# I'm an XM sub now.



## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I bought the XM Roady that was on Woot a few days ago. ($39 AR with 3 months free and free activation). I got it installed yesterday with no problems. I haven't decided who wins on the signal quality area yet simply because I haven't had enough time ot listen yet. First impressionn is that music sounds a bit better on Sirius, but voice (talk station) sounds a bit better on XM. Music seems more compressed (dynamic range, not digital). I was listening to 6 for a bit and couldn't STAND the DJ on there, I hope he's not the only one on the station. He sounds like he's talking through a mouth full of marbles. All his "s's" sound like "sh's". They seem to talk more on XM (at least on that station) and say absolutely nothing, including talking over the music. My favorite station on Sirius was "Underground Garage" where the DJ's actually talked about the music and the history behind the various bands (for the most part). I found that interesting, not the typical, this song is dedicated to.... bla bla bla. Obviously I have to give it a bit more time, as I am judging it on only two stations so far, I am sure I will find some stations that I like.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

I just 'wooted' the XM Roadie XT also -- it comes with two add-on chokes that I'm
instructed to affix to the antenna wire and the 5 volt power cord. I am considering
leaving them off for asthetic reasons. 

I'm asking you experienced XMers if you know of any undesirable effects that might
be expected without these external filters installed? I sure as heck don't want to kill
off any pacemaker patients as I innocently drive down the street!


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I've had XM for a couple of years now. I really enjoy the service and notice my wife has the "Blend" on Directv whenever she is working around the house.

My programming tastes are probably unusual but I listen to the 50's 60's and 70's, the Blend, Mix, Flight 26, Monsters in the Morning on Extreme, The Trucking Bozo on Open Road, and WLW for Cincinnati news (I grew up there). I also flip through the comedy and news channels.

I have an original Roady and a newer Audiovox unit. I have never seen the filters. I wonder if they are included now since the broadcasters got on XM's case about some receivers interfering with OTA FM?


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Welcome Richard and Nick to the XM Nation!

Richard, XM tries very hard to recreate the feel of the decade channels as if it was actually that decade. From the motormouth DJs, to the jingles, to the reverb mic, I wasn't alive in the '60s, but I have a pretty good idea of what radio sounded like back then thanks to XMs 60s on 60. I personally love it and think it gives the station a lot more life, Sirius’ 60s Vibrations seems dead to me. I love Phlash Phelps in the morning and Terry Young is great. Both of these guys have a lot of passion when it comes to what they do. That said, I’ll put my foot in my mouth and say my main home for Oldies is on Music Choice. I prefer the ~1955-~1975 playlist mix rather then just one decade, but I can’t take MC in the car with me, so XMs 60s station is the next best thing.

I feel quite the opposite. Other then a few exceptions, Sirius has the blabbermouth DJs, Madison on Alt Nation is annoying as hell, I don’t care about he skanky life, Kayla does not belong on Classic Rewind, and that guy on The Beat is..well…just f’ing weird. Quite a few of XMs channels don’t even have DJs or have DJs that are passionate about what they do and really add to the station. Trinity on Watercolors, Terry on The 60s, hell even Marlin on Enlighten is excellent and he doesn’t get too preachy. Other stations that I listen to like Big Tracks, Lucy and XM Chill don’t even have DJs at all. There’s a parttime DJ on The Message.

As far as sound quality my general observation is, after doing many A-B comparisons on both music and talk stations.

For music,
Sirius has more digital compression but more dynamic 
XM is less compressed but sounds more flat

For talk, they’re nearly identical. I can put on any of the talk stations both XM and Sirius have and notice no difference. 

Nick, all the ferrets do is reduce the power of the FM modulator in order to make it ‘FCC Compliant’ if you use the built in FM modulator, my advice would be not to install them, I have a Roady XT from when they first came out last December, the power of the FM modulator is incredible, and by far the best sounding satellite radio receiver I’ve owned (7 thus far) so like I said if you use the FM mod, don’t neuter it and just put the ferrets where they belong, in the garbage. 

