On Star and XM Radio

[Roly Nelson]

Some new cars now-adays are equipped with On Star and XM Radio. I had heard of them, but never saw them in action. Well, my Cruse came equipped with both of them and I am amazed with the turn-by-turn info provided both vocally and displayed on the dashboard. "Turn left in 100 yards, continue 50 feet and your destination is on the right," dead accurate.

The other unexpected carrot they hung under my nose was the Sirius XM Radio programs. Over 150 in all, and perfectly clear anywhere in the country. I used to think it was just an up grade of FM radio, but being able to hear great music, audio TV news programs and even old-time radio shows etc, was a total surprise. I'll keep this luxury after the free time has expired. However, the On Star is a bit pricey at a dollar a day, and I would only use it if I were on a cross country trip, so I think I'll pass on renewing it. However, XM is here to stay, so I can listen to Captain Midnight, Terry and the Pirates, Boston Blackie and Dragnet while driving cross-country.
Roly ~~

[Aaron Coffee]

Have had xm for quite a few years now and don't even listen to fm anymore(only in severe weather). What channel is the old time radio shows on? May have to rearrange my favorites and add that one. I have a portable xm so I can take it into the teardrop as well.
Aaron

[AceMan]

Channel 82

I purchased a AC/DC adapter and bring my portable receiver into the house for non driving listening.

http://gregbellmedia.com will give you the weekly schedule +

[Ratkity]

I have a life time subscription to SirusXM and love it!!

Have fun listening and um, make sure you have backup maps just in case LOL.

Hugs,
Ratkity

[Verna]

Roly:

I let my On-Star expire after 7 years last year. I have AAA, a GPS app on my iPhone, and after I retired I figured I could do without the $199 per year for On-Star.

I wish I had XM Radio!!! I had it for a month on a rental Escape when I was traveling around the West Coast last spring and I loved it!! I'll just have to wait until my next vehicle to have XM. Until then, I'll use CD's and my iPod.

Verna

[Gage]

Yep, the Sirius is great going cross country. You don't have to look for a station out in the middle of nowhere. I've had it now sense 2005, first XM and then Sirius which I have now in all my cars (truck). As for the 'On Star', I think I would just let it go away. I have a nav system that I got at Best Buy and use all the time. But I would think that your nav system and ‘On Star’ are separate but work together. Therefore you should be able to cancel (not renew) ‘On Star’ and still have the nav.

[jstrubberg]

I used XM for a few years. I finally gave it up for Pandora radio on my phone. I added an aux cable in my vehicle to plug the iPhone into the stereo system, and now I have customized radio and guidance in my pocket and my vehicle for FREE.

[Gage]

.....................and now I have customized radio and guidance in my pocket and my vehicle for FREE.

You mean you don't pay for phone air time. Boy I want your service provider.

[jstrubberg]

I always heard the same thing, Gage.

It just ain't true. I run Pandora for an hour a day, at least six days a week. More like an hour and a half a day on the weekends. My data usage since August 11th is 1.2 gigabytes! That's about 300mb a month.

It's cheaper to pay another ten bucks for another gig of data a month than it is to pay XM alone. Never mind navigation, weather, etc. it's just plain cheaper and ten times as portable.

The one drawback is coverage. The only place I ever lost satellite coverage for XM was under an overpass. There are lots of spots out west that there's no cell phone data coverage at all.

It meets my needs well enough that I recently ponied up another ten bucks a month to turn my phone into a wifi hotspot. Now I hav data for my iPad as well as the wife's laptop pretty much anywhere we go.

[eamarquardt]

My brother and I drove from LA to Seattle this past summer. He has AT&T service. We went up I5 which is THE North/South artery on the West coast. The service, IMHO, wasn't that great. I found it frustrating and quite frankly a PITA and quit using his IPad.

Soooo, depending on where you live and travel the internet might be viable. Not so, here yet on the West coast, again IMHO. At a lake where we spent several days there was no service at all.
Cheers,

Gus

[asianflava]

Four years ago I took a risk and got a "Lifetime" subscription to XM. They were on shaky ground because the Sirius merge was still a ways away. I figured that the one time payment was equal to 3yrs of subscribing (at the time), so I guess I get it for free now. Now, it's probably equal to 2yrs of subscribing.

I looked at the specifics of the deal and it is for the lifetime of the receiver. My radio has an outboard XM receiver so if the radio goes kaput, I can put the receiver onto another radio or in another car. Dunno if they still offer it.

[jstrubberg]

Sorry Gage, I misread your post. You are correct, my cell phone package isn't free. Since I have to have it for my work, I didn't take that cost into account.

[jstrubberg]

Sorry Gage, I misread your post. You are correct, my cell phone package isn't free. Since I have to have it for my work, I didn't take that cost into account.

[Shadow Catcher]

I have a Sirius receiver that allows me to get the lowest priced package and there is a cradle in Compass Rose so that I can use it there and soon in the garage. The Tom Tom GPS has life time maps and traffic i.e. tells you of construction or slow downs.
I do not want things integrated into my car, GPS, Sirius. GPS hard to update maps and often costly, Sirius, I can use the receiver elsewhere.
But yes I love the sat receiver.

[Ratkity]

Four years ago I took a risk and got a "Lifetime" subscription to XM. They were on shaky ground because the Sirius merge was still a ways away. I figured that the one time payment was equal to 3yrs of subscribing (at the time), so I guess I get it for free now. Now, it's probably equal to 2yrs of subscribing.

I looked at the specifics of the deal and it is for the lifetime of the receiver. My radio has an outboard XM receiver so if the radio goes kaput, I can put the receiver onto another radio or in another car. Dunno if they still offer it.

I did the same thing flava!! But I did it through Sirius before the merger with XM. Worth 3 years of paid service at the time. I can transfer it to up to 7 times to new receivers. I plan on keeping my little Rav4 a long time, but have the original radio that I can put back in and take the aftermarket Kenwood out if need be.

I love that Kenwood radio GPS/ipod/etc etc combo. The bluetooth in it is worthless though - and it doesn't make coffee!! Does everything else though LOL. The GPS is Garmin, so I know I'll be able to update maps when I need to.

Hugs,
Ratkity