Sirius Bug
- Thread starter HomieG
- Start date
The Sirius side is a little weak when it comes to deactivation (It always has been) but XM's side has an encryption key system that ensures that a deactivated radio won't work for long after its been deactivated.
I don't see anyone "hacking" the system, though. It's all integrated, unlike satellite TV with the access cards.
I don't see anyone "hacking" the system, though. It's all integrated, unlike satellite TV with the access cards.
Well snakster my friend, you are being generous when you say a little weak. Try damn near non existent. When a person like me can demonstrate 3 or 4 tuners that have never been deactivated this says a lot about how crappy their system truly is. The article goes on to say they have since fixed the issue, but doesn't say rather it goes back and deactivates all those existing tuners that should have already been deactivated but never were.
Just for kicks I have a Streamer that I am going to leave on for the next 72 hours that should be sufficient time to see if they have actually addressed this issue. In that time my tuner should be turned off if that is the case. I can tell you that I've never had an XM tuner run constantly for 72 hours after deactivating without it being turned off. You can do the hit and miss thing for a while on XM, but eventually they will get you.
On SBS there were a number of threads on this issue and this issue was reported to Sirius by many of us through our connections at SBS, but we were always told this issue wasn't big enough for them to be concerned. I've always wonder how many folks are listening to Sirius without even having an active subscription because the tuner they bought of Ebay or a family member gave them that had been sitting in a closet for a few months continues to work months and maybe even years later. I have a Streamer that is right at 2 years without being shut off, I have an JVC Sirius Connect that was running everyday in my company van, even though I was using my SL2, I left the Sirius Connect in place to see how long it would stay activated. Well its been well over a year and as of me getting a new company vehicle last month it was still working.
By the way for the record, I have personally contacted Sirius on all these tuners and reported this issue. I gave them ESN numbers asking them to deactivate them. Each time I was told those ESN were no longer in the system and there was no way for them to be deactivated and that eventually they would be. Having turners 1 and 2 years later and them never being deactivated damn sure doesn't help their bottom line. Hell for all they know Sirius may actually have 10 million tuners activated, but are only getting paid for 8.7 million. Do the math! Yet even now they seem to be downplaying it by saying they don't comment on Security issues.
Just for kicks I have a Streamer that I am going to leave on for the next 72 hours that should be sufficient time to see if they have actually addressed this issue. In that time my tuner should be turned off if that is the case. I can tell you that I've never had an XM tuner run constantly for 72 hours after deactivating without it being turned off. You can do the hit and miss thing for a while on XM, but eventually they will get you.
On SBS there were a number of threads on this issue and this issue was reported to Sirius by many of us through our connections at SBS, but we were always told this issue wasn't big enough for them to be concerned. I've always wonder how many folks are listening to Sirius without even having an active subscription because the tuner they bought of Ebay or a family member gave them that had been sitting in a closet for a few months continues to work months and maybe even years later. I have a Streamer that is right at 2 years without being shut off, I have an JVC Sirius Connect that was running everyday in my company van, even though I was using my SL2, I left the Sirius Connect in place to see how long it would stay activated. Well its been well over a year and as of me getting a new company vehicle last month it was still working.
By the way for the record, I have personally contacted Sirius on all these tuners and reported this issue. I gave them ESN numbers asking them to deactivate them. Each time I was told those ESN were no longer in the system and there was no way for them to be deactivated and that eventually they would be. Having turners 1 and 2 years later and them never being deactivated damn sure doesn't help their bottom line. Hell for all they know Sirius may actually have 10 million tuners activated, but are only getting paid for 8.7 million. Do the math! Yet even now they seem to be downplaying it by saying they don't comment on Security issues.
I have often wondered about this.
DAB, I will be very curious to see if your radio still works.
I was under the impression that if you had your radio turned OFF when you deactivated it and left it off for a while, it would never receive the deactivation signal and would therfore remain working.
DAB, I will be very curious to see if your radio still works.
I was under the impression that if you had your radio turned OFF when you deactivated it and left it off for a while, it would never receive the deactivation signal and would therfore remain working.
