Signal Issues Plague Northeast XM Subscribers
There is very little information available, but XM Satellite Radio subscribers in the Northeast may be experiencing problems with their satellite radio signals. At just before 4:00 PM Eastern time, my XM SkyDock flashed me a message that there was an error, and my service simply stopped.
A call to XM Radio’s customer service confirmed that the Boston area is having repeater and signal problems. At first I was told to remove and re-install my SkyDock application. This was soon accomplished, but alas, still no XM Radio. The representative stated that the problem may exist for a few hours.
A subsequent call confirmed the signal problems, and the news seemed to get worse. The second representative stated that the problem could last between 24 and 48 hours. Customers who are experiencing signal problems should call customer service to inform them of your issue. Personally, I had them notate my account. Likely some sort of credit will be applied when the issue is resolved.
Readers, please assist in determining the scale of this issue by commenting with your location.
Position – Long Sirius XM
1.) Northeast resident. I have had no such problem(s) with my XM service. None.
2.) Suggestion A: Take this “article” down and place it in the forums where it properly belongs.
3.) Suggestion B: Go back to the drawing board and write a new article about JD Power and the seasonally adjusted auto sales estimates for March.
Thank You.
A major outage in a major city belongs in the forums?
Suggestion for you…..YOU WRITE THE ARTICLE
It appears auto sales will be strong, but there is still 25% of the month to go. I keep track of it, and will write about it when the data is more solid.
ok, point taken . . . just saying that, while of course frustrating, an outage in Boston, which is expected to be of limited duration, lacks news appeal in light of the other headlines . . .
I still think you could write a balanced article with the appropriate caveats, since the oem channel is the primary (and at this point dare I say only) driver of subs, while the topic is at least timely and newsworthy?
But I still love ya bro . . now come over here and lets hug-it-out.
And stop calling up XM every 5 minutes and wasting their time over there . . they’re very busy making money for stockholders – the time you spent on hold you could have Blackberried-in the revised auto #’s story – now get back to work . . . lol
Wonderdich Securities is reading your signal-outage story right now and trying to figure out how they can spin it into a downgrade – which they won’t call a downgrade, or will they?
And the street dot com . . . Jimmy’s probably got somebody over there right now penning a piece that a satellite just crashed.
No worries…..
When it was a 4 to 6 hour issue, it would be an inconvenience. When I was told it was a 24 to 48 hour issue, that is newsworthy. As I write this response, it is 1:00 AM. The “no service” is now 9 hours old.
Boston is a a top 10 radio market. That also makes it newsworthy. I have to cover it all…..good, bad, or ugly.
Woooo Spencer, everyone will cancel and smash their radios. The headline is a little over the top.
I doubt there will be a wave of cancellations, but as the issue continues, subs will be frustrated.
and so what, 2 days ? shit happens with all services from time to time.
So what? People want to know what is going on. We get more emails concerning outages then anything else, hands down.
Mine crapped out Sat. 3-20-2010 in the afternoon. “No Signal” in both my car and home docking station.
Customer service says that my Delphi – Roady XT is old and that I need an upgrade. They are offering XM Onyx for a deep 85% discount @ $19.95
Sounds fishy.
Neither my Delphi XM SKYi1 nor my SIRIUS XM onlyXM are getting a signal. I have changed the antenna from the Delphi Satellite Radio antenna to the SIRIUS XM magnetic mount antenna. I try each unit with each antenna – no signal. I’m south facing with a clear shot over Nantucket Sound – no obstructions!!! I’ve received a clear signal here for years and suddenly, no signal.
They are right ‘Spence’…………..let’s not give the enemy any potential ammo……………..;)
I didn’t give the “ammo”. The outage did.
I agree with Spencer. I think this is newsworthy. Any type of outage is bad, and it’s good for Sirius XM to feel a little pain from their customers on this. It will inspire them to put measures in place to prevent it from happening again.
At the same time, I wouldn’t overplay this. It’s a local problem that didn’t impact me at all on the west coast. Someone probably tripped over plug!
Throughout the month of March 2010 I have had no signal, or very weak signal in the Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland vicinity. I have had XM service for 5 years and never experience such poor signal strength.
On May 17, 2010 I replaced the GPS antenna. That fixed the problem with “no signal” reception. For the past 9 days the reception has been excellent. Apparently, the preceding two months of poor-to-no reception was caused by this failed antenna.
