I was delighted to receive a Sirius Satelite radio and subscription on Christmas eve(is it still legal to say Christmas?) so I could hear the Indianapolis/Seattle game that could not be found anywhere on TV. Odd that the numbers 1 and 2 teams in the NFL, respectively, were playing such a critical game and it couldn’t be found anywhere, but I will get to that shortly. I didn’t get the best radio but it came with both the home and car base stations which is great but, as a subscriber, I can also stream from Sirius via Microsoft Monopoly Player…er…I mean, Media Player 9.
Setup was a cinch since my wife already had the service up and running and all I had to do was find a good spot for reception. While I had two bars of reception and the sound quality was great, my cell phone has trained me to get as many bars as possible so the super long antenna cord allowed me to place the antenna on a window sill 12 feet up to my vaulted ceiling. I got more bars but the sound was just as good.
My goal wasn’t to do a product placement piece but, rather, to extoll the virtues of freedom and choice that yoiu can’t get on terrestrial radio. I’m talking about the commercials and stupid talk on terrestrial radio and not about bad words or content. Radio stations seem to feel the need to entertain me with content other than music and comedy, such as funny sounds and blurbs, instead of the content that I want. I liken it to MTV, back when MTV was about music, you could count on music videos and some quick music news. Now it is just a load of worthless, liberal biased, junk content aimed at the lowest denominator of society. But, there is one main reason I wanted Sirius so badly.
Howard Stern. Yes, my initial motive was to get back the Howard Stern that was taken off the Las Vegas market over a month ago. I’m rarely a one issue guy but Howard was the main factor in my desire for satelite radio but the current performance of the Seattle Seahawks became a stong second. Being a Washington native, the Seahawks have a love/hate relationship with their fans, they love the fans but hate to win. That has all changed and I am really looking forward to a superbowl visit.
There are a ton of features I have yet to explore with my new radio, hey, I’ve only had it for a few days, and I will report on those at a later time. So, if you are in the market for portable (auto/home) then either of the satelite radio services might be on interest to you.
The Indy-Seattle game was shown out here in Central California.
DAMMIT!!!! I know I could have gone down to the casino sports book but it is such an inconvenience, especially on Christmas Eve when we had company over. I’m no sports fan by any means but when the home team tops the conference you take notice.
Maybe because of the casinos is why they only play four games a week on cable including (usually) Monady Night football. I was actually looking at getting the satelite TV but I’ve realized that with the radio I’m not foced to sit and do nothing else. I turn on the radion and go about my day and evening.
HOWARD! My hangup with terrestrial radio is the commercials, and the lack of selection depending on where you are in the country at a given time. When to comes to Stern, there’s nobody who produces the laughs anywhere else on radio, and when Gilbert Godfried is in the studio, I’m guaranteed to have a good day.
Seattle’s got 2 games to win before the superbowl…Right, who are you most scared of playing? To me, the most dangerous team in the NFC has to be the Carolina Panthers (besides Seattle). I wouldn’t want to face the Redskins either, but the Panthers did what they did against Atlanta to close out the season and I was convinced that their heads were in the right place.
I think Hasselbeck got robbed last year with all the droped balls. Those two games they played against the Rams last year were classics.
Yea – the sportsbook is a serious draw…BUT, I’ve always found that with football, I can listen to the game and enjoy it just as much sometimes. In a pinch, I bet you’re glad to have it now! When we first moved to Agawam, the cable wasn’t hooked up for the final Monday Night game (NE v. Jets), so I listened to it on the radio, read a book, had a great time.
Seattle’s got 2 games to win before the superbowl…Right, who are you most scared of playing?
Seattle fans are very used to disappointment, much like Boston baseball fans, I am just happy they got this far. If they lost every other game at least they got this far and next year will be better.
I’d like to go after Washington just because of the name sake. It’s Washington D.C. and if I say I’m from Washington, that means the state. When I tell people I’m flying to Washington for the holidays they incorrectly assume the nations capital and it drives me nuts. It should be the Washington D.C. Redskins, just a pet peeve of mine.
I made a warranty claim for a Sirius receiver I bought. My claim was on Dec 16, 2005. Two call takers (Mary and Anita) agree the company has a real bad business practice. They tell consumers like me that no units are available and on back order. Mine was defective and “froze up”. I look in my local stores and units are for sale and available. I feel like I am getting the shaft. I paid for lifetime membership and have been without my Sirius since December with no sign of any resolution. Supervisors are unavailable. As I said, the call takers feel bad and agree what this company is doing is wrong.
ANY IDEAS OUT THERE?
Return it to the store you got it from, if it’s defective after a month they will exchange it. Also, if you paid for the service with a credit card just call the card company and have the transaction reversed, send the defective unit back to where ever and start over.
The programming is great, once you are able to hear it. Also, you can stream programming through a computer at work and home.
I’d write a letter, send it certified mail saying if you don’t receive satisfaction, you’ll need your money back immediately. With any service like Sirius, especially since their following two quarterly reports are going to determine whether the stock price sustains, they’re going to go as cheap as they possibly can in terms of operating costs.
So as long as they percieve that you’re comfortable being jerked around with, they’ll get to it when they get to it. If, on the other hand, you send them a letter that says you’re looking for a refund and prepared to contact the Better Business Bureau and the state attourney general, they’ll have you fixed up in no time.
Just like with SBC telling a friend of mine it’ll take 14 days to get service at his new home, corporations will spare every cost possible when it comes to customer service as long as it’s not losing them a considerable chunk of revenue. Wisenheimer can go on TV to complain about SBC, but they’ve got a monopoly in the area and aren’t about to care about what a single customer in Bakersfield things.
Sirius on the other hand has XM Satelite in direct competition, and any negative press is not acceptable at this phase.
If you want help drafting the letter – let me know. I’m good at writing those. Worst thing that happens is they send you a refund, and you go out and pick up a new receiver and start all over again.
A smooth move in my opinion would be to say that you’re interested in Sirius for “______” and name a list of services that both they and XM Satelite provide. People complaining that they can’t hear Stern are no doubt being pushed to the end of the line because they figure those customers will stick with Sirius whether they get jerked around or not.
Just read Right’s advice…calling the credit card company is a good idea.
No way a customer should be w/out the service after they’ve already paid