Sirirus XM Canceled

[Dude]

So, the advice is if you have factory Nav you should NOT activate Sirius Radio unless you want to pay for it until you sell the car, otherwise you lose the connected services features. Is that right?

Question: what do you mean by “connected services” and are you referring to the 5 year SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link access (which are SiriusXM features).

There are scenarios where someone with Ford Nav may want to enable the free 3 month SiriusXM trial knowing they will (actually is may) lose their 5 year SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link access at the end of the trial period.

An owner with Ford Nav may decide that SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link (which are SiriusXM features) are not something they care to use and can enjoy the free 3 month SiriusXM trial.

An owner with Ford Nav having an existing SiriusXM account (paid or lifetime free account) may want to “upgrade” to the all access SiriusXM provided with the 3 month free trial then revert back to their existing paid or lifetime free account at the end of the 3 month period. That owner will not lose their 5 year SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link access at the end of the trial period but will need to contact SiriusXM to re-enable SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link access for the remainder of the 5 year term.

More information is on this Post:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/sirius-travelink-and-ford-sync.9082/

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[Escape2Bronco]

Sirius is $5/month and worth every dollar.

I like it as well. We like to travel and drive when we can. If you allow it to stop, at some point they work pretty hard to get you back. If you hold off long enough, you can get it for 2.99 a month for three years and no automatic renewal.

 

[Mark S.]

Question: what do you mean by “connected services” and are you referring to the 5 year SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link access (which are SiriusXM features).

Yes, that's what I meant. These services are still working on the Wife's 2020 Escape; we never made contact with Sirius. I get that there are other reasons for enabling the trial; my point was that if you want to be sure you keep the services you can simply ignore any correspondence from Sirius.

 

[Glamdring70]

So, the advice is if you have factory Nav you should NOT activate Sirius Radio unless you want to pay for it until you sell the car, otherwise you lose the connected services features. Is that right?

Accurate.
Note you could opt to buy a connected services plan to go with the music plan. It's not cheap. CarPlay is the better option.

 

[coopny]

I will say honestly I'm not sure why anybody would subscribe to Sirius directly. There are exceptions of course: People who traverse extremely rural areas where there's zero cell reception or poor cellular reception regularly are a prime target, as are the car dependent. The BS is marketed for off-road use which could involve areas with zero cellular reception too, but I'm more inclined to rely on a service with offline playlists like Spotify at that point given how expensive SiriusXM is at retail rates.

(Yes they will give you teaser offers, but eventually as you continue taking teaser offers, their system starts ratcheting up what it will offer you. First it can start as as cheap as $4-$5/mo for 1-2 years, then the system may decide it won't offer you a rate less than $8/mo, then $10/mo...)

To me, when in areas with good cellular reception, I use Carplay/Android Auto with Spotify or Pandora streaming. When in areas with bad/no reception, I use spotify offline playlists, and find great comfort in having the built-in Sync 3 nav with satellite traffic from Sirius if I'm truly stuck. I'd never pay for the satellite traffic given how infrequently I use it and that, eventually, the Sync3 nav would guide me back to an area with cellular data.

Even if you enjoy Sirius stations and would subscribe, so long as you are not on limited cellular data, the music quality is *far far better* on the mobile app, and unless you're really worried about access in limited/no cellular zones, a way to keep the 5 years of complimentary sat traffic/info clean of cancellation is to just subscribe to Sirius as internet instead of against your Ford radio. Sirius satellites average 16kbps for talk and 48kbps for music... in contrast, what Apple sold you in 2001 on iTunes as "CD Quality" was 128kbps.

(I could get in a boring lecture, but while SiriusXM as a company for programming joined together a long time ago, SiriusXM operates separate satellites for Sirius and XM receivers. XM uses a better codec [Modified HE-AAC] vs Sirius [PAC] and in addition, most music channels get 64kbps on Sirius. Both fall short of the variable bitrate offered on the SiriusXM mobile app which is generally 128kbps-256kbps.)

 

[Dude]

Love SiriusXM!! Works very well including where I travel to in Mexico and Canada. Been a subscriber since ~2006 and in my 3rd vehicle.

 

[Mark S.]

When in areas with bad/no reception, I use spotify offline playlists, and find great comfort in having the built-in Sync 3 nav with satellite traffic from Sirius if I'm truly stuck.

Regarding traffic, it seems to me if you are in an area without cell reception you likely don't need traffic info. Regarding streaming media, I listen mostly to podcasts and audiobooks these days, and I have my app set to automatically download the lasted episode of those I'm subscribed to. As far as music, I have amassed an MP3 collection over the years (from various sources) totaling +40,000 songs. At 5-minutes per song, that's 3000+ hours of listening time. I stream to listen to new stuff, but if I'm out of cell range I listen to the golden oldies in my collection.

 

[RDS40]

I took all the Sirius presets off my screens and set them to FM. Then the reminder quits coming on.

Downside is that the built in Nav also quits giving traffic and route information. Even though Ford sold you a 5yr free service, Sirius DGAF and cuts it off when you cancel the music.

Never found that service of any use. It never gave any useful info for traffic issues. Wade is much better. Alexa is great for weather.

 

[wireman]

Regarding traffic, it seems to me if you are in an area without cell reception you likely don't need traffic info. Regarding streaming media, I listen mostly to podcasts and audiobooks these days, and I have my app set to automatically download the lasted episode of those I'm subscribed to. As far as music, I have amassed an MP3 collection over the years (from various sources) totaling +40,000 songs. At 5-minutes per song, that's 3000+ hours of listening time. I stream to listen to new stuff, but if I'm out of cell range I listen to the golden oldies in my collection.

Stay healthy. You have a lot of listening to do.

 

[Glamdring70]

Never found that service of any use. It never gave any useful info for traffic issues. Wade is much better. Alexa is great for weather.

The main thing the traffic data affected for me, was the arrival times. Without traffic data it just totals up the miles and MPH and drops a value. My commute could be delayed somewhere between 0min and 40min depending on traffic and so often the system is quite wrong.

Agree there are better options assuming you have or want to use a cel phone with a data plan. I don't have a phone with a data plan (currently, but I might upgrade). I just want the features to work the way I bought the vehicle, but they won't without the subscription. I do hate how everything is turning subscription, but I get that companies value data. The problem is that even if I was willing to subscribe, Sirius and I have wildly different values on that data. I put it at maybe $5 a month; Sirius thinks maybe $24 is a good number. They don't exactly play a big variety and the Travelink info is only so nifty. So they probably won't see eye to eye on that.

 

[Mark S.]

Sirius thinks maybe $24 is a good number.

Most unlimited cell data plans are around that price, and you get much more than traffic info.

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