That said wireless FM modulation is the worst way to listen to satellite radio, if you the best sound quality, use a direct hardwired connection. If your cars headunit does not have an auxiliary input, you can buy aux input adaptors. I bought a dual Aux input adaptor to allow me to have hardwired connections for both XM and Sirius. I disconnected my factory 6 disc CD changer, plugged one end of the adaptor into there, then connected each satellite radio receiver and can switch between the two inputs like I’d switch between different disc. 

Both XM and Sirius. My listening goes something like this.

XM is for The 60s, The 80s, Big Tracks, Bone Yard, BPM, Enlighten, Flight 26, Hear Music, Liquid Metal, Lucy, Squizz, The Message, Watercolors, X Country, America Right, NHL Home Ice, Old Time Radio, XM Comedy. I listen to Opie & Anthony when I get a chance.

Sirius is for The Beat, Buzzsaw, Classic Rewind, Hard Attack, Octane, Prime Country, Revolution, Super Shuffle, NFL Radio, Playboy Radio, Raw Dog, Sirius Patriot. I will also occasionally listen to Howard or Bubba.

On both I enjoy Fox News, Fox News Talk, Laura Ingram and Mark Levin. I miss Michael Savage and the John & Jeff Third Shift Show.

Music Choice is for the stuff neither XM or Sirius has like Party Favorites, Solid Gold Oldies and Sounds of the Season.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Steve, I couldn't help but notice that your personal taste in music has broadened -- considerably!


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> If your cars headunit does not have an auxiliary input, you can buy aux input adaptors. I bought a dual Aux input adaptor to allow me to have hardwired connections for both XM and Sirius. I disconnected my factory 6 disc CD changer, plugged one end of the adaptor into there, then connected each satellite radio receiver and can switch between the two inputs like I'd switch between different disc.


I have been searching the net for such an adaptor for my Hyundai Santa Fe with no luck. I have a head unit with a switch for the CD changer, but no changer installed, hence, no cable. Any idea where I can get such a cable (with the right logic built in) for my car. I bot one a while back that I thought would work, but all it did was blow a fuse. The one I bot was made for an Infinity brand car stereo. It had the right connector, but not the right logic.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> Sirius is for The Beat, Buzzsaw, Classic Rewind, Hard Attack, Octane, Prime Country, Revolution, Super Shuffle, NFL Radio, Playboy Radio, Raw Dog, Sirius Patriot. I will also occasionally listen to Howard or Bubba.


Check out the "Underground Garage" sometime. You might like it for the variety and the education.


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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

Thanks to Richard King for posting the Roady Woot! recently -- I am now the
newest and probably the _eldest_ XMer kid on the block, and I installed it myself.
It was so easy I did it with one hand!


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Yes Nick, satellite radio does that for a lot of people.  Three years ago if someone told me I'd be listening to anything but Liquid Metal, Squizz and Bone Yard and that anything included Southern Gospel I'd slap them silly 

Richard, I purchased my adapter from Circuit City. It’s branded 'USA Spec Aux Interface' and comes in an orange box. All the cables you need are provided for you. There is a silver colored unit that has two sets of RCA inputs on one side and a proprietary connector on the other side. A cable gets plugged into there from the back of the head unit. These things do require power, so you have to disconnect the power from the headunit and it runs through a pass through. It cost me $80, if you only want one set of RCA Ins I'm not sure what they cost. It was pretty simple to install, the hardest part was getting the factory radio out  

One thing, with my Roady XT I was experiencing some wicked electronic noise, the Sirius Starmate Replay was fine. After replacing everything, including going to WalMart and getting another Roady XT, which was returned, I went to RatShack and purchased a ground loop isolator for $18 that solved my problem. Others have experienced the samething with the Roady XT so just a heads up. 

So now I have to ask, are you going to keep XM and ditch Sirius, keep Sirius and ditch XM or become a dualy? 

