Sirius Travelink and Ford Sync

Glamdring70

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I managed to resolve an issue with my Factory Nav today. This might be informational for other owners with factory Nav or potential buyers deciding if they want the option.

New Ford vehicles come with (I think?) a 3 month subscription to the Sirius music. Maybe 6 month? There is also a 5 year trial (i.e. free) plan for the Sirius Travelink. The Travelink is what powers the traffic info on the GPS, also nearby attraction info like parking, gas prices and movie times. It also gives road hazard or weather hazard information alerts. When using the system the other day, I noticed it wasn't working right. I had this happen before, from a Sync update that broke it. I didn't do a recent Sync update but I did the usual stuff like resetting the headunit and powering off the car outside in the clear to get it to update and work. Nada.

Went to my Sirius account on their site... Sirius turned off the Travelink. Called. Explanation given? When I cancelled the radio service in December, it also shut off the FIVE YEAR trial of Travelink. They were unwilling to restore the trial and told me I can give them $15 + $2/mo to turn the service back on. In other words, if I never called them about the radio. If I just drove the car and didn't interact with Sirius, the service works for 5 years after purchase. But because I called and killed the music, they shut it all off and refuse to put it back.

Sirius is just plain the worst, den of thieves. They make contacting them difficult and their policies and pricing is just downright anti-consumer. Worse than the shady cable company practices. So if you get the Ford built in Nav, keep in mind you have to deal with Sirius eventually. That really makes the system pointless over just using a navigation device or Carplay. Don't pay Sirius for it. Their entire business model is just tricking people to pay as much as they can. I doubt Ford can advocate for better treatment, but just using Carplay is the easiest course.
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PaulOinMA

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I had Sirius charging my credit card years ago even after canceling service. They are thieves, as you stated. Thousands of complaints against them.

I use Google maps with Android Auto. Superior to Ford NAV.
 

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Iā€™m one of the SiriusXM lucky subscribers, I bought the lifetime subscription for a few hundred $$ back in 2006 or so and managed to transfer that in 2016 to a Subaru (after many calls to Sirius customer service) and with the settled class action lawsuit, Sirius transferred my lifetime subscription to my bronco sport.

Then with the help of a software engineer at SiriusXM, the 5yr SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link was added back onto my account (because I have the Ford Navigation option).

So it can be done but requires much patience and perseverance with SiriusXM ā€¦ as OP stated the company is not always the easiest to work with.

https://www.lifetimesiriusxmsettlement.com/Home/Faq#faq5
 

Escape2Bronco

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I found out this last go around just calmly let them know you are no longer interested. It can all be done with chat. As @Barry S. says, at the end they will offer the 4.99 monthly fee assuming you have an actual desire. I do like it in the Lexus as it is older and doesnā€™t have CarPlay so taking trips is better IMHO. The agent actually thanked me for being so calm and patient. It helps using chat as itā€™s easier to stay calm at least for me.
 


PaulOinMA

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Is the playlist any longer now? I used to listen mostly to 80s on 8. I swear I heard Jump by Van Halen just about every time I turned it on.

I burned our CDs to my laptop and put music on flash drives for our vehicles. Over 7,000 items so far.
 
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Glamdring70

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Insist on their $5 per month subscription and let them know you won't settle for more. Takes a few minutes of negotiation but it's worked for me for years.
You can actually do a tad better than the $5 plan. There is a $5 offer with free all access upgrade. If you happen to have a car 2018 or older, they have a offer that gives you three years for $99 total. Hilariously, their new offer by mail is $5 plan for two years i.e. "we're such a hassle to work with you won't have to do it for an extra year!!"

The extra rub is that adding back a music subscription can not restore my Travelink plan. That plan is just gone. I could probably take the free activation on that $5 offer and then they would only want the $2/mo for the Travelink which is still worth almost nothing per month.

FWIW, I have never ever been able to cancel via chat. It has always required a call and an interminable wait with insufferable hold muzak. They're a music provider and their hold music is a 20 second loop made to sound static-y and fuzzy like your reception is bad. I know some people have used chat to completely cancel and I don't know why some can and some can't.

They toasted lifetime subscriptions a while ago. Here's the funny thing. Older radios used to be "on" all the time and the company was sending shutdown signals to those radios when the sub ran out. They changed the tech around so a radio is always "off" and requires a wake-up signal. If you have an older radio that didn't get hit by it's personalized, targeted shutdown signal, eventually the company gets bored sending the signal and it stays on permanently.
 

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The extra rub is that adding back a music subscription can not restore my Travelink plan. That plan is just gone. I could probably take the free activation on that $5 offer and then they would only want the $2/mo for the Travelink which is still worth almost nothing per month.
Travelink isnā€™t great but it can be restored for free if you have Ford Navigation with 5 year Travelink. Just need to get transferred to a SiriusXM software tech. Takes that person 2 minutes to update the database.
 

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Is the playlist any longer now? I used to listen mostly to 80s on 8. I swear I heard Jump by Van Halen just about every time I turned it on.

I burned our CDs to my laptop and put music on flash drives for our vehicles. Over 7,000 items so far.
Playlist isnā€™t long and I can see why listening to mostly a single station like 80s on 8 is repetitive but I have 26 of 30 presets set for SiriusXM stations so rarely get bored but when I just canā€™t take SiriusXM I have Apple Music plus music on my iPhone.

SiriusXM also works great where I go in Mexico and Canada. I get my moneys worth from the pay once - lifetime subscription .. 18 years and still going.
 
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Sleddog

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Had the same happen with my F250. Cancel Sirius and they killed my travelink. Called on complained. They restored it and discounted a years premium service for 49 bucks. We donā€™t use CarPlay. Too much of a hassle. Sirius works just fine for us. But we only listen to about 8 stations.
 


Bucko

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Two days before the free 2 month trial expired on the 2023 BS, we got a mailer from them stating they will extend service for $5.00 a month for 2 years. After that, you are billed $23.00 a month. All I'll have to do is cancel a month before, and then listen to them selling me another discounted package.

Been playing this game with them on other vehicles for years.
 

Flash

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Got the free 6 months, then opted to continue using the Veteran's discount.

Works well for me, easy to do and easy to deal with.
 

Escape2Bronco

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Is the playlist any longer now? I used to listen mostly to 80s on 8. I swear I heard Jump by Van Halen just about every time I turned it on.

I burned our CDs to my laptop and put music on flash drives for our vehicles. Over 7,000 items so far.
Depends on the station. I can drive 18 hours and may hear a few songs repeated on some stations and here another several time over on others. Same with disc jockeys, some station have them others not.
 

PaulOinMA

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Thinking about it more ...

I dropped Sirius years ago because of the very short playlists on channels I like. 80s on 8 for example. Just about always heard Jump by Van Halen whenever I listened.

Ordered an Escape last year. Came with a Sirius trial. Guess what one of the first songs I heard was. šŸ˜€
 

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ā€¦Just about always heard Jump by Van Halen whenever I listened.
Ordered an Escape last year. Came with a Sirius trial. Guess what one of the first songs I heard was. šŸ˜€
No need to guess!!

I had a friend that made a tape with 2 songs, Mandy (barry manilow) and one Snoop Dogg song and played it on a continuous loop for 15 hour road trip. I was lucky not to be on that trip and Iā€™ll never get in the same vehicle with him. Another friend plays only Rush in his vehicle or play news talk shows. Rest of my friends are normal lol.
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