Is $25 for 5 Months worth it for XM?

[its a syn]

after mine ran out, the best offer i got was 5 months for$20. works well since i don't drive in the winter with this car.

[Darth_Emma]

Read the fine print. You'll have to cancel when the 5 months are up or you will be paying full price. After my past dealings with XM, I do not trust them to turn it off when I ask them to. They have lied and cheated me in the past. I will not give them any of my money.

The thing is, I liked XM when I had it. I would have renewed except for the problems I had with their customer service. If they had just treated me fairly, I would have signed up for a lifetime subscription. Customer service is very important to me.

[UT-Engineer]

Originally Posted by Darth_Emma

Customer service is very important to me.

I totally agree.

[Padre]

For its time, XM was awesome. Driving through West Texas when I lived there back in the early 2000's, I gladly paid every penny.

The only thing that's keeping me from going full to Pandora is that sometimes cell service is as unreliable as satellite service. At least, AT&T has been bugging me recently.

Padre

[PETRA]

you guys are now giving me ideas/reasons for upgrading my crackberry.

[UT-Engineer]

Originally Posted by TangerineDream

you guys are now giving me ideas/reasons for upgrading my crackberry.

lol. do it!

[JohnnyComeLately]

Originally Posted by Padre

For its time, XM was awesome. Driving through West Texas when I lived there back in the early 2000's, I gladly paid every penny.

The only thing that's keeping me from going full to Pandora is that sometimes cell service is as unreliable as satellite service. At least, AT&T has been bugging me recently.

Padre

I'm in southern California and so coverage is good. Pandorao transitions from wifi to 3G. So I start listening at the house, pop in headphones, throw on a helmet or switch to BT ( only 1 of 3 helmets have BT now) and close the garage door. When I get to the bottom of the driveway wifi drops out but my music never stops.

If I'm on super long trips I'm likely to have my iPod video 80 gig. I have a Prius as well so if I'm driving hours it's the 50 mpg Toyota over the 20 MPG Camaro. Therein lies another advantage: my iPhone is everywhere I am already.

Then of course is the service. I already pay $100 a month to carry an iPhone. (family plan plus data). Why spend another $75 a year for what I can get via my phone for no additional charge.

[aqualite75]

Originally Posted by JohnnyComeLately

Edit: my friend said in the iPhone 4 he saw "GM music" (or similar) for pairing BT and it automatically streamed without a problem. Since this is 3rd hand I can't vouch for accuracy since he might have misunderstood or not really known what was happening not a slam on my friend but sometimes I'm skeptical of "it just worked!"

Hope that made sense and helped.

This is correct. You have to do 2 pairings with the iPhone 4 initially. The first pairing is with the phone portion of the system and the second pairing is with the music portion. Phone is labeled General Motors, music is labeled GMusicConnect. The phone will enable automatically after the first pairing, but the music will only pair automatically if you turn off and exit the car in that mode. Upon re-entry it will reconnect automatically and begin playback, if in iPod mode for example. Pandora would need the app started to get playback. I have noticed if I have XM on or the actual iPod switched over and exit the car, re-entry will have GMusicConnect "Not Connected". It is simply a matter of going to the bluetooth menu on the iPhone 4 and clicking on GMusicConnect. It will automatically connect since it is already paired.

[Padre]

Originally Posted by JohnnyComeLately

I'm in southern California and so coverage is good. Pandorao transitions from wifi to 3G. So I start listening at the house, pop in headphones, throw on a helmet or switch to BT ( only 1 of 3 helmets have BT now) and close the garage door. When I get to the bottom of the driveway wifi drops out but my music never stops.

If I'm on super long trips I'm likely to have my iPod video 80 gig. I have a Prius as well so if I'm driving hours it's the 50 mpg Toyota over the 20 MPG Camaro. Therein lies another advantage: my iPhone is everywhere I am already.

Then of course is the service. I already pay $100 a month to carry an iPhone. (family plan plus data). Why spend another $75 a year for what I can get via my phone for no additional charge.

I need to put on m geek hat and see if I can get it working so seamlessly.

But another reason why I hold on to XM: I'm a news junkie, so at the top of the hour, I'm usually turning to <censored> to listen to the news.

Padre

[2FST2LIV2YNG2DY]

OP i got the same deal and i re-activated xm yesterday. Just pay with your credit card over the phone and tell them u dont want to automatically renew so it cancels out after 6 months. then wait for another deal to come along

this method worked a few times for me so far

[JohnnyComeLately]

My friend kept his XM for the same reason. He listens to talk radio specifically for --censored-- show. I have a feeling though that syndicated talk show hosts can be streamed via free apps (local affiliate, etc). When I was in Afghanistan I found a local (to somewhere in the US) talk radio station with an app, and then I'd listen occasionally to see what people were talking about back home. I didn't listen often though as a) I don't usually care b) Internet is horribly slow over there

[Padre]

Another great free resource is www.tunein.com . You can get the app for an iPhone and even listen to your hometown radio stations. Me, I like to listen to Reggae from Budapest.

No cost.

Padre