I'm listening to Sirius 25 right now, pretty good stuff thus far.

So guys what are you listening to on XM so far?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> Richard, I purchased my adapter from Circuit City. It's branded 'USA Spec Aux Interface' and comes in an orange box.


They don't seem to have one for my car there. I have tried bunches of places with no luck for my model car. Hyundai will only provide it with a cd changer, which I don't need. If I could find a source (or a diagram of what's in the encased part of the cable) I would buy it or build it. I need a cable with an 8 pin Din connector to the appropriate audio connector(s). The cable I bot is like this:


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Well, I found the pin-out specification for the 8 pin DIN connector that I have at the end of the cable. I also found the Hyundai pin connection specification here: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44453 I have taken the module on the cable apart and found that there is no "logic" built into the module, simply an audio-r, audio-l and ground going through from the mini stereo plug soldered to three of the pins on the DIN connector. In theory, I should be able to take it apart and resolder to the proper pins and have it work. I will probably blow up my car in the process, but I will give it a try in the next few days, if I can find my soldering iron.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Cool, hope this one works for you Richard


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I ruined one 8 pin din connector from having too hot a soldering iron. The local electronics shop only had one left so I bot it and took it to a television repair shop to have them solder it up. I will have it back today and try it out. What this will do for me is allow me to plug into the CD Changer input on my head unit so that with I push the CDC button on the front panel of the head unit XM will play through the system. No need for FM modulation or cassette adaptor. Not bad, if it works. 

By the way, I just noticed your previous question and I will be XM only for at least the six months that I am required to have it per rebate terms. I do miss Underground Garage though.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

For those who Wooted the other day, here's a good deal on the home kit:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3371665


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

That's a good deal considering I paid $23 with shipping just for the Roady XT remote from Amazon last week. I was using the remote from my original SkyFi for the longest time, but back in the summer when I nailed the skunk and had to leave my truck outside overnight, we had a lot of dew and the saturation killed the remote.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Well, I got my home kit today and while I am currently an XM sub, once my six months are up I am out of here. The audio quality is even worse than I suspected it would be when listening through decent speakers. There is minimal, if any, channel separation. There are no highs, no lows. Sure, I expected a good rendition of '60's music, but I didn't expect to get thrown into the wayback machine and have to listen to the AM radio band that I had to back then. The quality of this thing is horrendous and totally unacceptable. If I hadn't committed to the 6 months I would send it back TODAY. All I can say is :barf: Too bad, I was really looking forward to this. Anyone want to buy a home kit? This is going to be relegated to car only use where the sound created by the car covers up some of the many flaws in the quality of this thing. I had no such problems with Sirius, I am using the exact same cables going into my equipment, I simply unplugged the audio cable from Sirius and plugged it into the XM receiver.


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## obrienj (Oct 31, 2006)

Richard King said:


> I ruined one 8 pin din connector from having too hot a soldering iron. The local electronics shop only had one left so I bot it and took it to a television repair shop to have them solder it up. I will have it back today and try it out. What this will do for me is allow me to plug into the CD Changer input on my head unit so that with I push the CDC button on the front panel of the head unit XM will play through the system. No need for FM modulation or cassette adaptor. Not bad, if it works.
> 
> By the way, I just noticed your previous question and I will be XM only for at least the six months that I am required to have it per rebate terms. I do miss Underground Garage though.


Richard,

Could you provide a more complete wiring diagram for the cable you built. Being one who tends to get more solder on his fingers than on the wires, the detail would be most helpful.

