# Have XM in two cars and Sirius in the other....why can't they be on the same account?



## 996911

Long story short......


I have XM in 2 cars and just added a third car with Sat radio. Only problem is that it is Sirius. I assumed since the company is "one" now that I would be able to add this radio to my account but I was told that it would be a separate Sirius account.


Not sure I understand that at all other than a sneaky way for them to get around keeping me from paying the $6.99 a month additional receiver charge and instead want me to pay full price for for a separate subscription. Why in the world are they doing it that way when it is supposed to be ONE COMPANY?!?!?!? Needless to say I chose not to open up a separate account.


Anybody with insight on if and when this would be possible?


TIA!!!


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## ClubSteeler

We all agree with you. For example I wanted an XMp3 radio, but I got a stiletto because I can pay $6.99 instead of $17/mo for XM plus Howard.


However, there are rumors that after the talk channels merge, we may be seeing a customer service merger this year. We'll see if it happens.


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## 996911

Thanks for the reply! It seems as though many people are just as frustrated as I am. I guess I'll just play the "wait and see" game.


Again, thanks for the input.


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## imromo24

keep us posted. I want to get the xmp3 but Im afraid to because the new car I want is sirius and i don't think that's fair that its considered different.


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## Old ET

I received a Stiletto II for Christmas, and I have been a DTV platinum customer since they started up. I purchased the "Get all" from Sirius and 3 months of XM for $190 something for the Stiletto II for one year. I wanted to extend my Sirius service to my Acadia cross-over van, so I called and it will 40% off an extra subscription for the Acadia for the same package.


XM - which has been part of my DTV package forever, does not transfer from DTV or Sirius, and if I wish to add this XM to the Acadia it's a separate account. What we should have done is put the higher priced package on the most used, as the stiletto II even using the wi-fi streaming at the hotels will be never utilized to the extent of the Acadia. I would complain to someone, but I am not sure where to start? DTV? Sirius? XM? Or maybe I should have been a smarter consumer?


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## bigbrain28

We are in a reverse position.. We had XM in one car, a portable XM in the house, so we had a master XM account with the portable as a add-on, plus internet radio access. We have since bought 2 Mazdas, both equipped with Sirius. My trial has expired and hers is in effect until March (I think). So not only have we sold the car with the XM master account was on, but we have only her trial account existing as a Sirius account. So the portable will cease to work when we cancel the XM Master account (no sense in paying for the sold car's new owner to enjoy and no sense in paying full price foe XM on the one in house device...)


Obviously we'd like to transfer her XM account to Sirius and ad my car as a 2nd unit and use the XM portable as a 3rd add-on. It doesn't look likely that the XM Portable will survive with a Sirius only account. Do they expect XM device owners to just throw out $100's of dollars worth of equipment when they transition?


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## videoguy60467

*I just sent the following to Sirius/XM:*

_I recently traded in my vehicle with a Sirius radio, and I am purchasing a car with XM.

My wife has a car with a trial sub for Sirius, and my son has an expired XM trial in his car.


When I called Sirius customer service, I inquired into putting all 3 radios on one account. I was shocked to find out that you cannot do that. Due to this, instead of having 3 active radios, you will have zero! You are sending me a check for $278.33 because you have no way to solve this problem. Not due to my choice, but yours.


I can understand that logistics and billing systems may give you some problems, but not to have a deal to maintain your subscriber base is poor business judgment in my opinion.


I will be willing to come back if and when you fix this.

Sincerely,

XXX_


It's hard to believe this company is so clueless!


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## Davird_Jr

Whatever happened to the promise of radios that worked with both services? I have XM in one car, Sirius in another and an XM portable. No service on the siruis car and just use the portable in that car and in the house. This was promised back at the merger and nothing seems to be being done. YOu shouldn't be stuck with one service or the other when you buy a car. It's an outrage. No wonder sat radio is struggling.


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## Jhon

One of the many dumb things company does to piss people off. And they wonder why they can't make a dime.

But I still love them....


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## dukefett

I thought I remember reading that both 'services' would remain separate for something like 10 years after the merger.


