Sirius/XM Radio - Faulty radio or cheap radio???

Nope. When getting the free 2-week Sirius/XM I've experienced the dropout only very rarely, such as when I'm in my garage. I don't typically drive in areas surrounded by tall buildings or lots of freeway overpasses, just tall trees and lots of hills.

 

I have a 2012 v three and it behaves the same way. My Grand Caravan does not lose signal like the Prius does. Good luck getting the dealer to do anything. My dealer drove the car around the block and then said they "could not duplicate the problem." I am not going to renew my Sirius.

 

My Sirius/XM in my 2012 PIPA works well. No drop out, but no tall buildings or mountains in my area.

 

I have the 2014 pip base it only drops under freeways over pass but otherwise then that rarely......sorry

 

Just North of the 49th parallel, we had a one year subscription, then managed wrest free of their oil claws.

Since then periodically I'll get an email letting me know it's back on, for a week or two, and won't I come back.

These freebies are their worst advertising, only serve to remind me how spotty the reception is, particularly if there's buildings, trees, embankments, retaining walls, and so on.

Maybe if we were further south it'd be better, do not know.

 

I have the base 2014 PiP and have had SiriusXM since January. The only time mine drops out is when I go under overpasses slowly or park in a garage of some sort. Besides that it's been perfect.

 

Based on various reports the receiver in the Prius isn't of the same reception quality/capability as in some other cars. We often go on trips with mountains or steep hilly areas, also tall forests. The signal is definitely lost in some of those areas. We just switch over to the USB drive for a however long the "problem" lasts. Sometimes silence with breeze blowing at the slower speeds is nice. All in all we are pretty happy with SiriusXM in the Prius.

 

This is the 4th car I've owned with XM/Sirius and all four dropped out in the same basic areas.

 

With Sirius/XM in four cars and at work, I like it. Along with DirectTV, Comcast internet, etc., technology that I'm not willing to live without. Prices can be negotiated, it's all relatively cheap entertainment. We all have vices in life.

 

It's not going to be a warranty issue.

The radios are POS, but it sounds like your drop outs are more environmental than eqpt related.
Even if they replace the radio and antenna, you're still going to encounter the same problem.
They recently turned mine on for a week and I lasted about half way through my 3-mile commute to work.

I didn't have any buffering/signal fade issues, but it was the same canned crap that I didn't sign up for after the 6-month free subscription expired.

Shove some media onto a usb drive.

Good Luck!