Sirius Radio Issues .. Help

[Feelin Nauti]

I have a 2015 X5. It is newer to me. I have a unlimited channel subscription for the Sirius radio.


I only receive channels 002 thru 213 (I think) I can not tune to 000 or 001 or anything above 213.

There are channels that go up to 450 and the one I listen to the most is 313.

I have called Sirius and had them refresh the signal twice, spoke to tech support and taken back to the BMW dealer.

The dealer is telling me that... its just the way it is on a 2015... WTF

Can they not do a update or something to get all the damn channels that are available ?

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Feelin Nauti

I have a 2015 X5. It is newer to me. I have a unlimited channel subscription for the Sirius radio.


I only receive channels 002 thru 213 (I think) I can not tune to 000 or 001 or anything above 213.

There are channels that go up to 450 and the one I listen to the most is 313.

I have called Sirius and had them refresh the signal twice, spoke to tech support and taken back to the BMW dealer.

The dealer is telling me that... its just the way it is on a 2015... WTF

Can they not do a update or something to get all the damn channels that are available ?

I know it might be obvious but make sure Sirius has your new Radio ID. When I got my new to me x5 it took a few resend signals before it worked. I just click resend signal on my Sirius account online.

[Feelin Nauti]

Originally Posted by Russmov

I know it might be obvious but make sure Sirius has your new Radio ID. When I got my new to me x5 it took a few resend signals before it worked. I just click resend signal on my Sirius account online.

Does your 2015 X5 go to channel 450 ? like it should ?

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Feelin Nauti

Does your 2015 X5 go to channel 450 ? like it should ?

That's a good question. Does it depend what package you went with? I can go check it

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Feelin Nauti

Does your 2015 X5 go to channel 450 ? like it should ?

Mine goes to 184
I don't have the top package. I really only listen to 10 channels

[Feelin Nauti]

Originally Posted by Russmov

That's a good question. Does it depend what package you went with? I can go check it

I have the unlimited package and should be able to get all channels.

I just called BMW tech support and talked with what they call a Genius.

T
He said that on 2015 it was satellite radio... not Sirius XM

So now my question is … Has anybody found a solution to possible changing out the satellite radio interface for a newer one with Sirius XM

[Russmov]

Originally Posted by Feelin Nauti

I have the unlimited package and should be able to get all channels.

I just called BMW tech support and talked with what they call a Genius.

T
He said that on 2015 it was satellite radio... not Sirius XM

So now my question is … Has anybody found a solution to possible changing out the satellite radio interface for a newer one with Sirius XM

Ahh ok. Well I haven't got any more ideas or suggestions but hope you get it figured out!

[alphaod]

My 2015 has the full SiriusXM package. I think it doesn’t support the new channels. It doesn’t even have album art. It goes to about channel 200 then resets. I can see all the channels on the app up to channel 994 but not on my vehicle. That said I only listen to like five channels.

[FrankoQ]

I called Sirius this week for the same issue.
They had no solution and gave me a $10 credit on my account.
They said that's all the car can take and they cannot do anything about it.
So, I have up to 213 on the car and I can see up to 900s streaming on the app.

very disappointing.

[Chigger]

Yeah, mine is only up to ~180-200.

[gqgambler]

It's the radio

[Feelin Nauti]

When I called Sirius again (4th time) they told me I have 4 options...

Get newer vehicle,
Buy their add on receiver and use the AUX input and power port on the center console
Stream it from my phone and use Bluetooth to the radio.
Deal with what I have and learn to live with it...

I not buying newer vehicle and
I don't like extra cords or extra screen to deal with
Streaming from my phone is my best option. It gives me song and artist on the HUD.
Stock HUD is ok for most channels I listen to but I do like other channels higher channels than 213 so for those I will stream.

[RedStick]

This is common amongst all vehicles built before certain dates I'd imagine as channels were expanded, etc.

I had a 2012 Ford F150 that capped out at around 212. It was a limitation in the actual radio, and as such, I had no other options short of streaming via bluetooth or usb for the other channels.

