SiriusXM audio dropouts

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Old Dec 19, 2016 | 06:03 PM
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SiriusXM audio dropouts

I tried searching for a similar problem but did not find anything. I am not even sure of "dropout" it the proper term.

I am experiencing dropouts or whatever it is called. This used to show up where I experienced signal shadowing around buildings or parking structures. But now I am getting it just driving down the freeway is clear air. Sirius/XM off-show tech support almost immediately wanted to make me a deal on a new receiver, claiming without any diagnosis that my radio was the problem because "it was old." I was born at night but not last night, and I have rarely seen electronics just fail because they are old unless there is something such as faulty caps or poor design leading to extended heat damage.

I did get a little improvement with having re-authorizing the radio but it is car from perfect. I suppose I might try the above mentioned factory reset and see what I get. Is there anything that I can try which would diagnosis the issue? And then I will be curious what my used or aftermarket drop in replacements are too if I am experiencing a failure.

Anyone have experience with this? If this is a hardware concern so easily diagnosed by age I certainly cannot be the only one...
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Old Dec 22, 2016 | 10:12 AM
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I've been experiencing this as well recently... keeps loosing signal with the slightest obstacle and this has happening more frequently recently compared to when i got the car 3 years ago.
Also sometimes when it reconnects it will keep switching on/off every second as if it's not catching the full signal. I would have to turn the radio off, then back on to get it to work again.

Are our antennas weak? I do remember a mod to improve them somewhere here.
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Old Dec 22, 2016 | 05:58 PM
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I did search and found this but it is not specific to resolving the problem I am having.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-a...od-diy-910628/
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Old Dec 28, 2016 | 09:51 AM
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Originally Posted by socalsteve
I tried searching for a similar problem but did not find anything. I am not even sure of "dropout" it the proper term.

I am experiencing dropouts or whatever it is called. This used to show up where I experienced signal shadowing around buildings or parking structures. But now I am getting it just driving down the freeway is clear air. Sirius/XM off-show tech support almost immediately wanted to make me a deal on a new receiver, claiming without any diagnosis that my radio was the problem because "it was old." I was born at night but not last night, and I have rarely seen electronics just fail because they are old unless there is something such as faulty caps or poor design leading to extended heat damage.

I did get a little improvement with having re-authorizing the radio but it is car from perfect. I suppose I might try the above mentioned factory reset and see what I get. Is there anything that I can try which would diagnosis the issue? And then I will be curious what my used or aftermarket drop in replacements are too if I am experiencing a failure.

Anyone have experience with this? If this is a hardware concern so easily diagnosed by age I certainly cannot be the only one...
I'm having the same issues and was wondering what fixes are out there.
.
.
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Old Dec 29, 2016 | 07:13 PM
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I have been having the same issues recently. I find it hard to believe that it is all of a sudden all our cars having the issues and its not a problem with SiriusXM.
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Old Jan 5, 2017 | 11:58 AM
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Having poor signal here also that showed up in the last month or two, seems to be the same areas around town. I think the issue is on their end.

Last edited by alexb92; Jan 5, 2017 at 12:00 PM.
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Old Jan 5, 2017 | 04:21 PM
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I'm having problems with mine as well. The usual areas (north Arlington, TX is pretty bad in some locations) are still a PITA but seems to be expanding and like others have said, in areas there shouldn't be an issue. Sucks because I really like XM radio.
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Old Jan 5, 2017 | 04:30 PM
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Not an isolated problem.... https://disqus.com/home/discussion/d..._deadzonescom/
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Old Jan 5, 2017 | 04:34 PM
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Same issue here (NE Ohio) and getting progressively worse, just posted in the Problems/Fixes section by mistake. Others I know aren't having any issues (non-Acura vehicles) so I don't think it's XM-related. I have found some other old threads of Acura owners having similar issues in the past and changing out antennas & cables fixed the issue. One mentioned a loose ground on the antenna cable being the source of the problem? In any case, I'm willing to at least open her up and see if anything has come loose over the years... just don't know where to start without a diagram or something.
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Old Jan 5, 2017 | 04:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Scottwax
But after reading this... maybe XM is the problem? I'm still going to at least check what hardware I can get to just in case. Frustrating.
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Old Jan 5, 2017 | 10:52 PM
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Originally Posted by alexb92
Having poor signal here also that showed up in the last month or two, seems to be the same areas around town. I think the issue is on their end.
I skimmed the internet because I had this problem increasingly in the LA area.
Apparently the problem is with T-Mobile's enlarged cell network, which has been interfering with SiriusXM transmissions.
SiriusXM's complained to the FCC to no avail, so we will probably continue to experience drop-outs at various places.
FCC Sides With T-Mobile in Sirius Dispute - WSJ
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Old Jan 6, 2017 | 02:55 PM
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I went ahead and created a support ticket with XM and they said they'd forward the information I gave them to the appropriate department to investigate. I strongly urge all of you guys to do the same, and be sure to state that the issue just recently popped up, and you know of multiple people also recently complaining about poor coverage (that way they don't brush it off as a hardware failure on your end.)
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Old Jan 6, 2017 | 04:32 PM
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Originally Posted by alexb92
I went ahead and created a support ticket with XM and they said they'd forward the information I gave them to the appropriate department to investigate. I strongly urge all of you guys to do the same, and be sure to state that the issue just recently popped up, and you know of multiple people also recently complaining about poor coverage (that way they don't brush it off as a hardware failure on your end.)
I went through this last summer. Spoke to XM 3 different times about the issue, and they finally said they would elevate to engineering and somebody would call me. I never heard back. That's why I'm kind of hoping it's hardware-related... at least I can do something about it then. XM customer service is pretty bad. Good luck!
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Old Jan 7, 2017 | 09:26 PM
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Originally Posted by Will Y.
I skimmed the internet because I had this problem increasingly in the LA area.
Apparently the problem is with T-Mobile's enlarged cell network, which has been interfering with SiriusXM transmissions.
SiriusXM's complained to the FCC to no avail, so we will probably continue to experience drop-outs at various places.
FCC Sides With T-Mobile in Sirius Dispute - WSJ
This makes sense as I am having the same issue in the same spots near large cellular towers.

My wife has a newer Chevy and it doesn't get affected by these same towers.
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Old Jan 22, 2017 | 02:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Will Y.
I skimmed the internet because I had this problem increasingly in the LA area.
Apparently the problem is with T-Mobile's enlarged cell network, which has been interfering with SiriusXM transmissions.
SiriusXM's complained to the FCC to no avail, so we will probably continue to experience drop-outs at various places.
FCC Sides With T-Mobile in Sirius Dispute - WSJ
I have been noticing it seems to be contained in the same area of Fountain Valley/Costa Mesa on the 405. Definitely not everywhere consistent with a hardware problem on my end.
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