Jim


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I built it, but it doesn't work. There is some logic required that tells the head unit that the cd changer is there. I am still trying to find out how to get around this problem, but so far no luck. NO ONE sells an aux adaptor that works in Hyundai and I can get no info from the place where I bot the car. I think my problem is unique to the Hyunda as I can find adaptors for nearly all other cars. I even spoke to some of the accessory car companies and they couldn't tell me why the don't have one for Hyundai. I SUSPECT that Hyundai may make their own radios for the car that uses their own system of communication between the head unit and the CD changer.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Re the quality problem, i have emailed XM support. I will keep you all informed on what, if anything, I hear back.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Wow I have no problems with XMs sounds quality, other then like everything, it could be better. I gave my general thoughts on each providers sound quality above, like I said to me they’re both different, but neither sounds better or worse then the other. For the best sound on satellite radio check out 76 or 113. The two XMHD channels are allotted a lot more bandwidth then regular channels, too bad they play nothing that I want to hear.


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

I Love XM i would never get rid of it 

In 2 weeks on november 15th is when i started listening to xm on directv then i joined on december 31st 2005 i wanted sirius but i got xm cuz best buy was out and there was no way i was leaving best buy empty handed


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I have not heard a peep back from XM at this point. I may cut them off before my 6 months is up.



> neither sounds better or worse then the other.


Then I obviously have a defective XM unit beacause there is a night/day difference between my current XM and my former Sirius. XM is actually painful to listen to if you enjoy quality. :barf:


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Here's the deal with my unit. I have no clarity in the highs. I have muddy bass. I have zero channel separation. In listening to it on my HT system if I have it in any surround mode 90% comes out the center channel, just as it does with all mono sources. Frequency wise it sounds like AM (if that good) with no static. Going to 76 (Blind Faith - "Can't Find My Way Home" is playing, a song that I am VERY familiar with) I have a distinct left channel, a center channel and barely any right channel. All channels are distorted. All channels are unlistenable for music, both in the car and at home. If I were one to use four letter words, this would be the appropriate place to insert such. Cousin B. B. just came on and he is also distorted.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I have Fine Tuning on right now and heard just what you did, Cross My Heart by BB. Cat Stevens is on now. Both sound excellent to me. Better then anything else on satellite radio. Watercolors and Here Music are also pretty good. I've also noticed most of the action on most stations is out of the center channel, but it really doesn't bother me.

Just switched over to smooth jazz. Comparing Channel 71 on XM, Watercolors to channel 71 on Sirius, Jazz Cafe, XM is more bass responsive and there's more action out of the rear channels. I notice almost zero digital compression artifacts on either.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> I've also noticed most of the action on most stations is out of the center channel


That would be a deal killer for me if that is there standard. If I wanted mono I would get in the way back machine and tune it for 1960.  Do you have a strong right (or left) signal on 71? 71 right now is so distorted it is painful to listen to.

I still haven't heard anything back from XM's "Customer Care" people.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I just called Delphi and got an RA number. It will go back to them on Monday and they will send me a new unit.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

It seems like it, but honestly I can’t tell. If one channel is more clearer and powerful then the other it’s not by much. I’ve listened carefully to both channels 71s (still find it odd both services have their smooth jazz stations on the same number). My home theater receiver is over 5 years old now so it’s not the latest and greatest. Sound modes include Stereo, 3 Stereo and Surround/Pro Logic, same result with all three.

There’s a soft R&B tune on Sirius 71 right now, most of the audio is out of the center, for actual contemporary jazz the audio is out of all three front channels, but doesn’t sound as rich as XM 71. My mother just walked in and I wanted to do an A/B comparison between XM and Sirius, accidentally wound up hit the wrong button on the remote and selected my cable box instead of the SkyFi 2. According to the not so well trained ear of my mother, Contemporary Jazz on cable gets the win (and I agree)


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> If one channel is more clearer and powerful then the other it's not by much.


You would notice it, it's a night and day difference in levels with mine.


> According to the not so well trained ear of my mother, Contemporary Jazz on cable gets the win


Actually, female types generally have better better hearing than male types, so I would take her word for it. :lol:


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Richard King said:


> Actually, female types generally have better better hearing than male types, so I would take her word for it. :lol:


Great now I have to add DBSTalk to the lists of sites blocked from the IP of the computer she uses. I don't want her to read that think she's actually right about something 

I wanted to post this yesterday, but both computers were being reformatted so and I didn't feeling like tapping out another post on my Pocket PC. 

