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XM/WX price increase

B

BillC

Well Known Member
Just received this from the XM folks. Looks like the LT and Aviator services will cost an additional $5.00 per month starting late March 2010.


"Thank you for being an XM WX Satellite Weather subscriber. As a leading provider of aviation and weather services, we are dedicated to providing our subscribers with a comprehensive data suite for a more complete picture of the weather, at any altitude.

Over the past five years we have enhanced the service (varies by package) to ensure constant, reliable weather coverage, including:

Expanded radar coverage to Canada and Puerto Rico.

Added AIRREPs, PIREPs, Special Aviation Watch and TFRs for enhanced air space awareness.

Added Satellite Mosaic, Precipitation Mask and 0-degree Isotherm to aid the "big picture."

Included additional Canadian data products, such as Weather Warnings and Outlooks, METARs, TAFs, SIGMETs, and Winds Aloft.

In support of our commitment to the continued growth and success of the XM WX aviation service, as of March 22, 2010, the XM WX Aviator LT and the XM WX Aviator packages will increase by $5 per month, effective upon your next renewal.

Now more than ever, the importance of having XM WX Satellite Weather on board from takeoff to landing to boost pilots' situational awareness is critical. And the quality of XM WX data, in addition to its robust satellite delivery, has prompted nearly all airframe manufactures to adopt XM WX as a factory-installed option for their customers.

We appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with comprehensive weather data in the cockpit.

Sincerely,

Joe Zarella"
 
I would just like to have seen a smaller increase over time, starting a year ago, and ending a year from now. Slamming the price $60 a year is a huge turn off to potential customers, and then our price continues to go up. If $5 a month is this years increase, what's next next year gonna bring?

I dunno, just seems like a business model that needs a little more thought, but it's not my sandbox so they can do what they want.
 
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Sticky1 said:
So what are the options....?
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Com'on ADS-B. :)

I may change to Aviator Lite from full blown Aviator. As soon as ADS-B is working on a large scale basis will ditch XM. They currently have no competition and their price and price increase reflects that.
 
I'll switch to Aviator Lite and cut the XM music... instead of making $5 more from me, they'll lose money.:(
 
jmbrwn said:
I'll switch to Aviator Lite and cut the XM music... instead of making $5 more from me, they'll lose money.:(
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That's exactly what I told XM today in an email. Won't do any good though because there are enough other subscribers that won't change their subscriptions to make up for the small losses they will have from users like us. It will make us feel better though :)
 
From what I've read over the last few years, is that the XM/Sirius satellite venture hasn't been what you'd call profitable. Therefor, since they really need to expand coverage, such as they've done...............then it's just going to have to cost a bit more. That's the economics of it all, and I wouldn't go out of my way to punish them. IMO, it's a very valuable service.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
I got the email also, but I guess it is still worth the extra 60 to me.

Whats a guy to do? Check the weather and TFRs before every flight instead of during the preflight:rolleyes:
 
I really hate when two large company's merge. :(
It is the consumer that pays the price cause now there's no competition.

They can basically ask what they want and all we can do is either subscribe or not subscribe. There's no longer the choice of a diff company. :mad:
 
Didn't one of XM and Sirius have a lifetime subscription option originally? Are they still honoring that?
 
Switch to ADS-B, looks like it is coming online rapidly. There is hardware and software available. Will pay for itself in very quickly.
Check http://www.radenna.com
Display is free if you own iPhone or iPod Touch :)

BillC said:
Just received this from the XM folks. Looks like the LT and Aviator services will cost an additional $5.00 per month starting late March 2010.
[/I]
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radenna said:
Switch to ADS-B, looks like it is coming online rapidly. There is hardware and software available. Will pay for itself in very quickly.
Check http://www.radenna.com
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OR http://www.navworx.com/

which is an install in the plane to read out on an EFIS. Here are the EFIS that are working with the ADS600 system:

http://www.navworx.com/displays.asp

They all are displaying traffic at this time. The weather comes into the ADS600 unit but, unless your EFIS mfg. has put the program in the EFIS to display weather it will not get from the ADS600 to the EFIS screen.