I have had problems since 4/16 in the Chicago area with my XM in the car. Nothing is different with my set-up: I just started getting a “no signal” message on the screen whereas I normally only get that message during really bad storms with heavy cloud cover. I figured it was due to unusual solar activity or something like that.
I live just south of Washington DC. I have a 2011 Camry with XM Radio plus. In late March through now (late Apr) i have regular – near constant “No Signal.” It worked great for 2 weeks prior. I called XM Radio Customer Service and was ignored. I was told must be my radio problem. My signal comes in and out every few seconds. Sometimes I have a good signal for a time. Locations are not in areas of tall buildings.
I have had problems with both my Sirius units here in the DC area the past few months. One is in my husband’s vehicle and the other is in my vehicle. They used to work GREAT! Now, every little, baby underpass I go under…signal lost… I NEVER used to have this happen. Both my husband and I only get 2 bars of strength anymore….never the usual three. These are two completely different units….one is a ‘stand alone’ unit and one is a head unit.
Sirius/XM – GET ON THE BALL! My subscription comes up for renewal towards the end of the year…but I won’t be renewing something that won’t stay consistently on.
I live in Alabama and have been having issues with weak signals/no signals in clear areas. I also have a unit at my desk in my office and have had full signals for the past 4 years. Recently been getting 1 bar, today is no signal at all. What is going on with that company?
I’ve been having signal problems in Syracuse the past two days. I called support, apparently there is a problem with the signal from Brooklyn and Buffalo.
There been problems with the signal in the Pittsburgh area since beginning of March and all I get is when I call customer service is that they are working on the problem and waiting for parts to come in. SDo I cancelled my service I have an Ipod I can listen to.
We have been experiencing serious reception problems with both of the XM receivers in our cars. We live in Florida. Anyone else here having this problem?
I’m NW of Philly and also have been having spotty reception at best for the past month or so. It seems to drop out completely around late morning. Some afternoons I can pick it back up, sometimes i can’t. It’s really frustruating.
I’ve been periodically searching the internet for several months looking for discussions about XM reception problems without much luck, until finding this. Thanks for posting.
I live inside the Washington DC beltway and have suddenly (for several months) been having a terrible time getting reception in my home with my XM SkyFi, even with the antenna placed outside on a south-facing window ledge. I use the same unit in my vehicle and it works great there, though I have noticed a few more dropouts than I used to (about six on a six hour trip instead of one, so not a big deal there).
The in-home problem is driving me crazy as I’ll get decent reception for a few songs, then suddenly it drops in and out for a few minutes. This never used to happen.
When running the SkyFi in diagnostic mode I can tell that I’m getting no satellite signal at all at home, even with the antenna outside on a south facing window ledge. When I do get reception at home it’s exclusively from terrestrial repeaters. This didn’t use to be the case. I used to be able to get satellite reception in the south facing window.
I know a new XM satellite is being launched this fall so I’m hoping that’s going to fix the problem.
I have a lifetime subscription, so no hope for me on any money back and cancelling my subscription would only hurt me, not Sirius XM.
Here’s some additional information that Sirius XM filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2010:
“Among the significant factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements are:
…
the useful life of our satellites, which have experienced component failures including, with respect to a number of satellites, failures on their solar arrays, and, in certain cases, are not insured;”
from: http://files.shareholder.com/d.....filing.pdf
I’m in Southern Arizona, and I’ve been experiencing XM drop outs and intermittant signals for a few weeks now. The other interesting phenomenom is that where the XM signal has been strong for years, and the Sirius non-existant (like in a tunnel), it’s just the opposite now. I suspect that Peter is finally being robbed to pay Paul…
well. I will be the the lone person who has not ever had signal problems. My service is excellent with under the bridge momentary problem. Live in Tennessee, satellite launch successful, problem will be solved.
I live in Northern Virginia and have been experiencing XM dropouts at home for months. Today I did some checking of the indicators on my radio and noted that I was receiving satellite signals and a terrestrial signal fine during the day, but tonight only terrestrial, no satellite. Are XM’s satellites only producing signal when the sun’s available to power the solar arrays? Have their battery systems failed?
New York XM is out of service as of about and hour ago eastern time.
