means to renew an expiring subscription prior to the expiration date unless you contact them to cancel before they do it.
The subscription rate they will charge to your card is the full freight rate, which is about 4 times as expensive as the least expensive sub they will offer you if they are convinced they'll lose you as a customer unless they make such an offer.

It's how they roll.
 
#28 ·
I canned Sirius XM this past year after re-upping for a year.

The traffic service they provide is horrible, and the music channels loop the same songs every couple of hours.

They absolutely want to get a CC on file so they can bang you for a full freight subscription without you noticing. They claim they'll notify you before rebilling, but that's a load of crap, as they didn't, and I didn't see the re-up until after it hit my credit card. Then you get some chowderhead in the Philippines when you call their customer service. I had to emphatically tell them I wanted someone in the US, then it took 4 transfers to get that to happen. I ripped them for their stealth rebill and told them to not even bother to try and get me to sign up for some reduced rate.

SiriusXM used to be good. Now, due to shoddy customer service, they're terrible.

Edit: As for their coverage and reception, I never had a problem. I had SiriusXM in an older car with aftermarket equipment and it all worked fine, and I received no drops or issues.
 
#32 ·
...Is there a work-a-round for a better antenna. Others with Sirius in different model cars enjoy it as far south as travel in Guatemala.
This January the Seahawks were mid-game with Minnesota in the play-offs.... fog bank in Central Oregon kills the station?!!
I don't think the answer has changed since your last thread, covering the same topic (fwiw, probably would have been better to revive that thread rather than start a new one):

http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...nt/324553-after-market-seriousxm-antenna.html

If you have a cargo box you should absolutely expect degraded reception. Steep terrain, heavy fog, rain and dense foliage (particularly when wet) suck up signal quite well also, IME. That said, the reception on my OB is no worse than what I've had for the past 13 years when using a small, portable receiver attached to a magnet-mount antenna (with no roof obstructions). As I've described previously, it is possible to attach an aftermarket antenna if you know what you're doing, but I think it's highly unlikely that you'll find anyone who has bothered to try (besides me ;)).
 
#34 ·
Yea when they turned mine back on for a week I tried it out. Very spotty reception. Lots of cutting out and not even in very severe terrain. They need to contract with Garmin to get a better satellite receiver. My handheld GPS works flawlessly.
My overall conclusion is why would anybody actually pay for this service (or lack of service).
 
#35 ·
My overall conclusion is why would anybody actually pay for this service (or lack of service).
Perhaps they live in an area many miles from any cell service and radio station reception, so satellite radio is the only real-time option for music/weather/news inside the car?

Most Americans forget that major geographical portions of the US with low population densities (especially in the US west) are commonly serviced very poorly in that regard, both with cell service and high-speed internet availability.

Regions in Europe and Asia, even Africa, with similar population densities often have much better coverage. Almost all modern nations have better and wider communications coverage than the US, and for which their citizens pay considerably less money, too.

Lack of options is certainly the only reason we continue with Sirius. Without it all we can do with the Subaru's audio system is play CD's or music from a USB stick. With no cell service except briefly when we drive to town a couple of times a month, it makes no sense to have a cellphone.
 
#40 ·
That's what I do. In order to get the special pricing, I had to agree to auto-renew, and expected a notice before it expired since I insisted on paying by check, but didn't get one. At the end of that first 6-month reduced-rate renewal, they didn't cut me off, but started charging retail, ~$16/mo IIRC, and after a couple of months I got a bill showing overdue payment. I called and told them to cancel, and got offered another reduced-rate 6-mo sub that was acceptable - around half. I didn't ask for it, but they simply dropped the arrears and started the six-month clock that day; I had expected the new subscription period to count as starting at the end of the last, so that meant a couple months were free.

I use it some around town and quite a bit more when travelling, especially in the west, so it's nice to have. It's not worth the retail price for me, but up to about half of that I'll do. The reps on the phone have always been pleasant enough.
 
#42 ·
Huh. I've cancelled XM many times and never had a problem. I also always get a notice before its set to renew. I've never paid the full renewal rate. I usually get it for around $90 for a year (probably the last 3-4 years). I just renewed the add-on (portable) unit in my campervan for five months at $22, figuring it will get me through the camping season and then I'll cancel it in October before it renews. I did the same for the one in my Outback. I've added a reminder in my Outlook calendar to cancel. My wife likes it in our minivan (son loves Kids Place Live channel) so we keep it active there. We do big road trips with our campervan (cross- country twice in the past three years) and it's REALLY nice to have on those long drives (did 985 miles one day last summer).
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top