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## Jhon

I have been a XM and Sirius user and fan from the beginning. But they are headed in a downward spiral. I had a f4 hour drive on mothers day to so I thought I would take advantage of the 5 months for 20 bucks on my in car XM radio and reactivate it. I asked how much more for the best of Sirius and was told $4.99. So I took it.

When the radio was activated, I was not getting the Best of Sirius channels. So I called and was told that whoever told me I could add the best of Sirius was wrong. But I could get the package for $9.99 a month for three months. I told them to cancel the whole dam thing as they had pissed me off. Bottom line, they refunded my money and gave me three free months of XM with the best of Sirius.

How do they expect to make money?


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## Dannychen




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *996911* /forum/post/15552515
> 
> 
> Long story short......
> 
> 
> I have XM in 2 cars and just added a third car with Sat radio. Only problem is that it is Sirius. I assumed since the company is "one" now that I would be able to add this radio to my account but I was told that it would be a separate Sirius account.
> 
> 
> Not sure I understand that at all other than a sneaky way for them to get around keeping me from paying the $6.99 a month additional receiver charge and instead want me to pay full price for for a separate subscription. Why in the world are they doing it that way when it is supposed to be ONE COMPANY?!?!?!? Needless to say I chose not to open up a separate account.
> 
> 
> Anybody with insight on if and when this would be possible?
> 
> 
> TIA!!!




As someone said that a new BoomBox named DNSS will be launched on July this year, both Sirius' receiver and XM are compatible on this boombox.


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## bwturner1951

I've been waiting over a year for the merger so that I can get the XM receiver on my car activate on my Sirius account. I have three receivers activated on my account two of which I use, one in the house another in my shop. I left the third one on the account at the suggestion of one of the Sirius reps assuming the merger would happen within the year. I just called customer service and they have no idea of when this will be.










I learned that I could save $10/month by eliminating one of the activated receivers on my Sirius bill. Would that amount be less than a subscription to XM? If so, I may just look into that then let XM/Sirius sort it out when they do finally merge.


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## Mark Leiter




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *dukefett* /forum/post/18609932
> 
> 
> I thought I remember reading that both 'services' would remain separate for something like 10 years after the merger.



I seriously doubt Siris/XM will be around ten years from now. At least not as a satilite type service. I've had XM in my car for many many years and love it. I travel from Florida to Texas and back 4-5 times a years and its great never having to search for channels. However, with the emergence of internet based radio I don't believe satilite radio can compete.


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## fuddvd

Truck drivers will keep sat radio alive,that is until there is a true nationwide CONSISTENT internet mobile signal which I don't see happening for quite some time yet. Heck I still cant make a call everywhere I go in the USA without problems in some areas.


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## 996911

Just a quick bump to see if there is any new info about the topic of Sirius and XM on the same subscription. I'm beginning to think they never will???


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## Brad Bishop

Re: I doubt that they will be around in 10 years.


I think they will. They are currently at 20mil subscribers which is a sizable chunk of the driving public. They seem to be gaining subscribers.


Re: Anything else up with this


When they merged their websites I called in and asked if I could move a lifetime Sirius subscription to my XM account. I was told, "no." I then went into it with a supervisor (not aggressively, just talking to them) and said:


"Couldn't you just kill the subscription on my Sirius radio and then comp me a subscription on the XM Radio and bump up the count by one (number of times you can change it) and charge me $75??"


I got, "no, that's not possible" - which to me sounds a bit idiotic. We know that they can turn off radios because they do it every day. We know that they can turn on other radios because they do it every day. So the only question is: how to bump up the counter.. Maybe toss the subscription over to a bogus xm box and then back to the one you really want? We also know that they can charge people because they do that every day.


It just seems silly.


The supervisor seem to agree and hinted that it might be in the works a year or so down the road. Of course a lot of things have been in the works down the road and never materialize.


I think if you want XM you just need to get an XM account. For those of you straddling with one car as XM and the other car as Sirius I'd suggest picking one and then buying a PNP or SkyDock or whatever for the other car so you get the discount. This isn't going to be solved soon.


Oh, and on the radio compatibility - I remember that, too. The idea was that you could buy any radio and then just subscribe to whatever service you liked (I think it was an FCC requirement). The closest we got was the MIRGE which required you subscribe to both services for something like $20/month (plus music royalty) and this was after both services were essentially the same.