Last night I did the same comparison between XM and Sirius but on the Christian Contemporary stations. Channel 32, The Message on XM and channel 66 Spirit on Sirius. The results were quite the opposite. In every situation, Sirius 66 had a more rich sound and audio coming out the front three channels, the center was more powerful, left and right were slightly less but about equal. The rears were active as well, but each maybe had 5% of the sound. As opposed to The Message, which came mostly out of the center channel, some audio out of the L and R, but not much matrixing going on in the rears at all.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I just dropped my unit off at the post office. It will be to Delphi in 3 days. I hope they rush it back to me. XM FINALLY answered my email this morning, after I had made arrangements to send it in. They told me to try another FM frequency :lol: or to boost the level.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Gotta love the helpfulness of tech support


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Well, I got my replacement today.  However, I haven't gotten it to work yet. I have it plugged into the home kit and all 3 bars are lit. I am listening to ch. 1 with no problem. I get all the barkers, meaning all is well with the radio. The first young lady I spoke to had a hard time with the ID number, which has 2 "J"s in it. She kept reading it back phonetically and saying George for the J letter. I finally realized she was not saying George, but, being in the Phillipines, Jorges. Once we got that straightened out she sent the signal and nothing happened for over an hour. I just called back again. Still waiting.

By the way, I REFUSE to speak to a computer named Caitlyn, or any other name for that matter.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

After much effort it works. Audio is 100% better. "Good" left/right channel separation, although not as good as on the original music that I am familiar with. Frequency response is MUCH improved. I actually have some highs and lows.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Well, the battle goes on with them... 
They are trying to bill me a $15.38 "activation fee" for the radio that was defective. I sent them an email a month ago to cancel the charge. I got another bill today for the same amount threatening to interrupt my programming. I sent them back the following email....

Below find my email to you from last month. Today I received another billing from you, this one threatening to shut off my service, that still has the $15.38 charge on it. Once again, cancel this charge as it is not valid. If I DO get cut off I WILL NOT return and will consider myself no longer obligated to fulfill the 3 months paid service that I agreed to. I have no problem returning to Sirius as I really miss the "Underground Garage" and have found nothing that you carry that compares. I do NOT talk to computers and pressing "0" did not get me to a human. If you want to discuss this, and you are a real human, feel free to call me at ***-***-****. A real human (me) will answer.

Richard King, former Sirius customer, now XM customer wondering why I ever bought shares of XM stock.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email protected]>
To: <**********@comcast.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 7:28 AM
Subject: RE: Billing [******************]

> Dear Richard,
> Thank you for contacting XM Satellite Radio. We apologize for the inconvenience you faced with the automated system, please bear in mind that you can always dial zero to speak immediately to a live person. Upon reviewing your account we've seen that radio id ' ********** ' is active on a 3 month free trial and radio id ' ******** ' was activated before and this is what you are being $15.38 for.

I should not be getting charged $15.38 for ANYTHING. Cancel the charge. The first radio was under the same promotion.

