sirius ??

[Henry Kolesnik]

Today on a lark at an estate sale I bought a Sirius radio and took it
home, plugged it in and it started updating and came on. Tunes
everything fine. It's an Audiovox SIR PNP3 in a boom box. The booklet
and box has a 2004 date and I assume it hasn't been on in years. I'm
guessing the previous owner might have purchased a lifetime
subscription. How do I find out what kind of subscription its running
on? Included in the box was a Audiovox SIR PNP1 but it has no cradle or
antenna. So how do I find a mobile cradle and if the PNP1 is on the
same sub? Which is supposed to be the better radio?
Thanks
Hank

[Rick Brandt]

Post by Henry Kolesnik
Today on a lark at an estate sale I bought a Sirius radio and took it
home, plugged it in and it started updating and came on. Tunes
everything fine. It's an Audiovox SIR PNP3 in a boom box. The booklet
and box has a 2004 date and I assume it hasn't been on in years. I'm
guessing the previous owner might have purchased a lifetime
subscription.

Not necessarily. My impression was that when you switch radios or cancel
your service that they send a message to the unit to disable it in the same
way that they send one to enable it when you sign up or get a new radio. It
occurs to me though that they aren't going to send that signal forever.

When I bought a new unit I put the old one in storage and several months
later on a whim I hooked it up. Still received all channels just fine.
Either they don't send a kill signal at all, or they only do so for a
limited time so if the unit is turned off during that period it just keeps
on working.

[Valued Corporate #120,345 Employee (B A R R Y)]

On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:19:25 -0500, "Rick Brandt"

Post by Rick Brandt
Not necessarily. My impression was that when you switch radios or cancel
your service that they send a message to the unit to disable it in the same
way that they send one to enable it when you sign up or get a new radio. It
occurs to me though that they aren't going to send that signal forever.
When I bought a new unit I put the old one in storage and several months
later on a whim I hooked it up. Still received all channels just fine.
Either they don't send a kill signal at all, or they only do so for a
limited time so if the unit is turned off during that period it just keeps
on working.

My guess, based on personal experience with XM, is that they might
send the kill this way:

- Repeated often for a period of time near the cancellation
- Less often, but still repeatedly, maybe monthly or so, as time
passes away from the cancellation date
- Possibly on a very occasional basis forever, maybe at slow sports
times and odd hours when extra bandwidth may be available.

Kill signals are bandwidth, so they may sneak reruns in whenever
possible.

I had a semi-defective XM unit that finally got nailed almost two
years after I had moved my subscription to a new unit. The old unit
sat in a drawer for a few months before I tried it again. Since I
only used it sporadically in my shed, I think I missed the kill for a
long time.

[Henry Kolesnik]

Interesting. So does Sirius have to send a kill signal to my radio to
stop it from working and if so how often to do they send them? Other
than continuing to use the radio is there any other way to find out the
duration of the subscription?

"Valued Corporate #120,345 Employee (B A R R Y)"

Post by Valued Corporate #120,345 Employee (B A R R Y)
On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:19:25 -0500, "Rick Brandt"

Post by Rick Brandt
Not necessarily. My impression was that when you switch radios or cancel
your service that they send a message to the unit to disable it in the same
way that they send one to enable it when you sign up or get a new radio. It
occurs to me though that they aren't going to send that signal
forever.
When I bought a new unit I put the old one in storage and several months
later on a whim I hooked it up. Still received all channels just fine.
Either they don't send a kill signal at all, or they only do so for a
limited time so if the unit is turned off during that period it just keeps
on working.

My guess, based on personal experience with XM, is that they might
- Repeated often for a period of time near the cancellation
- Less often, but still repeatedly, maybe monthly or so, as time
passes away from the cancellation date
- Possibly on a very occasional basis forever, maybe at slow sports
times and odd hours when extra bandwidth may be available.
Kill signals are bandwidth, so they may sneak reruns in whenever
possible.
I had a semi-defective XM unit that finally got nailed almost two
years after I had moved my subscription to a new unit. The old unit
sat in a drawer for a few months before I tried it again. Since I
only used it sporadically in my shed, I think I missed the kill for a
long time.

[Valued Corporate #120,345 Employee (B A R R Y)]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 07:22:45 -0500, "Henry Kolesnik"

Post by Henry Kolesnik
Interesting. So does Sirius have to send a kill signal to my radio to
stop it from working and if so how often to do they send them?

Yes, and I don't know. Every radio receives the same signal. For the
radio to allow you to hear the signal, it needs to know the code.

The system turns the radio of when authorized and off when
de-authorized.

Post by Henry Kolesnik
Other
than continuing to use the radio is there any other way to find out the
duration of the subscription?

Not that I know of.

Google may turn something up.

[Joel Koltner]

Interesting. So does Sirius have to send a kill signal to my radio to stop
it from working and if so how often to do they send them?

Yes. As to how often... who knows? Sirius definitely isn't going to make
that sort of information publicly available! I suspect the response you
quoted is about right -- often at first, less often over time.

Other than continuing to use the radio is there any other way to find out
the duration of the subscription?

Maybe. Call up Sirius and ask. Tell them you bought it at a garage sale and
want to know if there's a current owner listed on the account because you were
thinking of activating the radio. (You can't activate a radio if it's already
activated in someone else's name.) If it isn't activated, isn't just a matter
of time before you get nailed. If it is activated, if you lucky you *might*
be able to get the agent to tell you the subscription duration.

[Henry Kolesnik]

I'm guessing so tell me if I'm wrong. I can't really see Sirius sending
a kill signal to a radio but a turn on code. I'm guessing they match
the radios ID up with their data base and let it turn stay turned on if
the bill is paid or it's a lifetime sub. I can't see how they would
have anyway of knowing if a radio is turned on or not.
Their data bases are probably screwed up and so they don't turn any off
and also because it keeps their listener count up.

Post by Joel Koltner

Post by Henry Kolesnik
Interesting. So does Sirius have to send a kill signal to my radio
to stop it from working and if so how often to do they send them?

Yes. As to how often... who knows? Sirius definitely isn't going to
make that sort of information publicly available! I suspect the
response you quoted is about right -- often at first, less often over
time.

Post by Henry Kolesnik
Other than continuing to use the radio is there any other way to find
out the duration of the subscription?

Maybe. Call up Sirius and ask. Tell them you bought it at a garage
sale and want to know if there's a current owner listed on the account
because you were thinking of activating the radio. (You can't
activate a radio if it's already activated in someone else's name.)
If it isn't activated, isn't just a matter of time before you get
nailed. If it is activated, if you lucky you *might* be able to get
the agent to tell you the subscription duration.

[Joel Koltner]

I'm guessing so tell me if I'm wrong. I can't really see Sirius sending a
kill signal to a radio but a turn on code.

Sirius absolutely sends both "turn on" and "turn off" codes. I doubt they
send any "turn on" codes except when you first activate the radio -- hence the
reason they verify the radio is on and receiving a signal when you call them
up to activate it.

I can't see how they would have anyway of knowing if a radio is turned on
or not.

You're correct, Sirius has no way of knowing if your radio is turned on or
not.

Their data bases are probably screwed up and so they don't turn any off and
also because it keeps their listener count up.

Oh, they turn off plenty... but they have very limited bandwidth so after
awhile it doesn't make sense of them to constantly send "turn off" codes to
all deactivated radios.