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Sirius XM sub needed for nav traffic?

6K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  jeff_h 
#1 ·
My Sirius XM trial ends January 27, and I'm probably not going to renew. Will I lose traffic re-routing on the in-dash navigation when I no longer have the SXM? Is there any compelling reason to pay for SXM if I don't care about the radio stations?
 
#2 ·
I do believe you will lose traffic. That's a part of XM. I'm hooked on SXM and don't listen to terrestrial radio at all. But if you're not a music or other venue fan, not worth the money. There is no traffic where I live, so I've never used that.
 
#3 ·
Yes, you'll lose the traffic data.

I don't think that's a compelling enough reason to stick with it, when in-dash nave has been so widely supplanted by cellphone nav, and the wide variety of very excellent standalone GPS units with their own specialities.
 
#9 ·
Automatic renewal is practiced by ATT, Verizon, Comcast, The New York Times and most other major service providers. It is no big deal to reach out to cancel the automatic renewal for XM. Just put it on your calendar. And if you cancel a few days before the current contract renews, they will often offer a sweetener to keep you signed on. My current deal is $25 for five months. And when I call to cancel and tell them I don't spend enough time in the car to make it worth more than that, they will probably offer that same deal to me again. Their costs for an incremental subscriber are nil and some revenue is better than none.

KNS
 
#7 ·
They do automatically renew my subscriptions, but it is with my consent and they send me an email notification about a month before they do it. They've never tried to upsell me on anything. But getting them to merge my car and house radios into one account took an act of God, and a phone call. They really got confused when I returned my Leaf and got my Volt. Kept calling me and wanting to renew the Leaf subscription. What part of "I don't have the bloody car anymore" don't you understand? Finally got it all sorted out however.
Didn't know about the stand-alone traffic. SXM keeps kinda mum about their lower-priced offerings!
 
#8 ·
Don't renew: Poor data coverage, system, etc.

Yes, they have a cheap NAV data stream subscription. I'll bet you money you don't want it.

In DFW, a fairly major metroplex, there is no coverage of the toll roads with traffic data. This is a huge oversight since it makes the nav predictions and routing about the same as no data at all. 90% of my weekly highway traffic is on toll roads - so I'm not bitter at all. ;)

Also the Tonka-grade graphics make me yell at the sky when you cannot get it to show you the damn street name no matter how many times you zoom in/out and click around.

Use a phone, or buy a phablet for cheaper than the map update disk (assuming they ever offer one for your model year. Still not bitter...). Need offline maps? Get an OSM based map app (I took my phone with OSMAnd to Costa Rica and used it in a rental car!). The routing is every bit as good as the in-car NAV but the street maps get updated, and it's free!

My advice is vote with your dollars and just say NO to GM's in car NAV ecosystem.
 
#10 ·
I had the 5 months for $25 full service and the cancellation was very easy. A few days before the end I called, the call went smoothly and was less than five minutes. The next day I had an email confirmation of the cancellation. I have no problem with them having my credit card, you just have to remember to call.
 
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