It's all so very stupid.


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## 996911

Saw this earlier this morning when reading my various news cycles.......


Find it hard to believe that it is a "bargain" stock to buy right now and poised for a great comeback when they can't even get their sub base merged into 1 system.


Courtesy of MSN Money

*Sirius XM Radio


Howard Stern lemmings piled into Sirius stock years ago when the shock jock moved his circus to satellite radio. Many lost almost all their money, as the company's stock fell under $1 from above $8.




But with a 2008 buyout of XM Radio and a bankruptcy scare under its belt, Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) is now a dominant force on the comeback trail.




Skeptics believe iPods and free Web radio services like Pandora will jam the signal at Sirius, which charges $12.95 a month. But satellite radio offers content that listeners can't find elsewhere on the radio -- not only Stern, but also Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Foxx, Barbara Walters and a Playboy channel, to name a few.




And recent trends confirm that drivers are willing to pay for that content. Sirius XM Radio's subscriber base grew last year by 8%, to 20.2 million. That helped drive revenue up 14%, to $2.82 billion. "It's kind of like the original cable TV, when everyone thought people wouldn't pay for TV because it's free," says Robert Routh, a media analyst at Phoenix Partners. "Sirius XM Radio has lot of stuff you can't get elsewhere." The reason: While terrestrial radio companies lack the funds to buy the big talent, Sirius XM Radio can buy whatever it wants to fill its 135 channels, says John Tinker, an analyst with Maxim Group.




Two other keys to growth: Sirius XM Radio is available for free for a few months in 60% of all new cars. As car sales rise in an improving economy, subscriber growth should increase. A Sirius 2.0 upgrade and a possible rate increase later this year will also drive gains. All-important cash flow could hit $1 billion a year by 2015, predicts Morgan Stanley analyst David Gober. He says Sirius XM Radio will be announcing dividends and share buybacks -- music to investors' ears.*


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## GermanMan

And they still have this insane position. Unless the companies are run by 5 guys in a garage (which isn't out of the question), there is no technical reason they cannot get this done.


If the merger truly had a legal requirement to have the two stay separate for a decade to produce some artificial look of 'market competition', it would be the dumbest thing for the FCC, FTC or companies to agree to or mandate. All this will do is destroy the entire market.


I've got a car with XM. I purchased it for the car... XM is the receiver the factory puts in it. Now I want to buy a 2nd car. Unfortunately, in addition to no standard transmission being given as an option on my drivetrain in North America, I'm stuck because the factory uses Sirius head units.


At a minimum, they could look up and validate the other account and offer a discount on the other system billing.


Hell, if the customer would at least have THEIR CHOICE of antenna/tuner to drive the system, I could spec it out with an XM solution. There is NO reason the sat tuner cannot be a plug-and-play swap to allow the car owner to put in the one THEY want.


I sense, in my future, a total lack of satellite services in my cars. With 8G MP3 laden DVDs and USB pen drive playback, all of which doesn't break up in a tunnel or behind a hill, the need for sat radio is getting thinner.


I can see another HBR case study on how the Sirius XM merger was one of the biggest boners of all time. Bigger than the Daimler-Chrysler merger.


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## 996911

I've waited long enough and with services like Pandora allowing me to create "custom" channels that mimic the channels I listen to on XM, I can listen to my talk radio streamed free on my iPhone directly from ESPN, etc..


My XM subscription ends in 2 months. That will be the day it dies...............


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## I WANT MORE

I have 4 Sirius subs and recently purchased a vehicle with and XM radio. I was able to get the $77.00 deal on all 4 Sirius subs and the XM sub.


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## Lotus52623

Have you ever looked into the merger of the phone companies back then for at&t and cingular? each equipment has specific radio id numbers, same for phones and for radios, you can't just in a technical or billing environment add a "id number" which is not compatible.


The solution back with the at&t/cingular is that they "made" the stopped making phones with that certain id number.../ sim cards... and gave customer about 3 years to force them over to cingular... then at&t bought out cingular again and it became at&t ...


same with XM radio and Sirius radio... Sirius has ESN numbers, 12 to be exact, xm radio has 8 alpha numerical components... except... they don't make you choose and not manufacture 1 or the other radio anymore.... why? because Howard Stern and others who have contracts with Sirius or XM are not willing to change contracts or have their program on both ...