[LeopardM3]

This is a common issue, which I finally figured out this weekend as well, after calls to SiriusXM to discuss my All-Access subscription and some online searching.

Basically, there are 3 separate radio platforms out there:
Sirius Radio, XM Radio, and SiriusXM.

The problem was caused by the fact that the two satellite radio companies merged in 2008, but for some reason, certain car companies still kept making a radio platform that was Sirius-based or XM-based only. I imagine this had to do with however much it may have cost the car companies to license the joint tech.

SO, to tell which kind of radio you have, and thus what's compatible, you have to go to this page:
https://www.siriusxm.com/vehicleavailability

Enter your vehicle make and model and the year, and you'll know which of the 3 platforms are supported.

Sadly, the 2015 X5 only has the Sirius platform, not the SiriusXM joint platform radio, so we can only get channels up to 213. What was said above is correct re. streaming from the app, so if there are particular sports or music channels I want to listen to above 213 (that's pretty rare), I just log in to the app, stream them, and bluetooth connect my phone to the car.
I'm sort of annoyed that, 7 years after the merger, a premium brand like BMW was still selling Sirius-only satellite radios in their cars. I imagine the new cars have the joint SiriusXM radios - at least I hope they do.

Fun fact: my wife's 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited has the joint platform radio, so we can get all the channels on it. Kind of embarrassing that the Grand Cherokee has it and the X5 doesn't...

[Rainer M]

Might sound stupid.
I do assume that the channel list is set to "all" ?
My wife has an F15 2018 and I drive a E93 2011.
When I activated my radio this year with the 5 dollar a month offer, I couldn't find half the station that my wife has.
Stupid me didn't set the channel list to "all"
My 2011 goes up all the way to the sports channels and talk channels and what have you.
I don't have a channel number on top of my head but I believe they go pretty high up.
I can not see that a 2015 wouldn't be able to get all channels.

[CanadianLurker]

Originally Posted by LeopardM3

This is a common issue, which I finally figured out this weekend as well, after calls to SiriusXM to discuss my All-Access subscription and some online searching.

Basically, there are 3 separate radio platforms out there:
Sirius Radio, XM Radio, and SiriusXM.

The problem was caused by the fact that the two satellite radio companies merged in 2008, but for some reason, certain car companies still kept making a radio platform that was Sirius-based or XM-based only. I imagine this had to do with however much it may have cost the car companies to license the joint tech.

SO, to tell which kind of radio you have, and thus what's compatible, you have to go to this page:
https://www.siriusxm.com/vehicleavailability

Enter your vehicle make and model and the year, and you'll know which of the 3 platforms are supported.

Sadly, the 2015 X5 only has the Sirius platform, not the SiriusXM joint platform radio, so we can only get channels up to 213. What was said above is correct re. streaming from the app, so if there are particular sports or music channels I want to listen to above 213 (that's pretty rare), I just log in to the app, stream them, and bluetooth connect my phone to the car.
I'm sort of annoyed that, 7 years after the merger, a premium brand like BMW was still selling Sirius-only satellite radios in their cars. I imagine the new cars have the joint SiriusXM radios - at least I hope they do.

Fun fact: my wife's 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited has the joint platform radio, so we can get all the channels on it. Kind of embarrassing that the Grand Cherokee has it and the X5 doesn't...

Yes, the issue is post-merger hardware. I learned about this a couple of years ago when they did a channel reorganization and a couple of my wife's favourites moved up higher in the band and the older spots were allocated to some channels she didn't care for. Neither our 2011 Audi nor 2014 VW could get the higher channels and she was pissed! After some back & forth with SiriusXM and some research I came to the same conclusions and understanding that you've laid out in your post.

[brevets10000]

Originally Posted by alphaod

My 2015 has the full SiriusXM package. I think it doesn’t support the new channels. It doesn’t even have album art. It goes to about channel 200 then resets. I can see all the channels on the app up to channel 994 but not on my vehicle. That said I only listen to like five channels.

Album art is a feature of EBT - not sure how that aligns with Sirius vs EBT