Sirius problems

My Dad bought me a Sirius radio receiver for my birthday a couple months ago. He got me the car unit and an additional workstation unit. I had been procrastinating about trying it out because I didn't really think I would like it. I have no complaints about my terrestrial radio besides too many commercials, but even that gives me an excuse to channel-surf which I also enjoy.

Sirius has no commercials and lots of speciality channels, including all-comedy, traffic, and weather reports. I also learned that Sirius broadcasts every NFL game and after 6 weeks of CBS airing awful Raiders games I was finally inspired to open up the packages and give it a whirl, if only to listen to NFL games when I worked late on Mondays.

So, I brought it in to work and unpacked everything and plugged it in. Then went
online and activated it (paid for 1 year subscription.) It didn't work. I got
the message "Antenna Not Detected" Then I called for help. The first person
asked if the antenna was plugged in and did it have a clear view of the sky. I said "No" because it is at my desk at work. I asked, "Does it not work indoors?" She said "Hold on" and transferred me.

I was transferred to a guy that mumbled badly and had me push some buttons first and
then unplug everything and wait 2 minutes and plug everything back in. Same
error message. He said I need to get it replaced. There was a problem with my unit that was 1 in 1000 he assured me. Funny, because my Dad warned me that he had to get his replaced twice. I guess it is a 1 in 1 problem if your name is Rosenthal!

I planned on heading over to Best Buy on my lunch break to see if I could get this
thing sorted out. Before starting my car, I thought I would try to see if at least the car antenna worked, and it did, but only when I held it out the window. The car antenna has a powerful magnet on it, which the instructions say should be attached through the window and onto the roof. This presents a problem for me because I have a convertible. I also tried the first antenna, and it worked fine outside.

So, I called them again and first told them my antenna works outside. And after a little arguing I was told that if I didn't have a window at my desk I simply couldn't use it at work. On to the car question....I asked where to put the magnetic antenna. The first idea was roof, but obviously I can't do that with my convertible. The second idea was metal cross bar (which many convertibles have, but I don't), third and final idea was metal side-view mirrors (Alas, mine are plastic.) I asked if maybe anybody else had another suggestion. He said that was all anybody had. He then starting throwing out random ideas, like maybe velcro-ing it somewhere. It was at this point that I asked for a complete refund.

I found out some things. Mostly that the people that answer the phones at Sirius don't know their products very well. At least the ones I spoke with (Is the 1 in 1000 problem that I didn't realize the antenna needed to be in a window?). It turns out that the antenna does need to have clear view of the sky. And that is basically impossible for those of us that work in windowless cubicles, unless I were to wire through the ceiling, but the Facilities Dept. here doesn't even like us touching the thermostat.

Am I the first convertible owner to try to use Sirius Radio? They sure made me feel that way. Attaching the antenna using velcro to my dashboard might have worked fine, but not being able to listen at my desk at work made it undesirable to me. I have never owned a satellite dish, but I guess they are the same story, as I always see them attached to roofs or on patios. It seems like a decent product, but too bad they don't have a solution for the workplace. I suggested to them coming up with a wireless option so that I can connect to an antenna that I leave in/on my car from my desk. Seemed like a good idea to me.

Overall, I am not impressed with Sirius.