SiriusXM is financially 1 company, but billing and technical and such is still separate, because of contracts, because of ESN/Radio id numbers . Unless they stop making 1 brand of radio with 1 certain type of radio id/esn the 2 separate accounts will prevail. You can always choose a Premier plan, which are the "Best of XM" or "Best of Sirius" added for $ 3.50 per months to your Select plan.


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## 330cic

Oh my, this has been horrible for me!


Been a Sirius subscriber since BEFORE Howard Stern. Still have that Sirius receiver ('04 BMW).


Wife has an '11 Infiniti which has SiriusXM receiver.


We have online listening too.


Depending on which account we use for online, we get different channels. Unfortunately none of them match the lineups in the cars.


Billing? No 2nd car discount since they are separate accounts, even though its supposedly one company.


Website? The first question they ask is "do you have a Sirius or XM?"


This redefines the meaning of "merger". Not sure what really merged at all, since everything to us customers is still separated.


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## 996911

Just checking in on this thread. I'm coming up on 4 years removed from Sat radio and have been very happy with my Pandora app (stream in my car, home, work, etc) for music and my ESPN app for streaming my sports talk radio. Cost? $0.


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## mtu_huskies




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *330cic*  /t/1108524/have-xm-in-two-cars-and-...ant-they-be-on-the-same-account#post_22562160
> 
> 
> Oh my, this has been horrible for me!
> 
> Been a Sirius subscriber since BEFORE Howard Stern. Still have that Sirius receiver ('04 BMW).
> 
> Wife has an '11 Infiniti which has SiriusXM receiver.
> 
> We have online listening too.
> 
> Depending on which account we use for online, we get different channels. Unfortunately none of them match the lineups in the cars.
> 
> Billing? No 2nd car discount since they are separate accounts, even though its supposedly one company.
> 
> Website? The first question they ask is "do you have a Sirius or XM?"
> 
> This redefines the meaning of "merger". Not sure what really merged at all, since everything to us customers is still separated.



You cann call the Support people in NY, I used to have the number, I'll look for it, but this is a commone Facebook complaint that people aren't getting the multi radio discount. The Sirius Facbook people tell customers to call and they'll get them on the same account with the discount. My mother in law just did it a few weeks ago.


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## joeepistonee

It's happening very soon, believe me. Soon you will be able to have both XM & Sirius radios on the same account. It was supposed to happen back mid November, but it was pushed back to the beginning of January. They will still receive separate signals, XM getting XM signals, & Sirius getting Sirius signals. Care Representatives will not proactively offer to merge your accounts, it will only be done on a reactive basis, so you most likely won't be notified of the update. You will need to ask to have your accounts consolidated into one. Keep in mind, when you move radios from one account to another, your subscription will start over that day. You will get the *CREDIT* for remaining unused time, that will be transferred to the account that you're consolidating to. You will owe the difference for whatever that credit doesn't cover to start your subscription over that day on the new account.


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## crzyhomer

I'm not so sure... seems like they've been promising this since 2009. I was just on the phone with a CSR in mid January to get the multicar discount. Took a long time but seemingly I did get it. He mentioned something about an official account merger in February, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm not holding my breath.


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## I WANT MORE


My accounts were merged last week.


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## joeepistonee

Correct. As of 1/20/13, you're able to consolidate Sirius & XM accounts on to one single account. The process is about to become even easier for us reps as well. It's in the works to be able to consolidate even trials, which has never been able to be done, even now. So they are working on getting everything settled & set straight. It just takes time people.


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## 996911

Amazing that it took 4 years since I started this thread to get results from SiriusXM. That is 4 years of service with multiple accounts they lost out on from me. I have been totally set with my Pandora app, ESPN radio app, and streamed music on my iPhone. Can't see SiriusXM lasting much longer.


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## joeepistonee

They have 26 million subscribers, which is two million more than last year.. It would take a s**t ton of people to cancel for SiriusXM to go under.


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## Krispy Kritter

Yeah, they aren't going anywhere. The user base keeps expanding. Especially as it's common on most new cars now.


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