Sirius(ly) Confused With My New Sirius Service

Agrajag

New Member
Jan 19, 2017
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I needed to pick up a new receiver for my vehicle and decided to try out a JVC touchscreen model that included Sirius support and came with a free SXM-300 Sirius tuner. At the least I figured I'd try the 30 days free. I ended up signing up for a year.

Now I'm confused by something and quickly found that Sirius Customer Service is atrocious.

My wife and I, in trying to find the best stations, ended up using their web site player to look around and we found several channels we like better than ones we have preset in the car. Take, for example, channel 704 -- a mix of 70s and 80s hits.

The problem is, we can't see the get any channel above channel number 470 on the JVC unit though we have an All Access subscription and have tried resetting the service several times.

Sirius support claimed all sorts of things:

- I needed to buy another receiver FROM THEM to get all the channels.
- I needed to reset the JVC another X times.
- I can't get any channels above channel 210 in my car (even though I listen to channel 400 in the car all the time).

What the heck is going on? What channels should someone get in their car as part of All Access?

Here's what I get now:

0-103, 105, 106, 108—138, 141—144, 146—148, 152—155, 157—159, 162, 163, 166—174, 176—207, 209—217, 219—223, 225—235, 300—303, 310, 311, 313, 314, 316, 330, 340, 341, 350, 370, 380—391, 400, 415, 450, 455, 470.

By my rough count that's 231 channels. Am I getting everything we're supposed to be getting?

Lastly, I saw a thread here referencing something about service going away in 2022 and why they're still selling radios.... Did I misunderstand the context or should I not get to comfy with this service?

Thanks.
 
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scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
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I needed to pick up a new receiver for my vehicle and decided to try out a JVC touchscreen model that included Sirius support and came with a free SXM-300 Sirius tuner. At the least I figured I'd try the 30 days free. I ended up signing up for a year.

Now I'm confused by something and quickly found that Sirius Customer Service is atrocious.

My wife and I, in trying to find the best stations, ended up using their web site player to look around and we found several channels we like better than ones we have preset in the car. Take, for example, channel 704 -- a mix of 70s and 80s hits.

The problem is, we can't see the get any channel above channel number 470 on the JVC unit though we have an All Access subscription and have tried resetting the service several times.

Sirius support claimed all sorts of things:

- I needed to buy another receiver FROM THEM to get all the channels.
- I needed to reset the JVC another X times.
- I can't get any channels above channel 210 in my car (even though I listen to channel 400 in the car all the time).

What the heck is going on? What channels should someone get in their car as part of All Access?

Here's what I get now:

0-103, 105, 106, 108—138, 141—144, 146—148, 152—155, 157—159, 162, 163, 166—174, 176—207, 209—217, 219—223, 225—235, 300—303, 310, 311, 313, 314, 316, 330, 340, 341, 350, 370, 380—391, 400, 415, 450, 455, 470.

By my rough count that's 231 channels. Am I getting everything we're supposed to be getting?

Lastly, I saw a thread here referencing something about service going away in 2022 and why they're still selling radios.... Did I misunderstand the context or should I not get to comfy with this service?

Thanks.
What I do know is that there are a multitude of online-only channels, I believe they are positioned at the higher numbers in the online menu. They can have as many online channels as they want, but the satellite bands are fixed.

The number of satellite channels may be 210 (someone else here will know for sure). Because of the mixing of Sirius and XM channels, they may appear to be numbered above that. If you're getting more than 210 channels, perhaps you're including numbers that are skipped (for example there's no "0"). Like I said, someone will chime-in soon with all the answers.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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Toronto, ON
There are also some SXM 2.0 channels which require a special receiver. They are also in the upper numbers. Any number > 255 is for sure online or 2.0 channel as original receivers (and still most made and sold) could only support up to channel 255.
 

Agrajag

New Member
Jan 19, 2017
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Well, I must have the "special receiver" (it's an SXM-300 I believe) as I get several channels over channel 255. I listen to channel 400 faily often (George Carlin).
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
13,833
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Toronto, ON
Well, I must have the "special receiver" (it's an SXM-300 I believe) as I get several channels over channel 255. I listen to channel 400 faily often (George Carlin).

You probably have the SXM 2.0 receiver. Still won't pick up online only channels.
 

Agrajag

New Member
Jan 19, 2017
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Definitely wouldn't expect it to pick those up, but it would be nice if they could do something about the music selection that is over the air. First, it strikes us a a bit repetitive. Second, as rock fans, the stations that are OTA are so specific as to be a bit monotonous. 70s, period. 80s, period, etc. The few that aren't get you less variety than FM in a big city area (which we're in).

I guess another bigger question would be, what's on the horizon from Sirius? Any big news? Huge changes coming? Bad news?

I will say their support is just absolutely atrocious. It took four calls and a chat text to get any sort of decent answer on some basic questions. Two people suggested we could ONLY use their receivers to access All Access. Another one said nothing they offer allows anyone to get channels over 210. When I said I was getting channel 400 she said I must be confused and somehow listening online while in my car! Really?
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
13,833
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Toronto, ON
Agreed about the support. Only thing I have ever bothered calling about is canceling or transferring a radio. Everything else is useless. Find this board more helpful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MadisonRadio1

MadisonRadio
Oct 17, 2008
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Madison, Wisconsin
I have one of those SiriusXM platform tuners in my car too Agrajag. Except its a SXM 200 instead of 300.
There are no plans to discontinue the service in 2022 for SiriusXM platform tuners or radios. The guys must have been talking about the Sirius platform radios. But even back in 2009, I believe there was talk of discontinuing the Sirius radios by now and it never happened. Must have been extended to 2022.
 

scotchandcigar

All I wanted was some steak
Feb 13, 2009
23,407
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Vacationland
Definitely wouldn't expect it to pick those up, but it would be nice if they could do something about the music selection that is over the air. First, it strikes us a a bit repetitive. Second, as rock fans, the stations that are OTA are so specific as to be a bit monotonous. 70s, period. 80s, period, etc. The few that aren't get you less variety than FM in a big city area (which we're in).
That's why I avoid the decades, and stick with classic rewind, classic vinyl, Spectrum, Alt Nation, 1st wave, SiriusXMU, etc. Those cover more per channel. There's also The Bridge, The Pulse, The Loft, and Deep Tracks. Give these a try.
 

HecticArt

Administrator
Oct 19, 2008
49,832
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Toledo, Ohio
Welcome to the DRC agrajag!
Glad that you found us. Sorry it's because you were having troubles.

Standard customer support isn't very good.
Some threads here have the toll free number to SXM Advanced Customer Service.
You should be able to find it with a search. The folks at Advanced know a lot more, and can often help.
 

Agrajag

New Member
Jan 19, 2017
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Thanks for all the help. Advanced Customer Care would have really helped. Thanks. Will look that direction next time.
 

Kryptonite

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2008
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If you dig through twitter.com/sxm_help you can find a form to fill out. Their Canadian people will call and they're tremendous help. Back when they had 10-15 million subscribers, it was a lot easier to call them direct, but times change.

But yeah, the basic customer support people are terrible. Good luck trying to understand them.