> 
> 
> > 
> 
> On November 25, 2006 at 5:39 PM, ********@comcast.net wrote:
> 
>>First Name: Richard
>>Last Name: King
>>Email Address: **********@comcast.net
>>Message Body: I am not going to "talk" to your computer no matter what you name it. If this is a problem I will take my business elsewhere.
>>
>>Re: Account # *-**********
>>I received 3 bills in the mail today. None are correct.
>>
>>Statement Date: 11/18/2006
>>I received a bill for $15.38 for an unidentified radio.
>>Also Statement Date: 11/18/2006
>>For radio *********** I received a bill for $15.38.
>>Statement Date: 11/19/2006
>>For radio ---------------- I received a bill for $15.38.
>>
>>The first radio above was defective and replaced by the second radio. I cancelled the account after three of your people couldn't get the second radio to take an activation hit. I spent about 4 hours trying to get it activated with no luck, so I said to just cancel the account and I would go back to Sirius. Eventually someone there contacted me by telephone and they were able to activate the radio. It appears that the replacement had been on another account and had not been removed from that account, and so, wouldn't activate on a second account.
>>
>>It appears that the charges are "Connection Fees". I was under a promotion which included no connection fees. Promotion code for 3 months free is: ------------. Promotion code for free activation is: **********.
>>
>>Please make the necessary changes to my billing (cancel the billings). If this is going to be a problem YOU call ME at ***-***-**** anytime between 8:00AM to 11:00PM EST. If I don't hear from anyone I will assume this has been fixed.
>>
>>XM Subscriber: yes
>>Account Number: *-**********
>>
> 
>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

In the FWIW dept., XM has a special promotion for current DirecTV customers only. If one signs up by December 31, 2006, you can get the Roady for $19 + shipping, with only a 6-month subscription required. The Roady includes everything needed to install it in your car.

This promo was sent to DirecTV customers in early December. I got a new vehicle in November and thanks to this promo, I took the plunge and got XM. What made it great for me is that my vehicle has a cassette player. (How antiquated, huh?) I should be thankful that this auto has the cassette player, because listening to my XM through that is FAR superior to FM modulation. Truthfully, I am VERY satisfied with my XM sound quality. I canNOT tell the difference between my car's regular FM stereo and XM via that adapter. 

Hey, for $19, this thing was a steal IMHO.

FYI, I received the exact same promotion from two other sources, one of which was from the Chicago White Sox to all their loyal fans (I'm a White Sox Pride Fan Club member, or something like that). They sent Emails to all their registered fans offering the EXACT deal, but for, get this: $99! An $80 difference. Yikes! I'm glad I clicked on the DirecTV Email link to XM.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Well, the saga continues. They billed me again this month for the $15.38. More emails are flying back and forth as this goes on. I copied my latest email to [email protected], hoping that maybe his office will be as responsive as Charlie's office is when they mess up. I'm not holding my breath though.


> Hey, for $19, this thing was a steal IMHO.


That's a fine deal if your first radio works properly.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Isn't your three month free service up, so wouldn't you be billed regular rate for it starting now and if satellite radio is taxed and at a high rate in Fla, wouldn't $15 and change be about right?


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Nope, the bill listed it as a past balance. The first bill had it as an early cancel fee of $20.00 with a $6 something credit plus tax making the $15.38.


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## Bobby94928 (May 12, 2003)

I had a similar situation. I jumped for the free radio deal for existing customers last month. All I had to do is to pay, in advance, the $6.99 monthly charge for an extra radio, plus shipping. My credit card was debited the correct amount and the radio arrived. I put it in my wife's car and all was well. I was looking at my credit card balances with my online banking and noticed a charge to XMRadio for $70. Hmmm..., I said. I wonder what that is for. I went into my XM account online and the billing was there, but it wasn't accessible at that time. A week later I went back in and it showed an early cancellation fee. I got on the phone and, with a large amount of frustration, I talked with a CSR about this charge. She said it was because I cancelled a radio. I told her that I obviously didn't cancel a radio because I showed all 3 as working on their computer. She put me on hold to talk to her supervisor. She came back and said that the $70 charge would be canceled. I've been watching my credit account and haven't seen that charge reversed. So, I go into my XM account again and now I see that I have a negative balance for $70 on my account. At this point, I'm gonna leave it at that because I have one of my radios, which I pay annually, coming up due. What a way to run an airline......


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

:lol: I just got a call from Hugh Panero's office. They are going to credit my account for the $15.38 and get things in sync time wise. I'll believe it when I see the next bill. It looks, though, that [email protected] is the way to wake someone up there. Before I let the young lady hang up I asked if she was from Huge's office or from the CSR area. She said this had been forwarded to her from Huge's office.


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