OEM XM satellite radio poor reception

[BlacknTan]

Do you have anything else you can connect to the radio, like a tablet computer?

If you get Spotify premium, you can save the music to your tablet or smart phone when you're connected to wireless internet, and you don't need a internet connection to lay the songs. Ask around for someone you know that has an old smartphone you can have. You don't need phone service for this to work. Also, in case of emergency, 911 always works on a mobile phone even if you don't have service.

You could always just pirate music from Bit Torrent, since you're already doing that through You Tube. If songs are encoded in at least 320kbps then they should sound good. Don't download one song at a time, download a "discography". That would be every single album made by a band in one shot.

You could always just get an iPod and pay for the songs.

Without a mobile phone with a plan that connects to the internet, you can't stream Pandora as far as I know. Easy and cheap are mutually exclusive here...if you want to do things legally.

w/o a cellphone there is no way to get Pandora thru the head unit. unless your sitting nearby a wifi spot and stream indirectly to the head unit via an ipad/android device.

or if you have a personal hotspot to tether to the head unit (but that will involve a data plan with a cellphone company)

Thanks gent's for some good, and helpful answers...

Looks like I'm going "old school!"

 

[Bevo]

I've had GM's... great sat radio reception.

My 13 TE sucks... and why I'm not paying for a subscription.

Can't drive down a tree canopy road without losing signal.

I had a 2013 Camaro SS, and the sat radio reception was no better or worse than than my 2015 T4R. I don't think it is necessarily a manufacturer issue.

I haven't noticed a problem with mine. Of course living in Texas my antenna may see a little more open sky than some of you other guys.

 

[BigredTEX]

I haven't noticed a problem with mine. Of course living in Texas my antenna may see a little more open sky than some of you other guys.

I live in Texas and my reception sucks. If I'm down in Dallas, where they have repeaters, it's OK, but in the northern suburbs it's awful. It's even worse out in wide open spaces.

 

[Bevo]

I live in Texas and my reception sucks. If I'm down in Dallas, where they have repeaters, it's OK, but in the northern suburbs it's awful. It's even worse out in wide open spaces.

I am in the northern suburbs as well, and mine seems to work just fine. HD radio on the other hand cuts out all of the time.

 

[nglayton]

I've never had a problem with my 2010 4runner TE OEM XM satellite reception. But in the past few months, it seems to 'fuzz' out under the slightest trees and when passing through bridges, etc. in a way it never did the previous 5 years.

Anyone else experiencing similar problems?

Mine has done this from day 1.

Just for the record, my satellite TV doesn't work worth a crap either when it's behind a tree or under a bridge. :banana:

 

[rpparkster]

Dropped off at dealer

I started having this problem a few months ago with the reception getting spotty. I called SiriusXM and had them refresh the signal numerous times, so I took it in to the dealer since I was going in for a few other things. I asked the guy to check the plugs to make sure the antenna is plugged in properly, so we'll see what he says. Would any of this be covered on warranty? Has anyone tried to take it in to see what they say?

 

[DAGNABIT]

I started having this problem a few months ago with the reception getting spotty. I called SiriusXM and had them refresh the signal numerous times, so I took it in to the dealer since I was going in for a few other things. I asked the guy to check the plugs to make sure the antenna is plugged in properly, so we'll see what he says. Would any of this be covered on warranty? Has anyone tried to take it in to see what they say?

with a stop watch start timing from the minute you leave your house to go to the dealer. Stop the watch when you return home with it.... that will be how much of your life you just wasted on this. You can toss in the time it took you to write this post if you want to be more exact.

 

[mpaquette]

I think it's the stupid shark fin antenna. My 2010 Limited has had lousy XM reception since day 1. My wife had a 2009 Venza with a little stubby XM antenna and the reception was much better. She recently traded in for a 2015 Avalon. The Avalon has the shark fin antenna and she now has lousy reception.

 

[BigredTEX]

I live in Texas and my reception sucks. If I'm down in Dallas, where they have repeaters, it's OK, but in the northern suburbs it's awful. It's even worse out in wide open spaces.

After opening a case with Toyota HQ several months ago regarding the lousy reception and that I had taken it in twice during the warranty period with no fix, I finally made time to get it into the dealer. Third time's the charm.