I know tha GRT is working on the program but it is not front burner yet. Maybe soon! :)
 
Snowflake said:
Didn't one of XM and Sirius have a lifetime subscription option originally? Are they still honoring that?
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I recall that Sirius offered a life time subscription option but, the catch was that it was the life time of your Sirius radios with a strict limit on the number of times the radio ID could be changed. I manged to break three roadies radios in a year so my life time subscription would have lasted only one year (they would overheat and stop working or the channel up down switch would break.)
 
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I guess I just don't understand their bean counters.

The great thing about a passive satellite service like XM is almost completely immune from issues of scalability with the technology. If they have 10 customers or 10,000,000 the satellites work exactly the same.

Most GA pilots don't fly all that much and it's hard to stomach a monthly bill for two or three flights a month. I can immediately think of four people with XM-capable equipment in their airplanes that do not have XM subscriptions because they can't justify the cost.

I'm a firm believer that if they were to REDUCE the price they would see more pilots sign up. I'm curious if they even examined this or not, or if they just went with the grade school math approach of simply raising prices when they need more money.

Or on the other hand, maybe they're just trying to milk as much money from pilots as possible, knowing that the days of this service are numbered with ADS-B being rolled out. Of course I don't think ADS-B weather is going to be "free" either. ADS-B technology enables per flight hour user fees to be implemented and I think that's probably where we're headed.
 
Who has a voice

Normally when it comes to issues such as this and updates for GPS data, I like to vote with my dollars. Unfortunately, the number of providers of services such as GPS and Weather are limited... and so is the competition.

We need our alphabet groups to address this issue. AOPA and EAA should be our voice on this, but I wonder if that will happen. Remember, the providers are big advertisers.

I'm all for capitalism, it's enabled me to be a thousandaire. Part of effective capitalism is competition. That is lacking here.

I'm hoping for ADS-B to ramp up fully. I plan a Navwork receiver, and hope that Dynon will offer the display capability. I think Garmin will not...
 
siriusxm

N395V said:
I doubt the price increase is for the purpose of generating excess profit. More likely a last desperate grasp at survival.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10463935/sirius-xm-bankruptcy-threats-real.html

Bad management, bad economy?????

Probably a combination of both.

I am spoiled and would not want XM to go away. I am also not going to hold my breath waiting for widespread ads.
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Oh man, that article is a year old. SIRI is trading at 0.85 cents today,
They were trading 0.08 cents this time last year.

Sirius XM: Bankruptcy Threat's Real
By Robert Holmes 02/13/09 - 12:16 PM ESTAdd Comment

I'm an audio subscriber as well and don't want then to go away either.
 
Jamie said:
Or on the other hand, maybe they're just trying to milk as much money from pilots as possible, knowing that the days of this service are numbered with ADS-B being rolled out. Of course I don't think ADS-B weather is going to be "free" either. ADS-B technology enables per flight hour user fees to be implemented and I think that's probably where we're headed.
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From the ADSB website:
ADS-B broadcasts are free services provided by the FAA. There will be no subscription charges for these basic services, which include weather, traffic, and aeronautical information.
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Of course there's no guarantee they won't start charging for it in the future, but at least for now it looks like it'll be free. I wonder what the coverage will be like in Canada.
 
slyfox said:
I'm a vfr pilot. I found the service to be useless. I shut if off. OH I fly 360hrs a year.
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I'm VFR too, and fly Utah, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, & Wyoming. To me, it's one of the best additions to the cockpit that I've ever had. I suppose it just depends how far you plan to fly VFR per trip, as well as the time of year.

L.Adamson --- RV6A

edit: speaking of Idaho, on the last few trips up there, XM weather placed two TFR's for "gas releases" around the Twin Falls area on my Garmin 696 moving map. I have no idea of what these releases are related too, but it's great to have them on the moving map in real time, instead of having to do a lot of research before flight, and hoping you don't miss something. TFR's have also popped up for forest fires, goverment aircraft in the vicinity, temporary airport tower during an airshow, and more. I also use the service to get ATIS, AWOS, ASOS, altimeter settings, as well as wind reports far ahead of the time that I can get them on the comm.
 
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I found that the winds aloft was a joke in most cases. The next rad was unreliable, meaning it showed clouds but none were there, or it didn't show clouds and they were there. I fly a bunch and believe me when I say this, most the time I had signal not available, arghhh. I shut it off, I will have numbers for the airports asos along the way and call ahead with my cell phone. If things are too bad, I just won't fly. I only do it for fun anyway.
 
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