Spotty now appears to be improving in NY
XM and cloud cover do not mix well. That means 1-the carrier frequency is too high (which in turn causes it to be deflected by water vapor), or 2-the power out is too low and weak to penetrate the water vapor. Some CPA can tell which part is cheaper to run. I am guessing that a lower power level is more “cost effective” (i. e., cheap). If you pay for a service, and do not object or expect a proportional recompense for the lack thereof, where is the financial incentive to improve (i. e., pay more) for an improved power out wattage from the satellite? Econ 101, folks.
My signal in Milford Pa area is suddenly poor.
I live in va and I am having service interruptions on a few channels. Boneyard is the worst every few mins it has a skip. Anyone having this problem???????
Jeff, same here and its really getting annoying. Calling customer support gets you nowhere. The robot CSR’s try to reauthorize your unit because they think you are telling thm that the unit is not working. Worthless.. DO you know others that this is happening to also. We need to get together on this. Strength in Numbers!
Im from Massachusetts and this brief signal drop, (similar to a vinyl record skip) happens on all three of my Sirius units, my neighbors and coworkers. It seems to have started after the recent channel lineup shift. It happens usually 4-5 times (or more) in an hour on all channels so Im 100% certain it is their issue. None the less they need to correct it asap or offer a credit. I’m considering filing a class action suit against them for breach of contract, and the inability to deliver the signal without these regular “hiccups” in the signal transmission. I mean come on we are paying for this!
I am a XM subscriber from Massachusetts and I have noticed that over the last weeks that instances of “hiccups” are occuring on a regular basis. I agree that the problem seemed to have developed after the channel shift. I am wondering if anyone has had any luck resolving this issue
I listen to XM both in my car, factory installed with radio, and online at home & work.
For the past month or so I’ve been having FREQUENT, althought very brief, signal issues. Music cuts out probably less than a second, but it happens multiple times per hour. Like another poster, I noticed this cropped up after their channel realignment. I live in Milwaukee, WI.
Long time XM listener. Listen in suburbs of Boston Ma and in Boston, MA. Have 2 receivers, BOTH are absolutely horrible the past 7+ months or so. Have never had such bad signals. I cant even listen to it, cuts in and out so much.Havnt contacted xm yet, will soon. Hate to give up my xm, but refuse to pay for something I can’t use.
I have been having reception problems with my satellite radio (sirius Xm) for the past months. After a year of great reception all of a sudden i dropped to one bar and occasionally two. Many drop outs.
While traveling across country in Lincoln, NE at approx. 11:45 AM CT my Sirius Satellite reception was interrupted for 1 hour. Was this a scheduled outage? Never had this happen before in travels to east and west U.S states as well as Alaska in the past 2 years of service.
Sirius XM has very poor coverage in the Greater Danbury area of Connecticut. I can drive in a 20 mile radius, literally in a circle and the reception goes from bad to worse to NO SIGNAL. Repeated calls to Customer Service yield zero improvement. Does the Company have the means to adjust or fine tune repeaters to help areas such as mine?
I live 20 mins south of Boston (Hull/Hingham area) and the reception has been horrible…I am seriously thinking of cancelling my subscription. Is anyone else from this area having similar problems with theri Sirius service? Does anyone have a solution and/or advice on what to do? Thanks.
I haven’t noticed any issues and I live in Braintree and drive through Hingham all the time.
I have had problems for almost a week now with signal problems. Since last Monday’s service outage, my radio both at home and in the car have the acquiring signal message on the screen. One would think that after 4 or 5 days, it would have found it.
I’m in Asheville NC and have issues with my home system generating gaps in transmission similar to gaps in a tape or skips in a record. These gaps are intermittent and inconsistent. Any idea as to what is the cause/is there a cure?
my xm radio has been cutting in and out since July 2nd. My location is Hamilton On. canada
I have used my XM radio on the road, in the house in Phoenix and in the house in Laguna Beach and the signal is intermittent in all 3 places. This is a satellite signal and reception issues should not be as frequent as they might be with a regular FM signal.
Hi from Boston. For 3 or 4 days got the dreaded no signal in my Genesis. Called XM. They tried to update my radio software, sent a refresh signal, and are going to give me an 8 day credit. The good news? Maybe it will be fixed within 8 days. The bad news? What if it isn’t? Love my XM, not sure what I’ll do without it. Oh! The tech said I should bring it to my dealership. There goes a ton of money. I’ll wait it out a bit I guess