Three days of trouble shooting and working with both Toyota and Sirius/XM they finally decided the antenna was bad...and they had to order the part. Took it back in this morning, got it back this afternoon and it appears to be working well. No loss of signal or fade outs on the drive home. Just completed a test drive on a route where I'd normally lose signal 5 or 6 times in a two mile stretch and it worked flawlessly.

I wanted to post this for the benefit of others who are experiencing bad satellite reception. I don't know what diagnostics they ran that led them to the antenna - maybe it was a matter of elimination and crossed fingers, but there's hope. If your dealer can't find a problem keep pushing, all the way to Toyota HQ if you have to. Mine was a hardware problem, which tells me the system is capable of delivering acceptable performance if all the parts are working.

 

[spencenasty]

I've had GM's... great sat radio reception.

My 13 TE sucks... and why I'm not paying for a subscription.

Can't drive down a tree canopy road without losing signal.

I'm done paying for that shit too, spotify for the win.

 

[Jhalko]

My wife's XM antenna went out in the first year of owning her car, we had the free trial at that point. It even interfered with the head unit when it went out, that was how we knew there was a problem. On my 4Runner I never had any signal problems until I added a roof rack. Signal is still good, but cuts out a bit more, specifically when headed w by nw.

 

[20DYNAMITE07]

Our '15 TE's XM reception has been a HUGE disappointment. Seriously, it is terrible. We never had a problem with our VW GLI with Sirius. If we hadn't already prepaid for a years worth of service before trading in the GLI, I wouldn't have considered keeping it on our 4Runner.

I'm hoping Toyota does a technical service bulletin or offers an antenna replacement, because this is garbage.

The rest of the truck is perfect. But this?

 

[mcarey86]

There is only one intersection near me that I constantly lose signal in.

Otherwise, it only happens when expected.

I've loved it.

 

[Dragontj]

I noticed mine started to fade in and out more with the last update i received

 

[noisebeam]

Ha. I got a trail in July. Didn't realize it had XM included so I've never tried it. Will try now. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Blue15]

I've had my '15 Trail for a little over a month now, and I'm experiencing the same thing. I was prepared to like the satellite radio, but it's been a big disappointment.

Programming is great, but reception is poor except in perfectly open areas ... I won't be signing up once the trial period ends ..

Took the words right out of my mouth! I let y free trial expire in Aug.

 

[GP4R]

I talked to XM about this a few years ago. they said that despite the fact that Sirius and XM are one company now, they maintain separate satellites; an XM receiver is incapable of receiving Sirius signals and vise versa. XM satellites are geosynchronous, whereas Sirius actually orbit and therefore have greater coverage at more latitudes. Sirius also has a greater number of ground based repeater stations and therefore greater coverage. It all adds up to Sirius being the better service, even though they are the same damn company.

This is exactly the case, whether some believe it or not. However, it could still be a connection or hardware issue.

Sirius IS better than XM service on behalf of their setup. Google it.. if you feel this isn't the case.

 

[BigredTEX]

I had similar reception issues until the antenna was replaced. I had to escalate to Toyota corporate since it had been into the shop three times under warranty without resolution. Toyota authorized a repair post warranty.

My problem was that the dealership is in Dallas and I live in a northern suburb. Within Dallas and Ft. Worth there are numerous repeaters that masked the reception problem. I got the service manager to take an extended test drive to see the problem first hand. They replaced the antenna and all is well. I now get good reception in he parking garage at my office.

Moral of the story is, if you've had it into the shop under warranty without resolution, you can get it fixed if you escalate to HQ. Most probable culprit is the antenna.

 

[Peyto]

The 4Runner satellite reception used to really bother me, but then I drove a rented Durango for 5 weeks and it's reception was even worse. So it could be worse, I guess?

 

[gsu_dave]

I had similar reception issues until the antenna was replaced. I had to escalate to Toyota corporate since it had been into the shop three times under warranty without resolution. Toyota authorized a repair post warranty.

My problem was that the dealership is in Dallas and I live in a northern suburb. Within Dallas and Ft. Worth there are numerous repeaters that masked the reception problem. I got the service manager to take an extended test drive to see the problem first hand. They replaced the antenna and all is well. I now get good reception in he parking garage at my office.

Moral of the story is, if you've had it into the shop under warranty without resolution, you can get it fixed if you escalate to HQ. Most probable culprit is the antenna.

Did they replace it with another shark fin, or a different model antenna? I just signed up a few days ago and the reception is horrible. Unusable. My neighborhood has some established trees, but we never had any issues with my wife's Accord.