Newman Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Probably just a coincidence but as of this week I am not getting any MSN Direct signal. The signal strength indicator is all grayed out, says "Connecting to MSN Direct" when I try to check the status, and when I go into the hidden screen to check detail information everything is blank. Am I alone with this? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6605stang Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Probably just a coincidence but as of this week I am not getting any MSN Direct signal. The signal strength indicator is all grayed out, says "Connecting to MSN Direct" when I try to check the status, and when I go into the hidden screen to check detail information everything is blank. Am I alone with this? Mine worked this morning for gas prices and traffic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dwhitley0381 Posted November 6, 2009 Report Share Posted November 6, 2009 Mine worked today.. but when its raining and traffic is bad it does not work... MSN sucks.. and that is why they are closing up shop... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cheezedawg Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 I bought my unit about a month ago, and I am still 1 month into the free 3 month trial (expires in early January). I was going to pay for the lifetime service once my 3 free months were up- wish I had just activated the lifetime service right away instead of going through the trial so I could get the refund. Anyway, has anybody had success paying for a lifetime membership now (after the announcement) and still getting a refund with service extended to 2012? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cheezedawg Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Never mind- it looks like they removed the lifetime activation option. I can only activate for 12 months. Bummer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6605stang Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 You can still call them and activate the lifetime subscription cards. I called today to confirm. At least the person I spoke to said you could. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Itsme Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 I bought 2 lifetime cards from 6605stang fro my car and my wife's, then activated them, then called MSN and got a refund for both comming through the mail. Thanks stang! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6605stang Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 I bought 2 lifetime cards from 6605stang fro my car and my wife's, then activated them, then called MSN and got a refund for both comming through the mail.Thanks stang! BTW, I have 8 left until the 20th. After that what I have left is going back to Best Buy and then probably in their trash can. If you want any, let me know ASAP. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
justme97 Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 So I'm dying to get a new hu and have decided that the z110bt is the best unit to get for reasons other than live traffic. But with that said traffic data is a non-negotiable...it just seems to be an expected feature for a high end unit like this. I mean, would I want my expensive hu not being able to do something a $135 garmin 265t can do (for free no less)? So from what I'm reading here Panasonic isn't planning anything yet so I basically have to wait for as long as a year before I can upgrade?? Bad move on panasonic's part because if something better comes along from another maker I'll jump on it..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6605stang Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 So I'm dying to get a new hu and have decided that the z110bt is the best unit to get for reasons other than live traffic. But with that said traffic data is a non-negotiable...it just seems to be an expected feature for a high end unit like this. I mean, would I want my expensive hu not being able to do something a $135 garmin 265t can do (for free no less)? So from what I'm reading here Panasonic isn't planning anything yet so I basically have to wait for as long as a year before I can upgrade?? Bad move on panasonic's part because if something better comes along from another maker I'll jump on it..... I hope you weren't mistaking Panasonic for Pioneer... If you meant Pioneer... The Z110BT DOES have traffic through MSN Direct and WILL have traffic through MSN Direct for the next 2+ years, during which time I personally am quite confident, they will come up with a viable replacement option for live traffic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spolkyc Posted November 13, 2009 Report Share Posted November 13, 2009 I feel they should run MSN Direct/Traffic/Weather services all through Bluetooth via tethering with a mobile phone. That way your coverage is limited to where you get service with your cell phone. Ya I would guess something like this will happen. I was thinking they would use something like the cell units in the on-star modules (I think those are basically a high wattage cell phone) that is wired to the HU like the other add on units. This would also line up with the MSN comment of ... many choices today including WiFi, Cellular, FM RDS and other digital networks are now readily available and are continuing to grow in popularity ... As such, Microsoft has made the decision to focus future U.S. and Canada investments on these existing network connections... I am thinking of this is kinda like the analog to digital conversion earlier this year for TV. Same data (actually more) will be broadcaster just in a better method. The down side is you will need some new HW to receive and convert things. And in reality this is a service provided by one company not a national standard so things likely were not planed out by end users. This does suck but think of the position Pioneer is in. There is a good chance they found out about this not too much before we did. And if so, they will need some time to figure out what a solution will actually be. Do you expect them to tell customers specifics about fix on a system while they are still planning it out? All I really expect them to say now is, Sorry for the inconvenience and we will get this fixed. Now if that is all they have to say in ~6 months then I will go in to WTF mode. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
