Poor Sirius/XM reception

[October]

Just picked up my 2017 ESV and noticed the satellite radio would intermittently silence randomly. I'm sure its not a satellite reception issue since its occurring in the wide open sky areas on the highway where I know (from my other cars with Sirius/XM) there are no problems. Anyone else experience this? I am wondering whether the satellite tuner and/or antenna is defective.

 

[jmellon]

I am having the same issue with my 2016 Yukon. I took it into GMC service, and they said it was a known issue with Sirius/XM. I called Sirius/XM to check that, and they confirmed they have been having signal issues for weeks and couldn't let me know when it would be resolved. The gave me an adjustment to my bill for the problem. It still is happening on my radio, just not as frequently as it was.

 

[gat0r]

someone within last few days mentioned..... GM has a service bulletin that has software update for both the xm radio and infotainment module

might be worth asking about
i am , next time i am @ the dealer

 

[Yukon John]

I went thru a similar issue with my 2016 Yukon. Mine turned out to be a defective antenna....replaced under warranty.

 

[bzpilot]

The issue many people are experiencing is supposedly related to the stock antenna and radio being susceptible to intermodulation with T-Mobile Cellular frequencies when close to T-Mobile Next Gen towers/equipment that have been updated recently with their newest technology (over the last 18+ months). The issue is most prevalent in metro areas where signal is boosted to a higher level to cover the large T-Mobile customer base. The signal issue can be made more prevalent if you already have a bad antenna or bad antenna installation (water in antenna line/connection).

Article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/fcc-sides-with-t-mobile-in-sirius-dispute-1449787246

The courts sided with T-Mobile last December and now it is in Sirius/XM's hands to update their equipment to filter out the T-Mobile frequencies causing it's equipment to have signal loss issues. The main problem with that is more than likely this will have to be a physical hardware update - minimum of adding a signal filter, possibly replacing an antenna and maybe even the radio itself. The chance of this being covered under a manufacturer warranty is unlikely considering how many vehicles would be involved.

It'll be interesting to see if a new antenna model or radio model comes out as newer vehicles are released.

You can use this link: http://www.sensorly.com/map/4G/US/USA/T-Mobile/lte_310260#|coverage

This link above will show you a map of T-Mobile Next Gen 4G speeds. I have noticed that my satellite radio (2016 Yukon Denali) drops out only in areas where the T-Mobile speeds are the highest (2 darkest shades of purple depicted on the map) which correlates to being closest to T-Mobile transmission equipment. Coincidence? Doubtful.

I experience the same signal dropouts in the exact same locations in my '16 GMC Yukon as my girlfriend does in her '15 Chevy Malibu. Different vehicles, different radios, different antennas - same Sirius/XM signal dropout issues.

 

[jeffbco]

I've been experiencing drop-outs on a 2017 Yukon Denali. I've been living in the same geographical area and using XM radio in a variety of vehicles (Chevy, GMC, BWM, Lexus, Porsche) for more than 10 years and never had an issue with reception. I don' think T-Mobile can be blamed since they operate in my area and my wife's XM in the Lexus works flawlessly and has done so in the 3+ years of ownership. So who do I get to address this - GM or XM? Is there a fix?

 

[October]

The dealer replaced the antenna on my 2017 Escalade and the problem persisted. I had a loaner CT6 during the service and noticed the same reception issue problem. I'm not inclined to have them take apart my dash to replace the CUE unit. As I originally posted, my other cars (BMW, Toyota) and previous 2015 Yukon Denali never has any reception issues. At this time, I have an external lifetime subscribed Sirius radio (with its own antenna) hooked up to my Escalade and all is fine.

 

[nedac]

I am having the exact same issue on my 2016 Suburban LTZ. I get reception about 75% of the time. My wife had a Mazda and Honda, both were fine... service 99% of the time. I have a friend with a Ford, no problems... only mine.

I have brought it in several times and the dealer refuses to do anything. My warranty is almost up. I am about to start sending nasty emails to everyone at GM.

Anyone know if a TSB was ever released for this?

 

[Kpwweb]

Digging deeper, this was an interesting article:

https://insidetowers.com/andy-seybold-offers-solution-to-t-mobile-siriusxm-interference/

 

[nedac]

Following up... finally go the dealer to replace the antenna... its definitely better. Not perfect, but much better. Drop-outs are very brief, if at all.