I don't think activation is free. They included free activation on cards, but that ended January 31, 2004. I asked XM if they were going to be offering any free activations anytime soon and the guy put me on hold to check, then came back and said, "No sir, not at this time. We don't have any free activations planned."
Reading some of the investor reports on XM lately, I'd think they'd not only be offering free activation, but some extra perks. The way it's going reminds me of the recent Alien v. Predator. Sirius is hot on its heels and means business.
Gift cards are nice because you can buy someone a radio and a gift card as a gift and away they go -- paying customer every month (what is what you're really after). If someone needs to go awhile without it, deactivating and reactivating it can make the difference between whether the person ever fools around with reactivation or decides to go with a new system. In fact, neither XM or Sirius should be charging for activations of one year or more.
Confed
