Most subscribers to satellite and other digital radio services will know, all too well, what the infamous “PFFFFFF!” sound is. It’s the brief sound a digital radio makes in lieu of static on FM or AM… unequivocal warning that you’re about to be plunged into complete silence as your receiver loses track of the signal.
While it’s only coincidence that XM radio’s outage noise is akin to a flamboyantly gay male dismissing someone with derision, XM users have been led to wonder if their radios adopted the same attitude. They’ve heard that sound quite a lot over the past 24 hours, as they saw their service go in, and out, and in and out… andinandoutandinandoutandinandout repeatedly, if they got a signal at all.
The culprit? One of XM’s very expensive satellites mysteriously went offline for over 24 hours, depriving North America of not only half the XM signal, but of the 1,000+ ground repeaters that XM has which tune to that satellite in order to boost signal levels. The continent-wide signal is back to “normal service levels” now, and XM claims the problem was bad software, but this latest snafu has led many of its subscribers to question the robustness of the company’s infrastructure, which seems to be fraying at the seams after a mere six years of operation.
This has certainly not been a good month for XM!