XM Satellite Radio

[RichM]

I know there have been other posts about satellite radio but I wanted to give my experiences with the Delphi XM setup.Last month I bought the vehicle setup from Best Buy for $200. It has the tuner,antenna,power cord and a cassett adapter to play through your existing radio. It took about 20 minutes to install and I mounted it right beneath the parking brake valve on my FL 70 dash.
On October 25th we loaded out of Titusville FL for Sunnyvale CA and from there spent the last 3 weeks all over the Western US. The XM setup was absolutely great,it only faded out twice in deep canyons in Washington and Montana for less then 5 seconds each time. There are 100 channels including some of the syndicated programs such as Art Bell,The Bozo,Dave Nemo etc.These programs are on about a 4-6 hour delay so that the stations that carry them live don!t get poed.They also repeat throughout the day. There is an Audio Book Channel,all kinds of news,sports and every possible music format you could desire.The monthy fee is $9.99 and in my case I save considerably as my other(better) half no longer rents the audio tapes.We ran over 8000 miles in the last 3 weeks and the radio really helps to make life easier.I hope they manage to stay afloat as in todays USA Today they are loosing money big time.

 

[teacel]

Hi Rich, I didn't read the article in the USA, Did it say why, who, or how they are loosing money?

 

[Lawrence]

Rich,

That sounds fantastic. I ordered 2 Sony Plug and Play models directly from them in September. They had a $99 "friends and family special."

The downside is that I got a letter this month from XM saying that they would not arrive until sometime in December, strange thing was there was no phone number or address on the letter to respond to them - only an email address.

We have already paid for the radios so I hope they make it here.

Also, Tony the reason I read that they were losing money in the magazine Truck Topics was because they need 3 million subscribers to break even each month, buy they only have somewhere around 150,000.

 

[louixo]

The reason they are going broke, is because, not only do they need a couple million subscribers to survive, they also need capital infusion to service thier debt. XM and Sirius both are fighting to survive, and are signing up car manufacturers to include satellite capability in thier new models. FM radio started out the same way years ago. Most consumers are reluctant to cough up the equipment investment for something, when they can get the same service for free, from thier local radio stations. We road folk are a natural audience for obvious reasons. I think one of them will stay afloat, maybe both, as they were both projected and funded to take a loss for a few years.

 

[FJK1954]

you would think someone at xm would be smart enough to figure out the problem..its the initial cost...the public is use to companies ghiviung the equipment for "free"....just like the satellite t.v. does..i.e. direct-tv etc. ...then charge more for monthly service..thats how they make their millions!!! i bet you would pay $20 and so would alot of truckers...just look at the dishes paying 30 or more for t.v/!!}> by the way rich..who do you drive for...wish i could get those kind of runs!!:7

 

[Wild Bill]

I would imagine the reason they don't is because they haven't the capital to do it. Satellite companies were the same way at first, where you had to buy the hardware. It has only been since they caught on that they can now offer free equipment. It gets to a point where the service is more valuable than the equipment.

The downside with that is all these places that have free equipment, no matter what it is, computers, cell phone, dishes..etc is they make you sign a long term contract with more clauses than a shopping mall in December. Myself I would prefer to pay month to month with few "Hidden clauses" in the fine print.

I just hope they are managed better than Park and view was when they first started out.