Its true, they can now zap them. I learned that first hand a few days ago.
the key was to remove the antenna before deactivating the receiver.
the key was to remove the antenna before deactivating the receiver.
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Well they have always been able to ZAP them. If the tuner is on when they send the deactivation it will deactivate the tuner, that has always been the case. However, if the tuner is not on and you don't turn it on for a week or two, then the chances of them ever shutting it down gets slimmer with each passing day.
when i said zap them i was referring to the fact that they are now sending signals to kill radio's that have already been deactivated but are still receiving a signal.
Ahh.. okay my misread! Well I have mine up and running and it has been for about 4 hours now, still going strong, so we shall see!
My very first XM radio was a Sony Plug and Play. I kept it for about a year before I bought a Delphi SkyFi. About 2 months after I switched from the Sony to the Delphi, I sold it to a friend. He gave it to an in-law and when they went to install it, he said it was still getting service...:right:
That was back around Dec of 2003...
I called XM just to see if I was being charged for that radio being on and the CSR said no. That the radio would still be on until that billing cycle had ended. At the time I was on a three month billing cycle.
That was back around Dec of 2003...
I called XM just to see if I was being charged for that radio being on and the CSR said no. That the radio would still be on until that billing cycle had ended. At the time I was on a three month billing cycle.
Yeah, you can do the hit and miss thing with the XM radios too, but once they start listening to it for along periods of time, it will get zapped as riskybzns calls it. LOL
Actually I like your term! Zapped seems appropriate to me!
By the way over 24 hours now, my streamer... still going strong, no zap yet! :no:
That's odd. I'm curious as to how they zapped my starmate after i cancelled it and had the antenna unplugged when it was cancelled.
it played for like an hour and then all of a sudden, zap!
it played for like an hour and then all of a sudden, zap!
bug
If you leave the radio OFF for 3 plus months ,then turn it on after that then it will stay working-So yes DAB is right ,they have a pretty bad flaw there!Who is hurting?THE STCOKHOLDERS! Tried the same thing with Xm and it shuts right off.
If you leave the radio OFF for 3 plus months ,then turn it on after that then it will stay working-So yes DAB is right ,they have a pretty bad flaw there!Who is hurting?THE STCOKHOLDERS! Tried the same thing with Xm and it shuts right off.
Maybe they should worry about taking care of their paying customers first and address their technical issues before they start cleaning up a mess like this? Maybe this makes up for all the radios they have disrupted and broken with their channel updates? Internet radios are around the corner. Which means WiFi and 3G access. Right now, if SiriusXM can get their $#@$ together, they should be fine. If they screw around like the conglomerate they now are, they will soon find themselves right in the middle of a war in which those consumers that still dont want to pay for satellite service, or those that have been paying and think it costs too much for the shoddy service they receive will get their content from somewhere else!!
Maybe SiriusXM now thinks that they are Comcast? If companies like that were so awesome there wouldnt be AT&T Uverse or Verizon FiOS.
Anyway, what I am really talking about here is taking care of the loyal customers they already do have. And maybe they wont feel compelled to listen to these radios that have already been deactivated. Or in DABs case if they feel they have been treated fairly by the company they would return the favor. Instead of the company saying too bad, oh well and the consumer isnt really left with many alternatives.
Maybe SiriusXM now thinks that they are Comcast? If companies like that were so awesome there wouldnt be AT&T Uverse or Verizon FiOS.
Anyway, what I am really talking about here is taking care of the loyal customers they already do have. And maybe they wont feel compelled to listen to these radios that have already been deactivated. Or in DABs case if they feel they have been treated fairly by the company they would return the favor. Instead of the company saying too bad, oh well and the consumer isnt really left with many alternatives.
XM certainly had the authorization/de-authorization better covered. However, this is the inherent problem when you don't have 2-way communication.
I have an XM MyFi which I deactivated over 3 years ago. I still power it up from time to time and it still works fine and still gets all programming.
Leave that dawg on for several hours and it will eventually get turned off. You are doing the hit and miss thing. The difference with Sirius is that you can leave tuners on for weeks without turning them off and they will never get deactivated. But that XM tuner you leave it on and it will eventually get turned off.