justme97 Posted November 13, 2009 Report Share Posted November 13, 2009 lol I meant pioneer, not panasonic! I know the unit has msn direct for the next few years but I'm just worried they won't have a replacement for this service for this particular unit if I were to buy it. I always keep car sterios longer than two years and while I would gladly buy the msn reciever just for two years use ($90 for the reciever +$100 for two years use is still cheaper than tom tom's "live" cellular gps service which is $10/month) I would need a promise that I would have options after that point. Options other than selling it on ebay. For my part I reached out to pioneer hoping they could help calm my fears and asked if they had a replacement traffic service in the works. Here was thier repsonse (which I waited 3 days for!). Not exactly the response that would have gotten me to pull the trigger on a brand new "Thank you for contacting us regarding the recently announced discontinuation of MSN Direct traffic service on 1/1/2012. We share your concern regarding MSN's announcement. Pioneer is reviewing this matter with MSN to determine what can be done for Pioneer owners affected by it. Please continue to check our website for updates. We thank you for your patience, and for your patronage of Pioneer. Thank You, Pioneer Support Group" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
6605stang Posted November 13, 2009 Report Share Posted November 13, 2009 I share your sentiments. I'm going to enjoy what I have for now and still enjoy the fact that have a great HU that will probably still be worth a significant amount of money in 2 years when MSN runs out. Like I said before, there will still be plenty of people that are outside of the MSN Direct areas that will be looking for a good used Z110. And that's in the event Pioneer doesn't come up with anything for this unit, which I personally, doubt. As far as their responses however, I'm right there with ya... It's little long, but here was my exchange with them (read from the bottom up). I was a little harsher than I actually feel, but thats what it takes to get these kind of tickets noticed; Understood. I will relay this response word for word to the Pioneer community. However, I do not believe you can fully "share" our concern as we've recently purchased products FROM YOUR company that in about 2 years time will be significantly obsolete. This is not usually the case when purchasing $1800 head units and $200 add on modules. I expect their functionality and advertised services to be available MUCH longer than that. The entire Z110BT community impatiently awaits your solution to this issue. Regards, Justin ******** - Hide quoted text - On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 4:51 PM, wrote: This is a unique service issue and as such our response, and its development timeframe, have not been confirmed. We share your concern, but note that this scheduled change will not affect any Pioneer customers until 2012. --Original Message-- From: justin.*********@gmail.com Date: 11/02/09 To: customer.support@pioneerservice.com Subject: Re: Feature and Specification|B00002|3035016886 [#1274482] And what type of timeframe should I expect before receiving said "appropriate response"? Justin ******* On Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 4:38 PM, wrote: > > Thank you for contacting us regarding the recently announced > discontinuation of MSN Direct traffic service scheduled for 1/1/2012. > > Pioneer is reviewing this matter with MSN to determine what can be done for > Pioneer owners affected by it. We have created case number XXXXXX for your > complaint and will be following up with all affected users once we have > developed an appropriate response. > > Thank You, > > Mark > Customer Service Representative > > --Original Message-- > From: justin.********@gmail.com > Date: 10/29/09 > To: customer.support@pioneerservice.com > Subject: Feature and Specification|B00002|3035016886[#1274482] > > FirstName:Justin > LastName:******** > Email:justin.********@gmail.com > Address:************* > City:********** > State:CO > Zip:******** > Phone:************* > Inquiry Type:Feature and Specification > lstPublishers:0002 > lstTitles:B00002-Car Products-Navigation > Inquiry:I have been a faithful Pioneer customer my entire life. I have > ALWAYS had Pioneer head units in ever car I have owned... since 14 years > old. I have all Pioneer home components and TV's. Recently when I upgraded > my car head unit to an AVIC-Z110BT, I selected this unit because of it > capability to have traffic updates via the MSN Direct Service. Now, only > days after finally getting it installed, I find out that the MSN Direct > function will be discontinued and the supposed "Traffic capable" unit I have > purchased, will no longer be traffic capable. This is extremely > disappointing and I feel it is a great disservice your your faithful > customer base to allow such a thing to happen. Not to mention that I > purchased a lifetime subscription that I was told would be good until AT > LEAST 1/1/2014... well now it' s only 1/1/2012 so it would have been cheaper > for me to purchase 2 - 1yr. subscriptions, rather than spend $129.95 on a > "lifetime" subscription that in actuality will > only last 2 years. I would > greatly appreciate some correspondence and information as to what the > direction is to provide a replacement program that will avoid us all that > purchased a Z110BT to horribly regret doing so. Or some form of concession > to lessen the blow of the high price we paid for this unit, only to have the > functionality of it drastically reduced immediately after we've purchased > it. > > Regards, > Justin ************** > Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dwhitley0381 Posted November 13, 2009 Report Share Posted November 13, 2009 All I can say is good luck with that... I got the same response. The lady I spoke to said look its 2 years away she said its premature for me to be worrying about it. Maybe so but I just would like to know that my HU will not be obsolete by then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnnyDepp Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 All: Too bad Pioneer removed the NavTraffic feature from the newer XM tuners and AVIC models...not that it was that great, either. Pioneer should have preserved MULTIPLE options for a feature as central to modern in-car nav systems as TRAFFIC. They chose to rely soley on MSN, and now they're stuck. The newer Kenwood car navigation head units units use navigation from Garmin now and use the traffic message channel (TMC) over the FM airwaves. That's never going away, so the Kenwoods will keep working darn near forever.... Questions for Pioneer: 1. Is it technically possible for the newer AVICs to receive software updates that would allow them to pull the traffic data from the various FM-based traffic broadcasts, such as the Clear Channel and TeleAtlas' Total Traffic Network (TTN)? 2. Can a new XM-NavTraffic XM tuner be devloped for the new AVICs that doesn't require that special cable they used to use? 3. I've read that the TomTom PLUS approach is to use your cell phone to gather traffic information from the internet and then Bluetooth it to the Nav unit. Can Pioneer set this up with a Bluetooth software update to the AVICs? Some of you on this board appear to have a direct line of communication with Pioneer. I think they owe you a better answer to this issue than what I've read on here so far.... - Johnny Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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