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Travel Link Buffering icons

Bohunk

Active Member
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April 8, 2011
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City, State
Glen Ellyn, IL
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2016 Platinum
This is a long story, but worth the read.

TravelLink..How useful when working and how frustrating when the screen shows those “buffering” revolving icons in front of the of the menu choices.

Calling Sirius for assistance is joke, no, not really a joke but a frustrating example of conversations (which you cannot complete on your mobile phone that is “BlueTooth” connected to your vehicle….no you must make the call from another cell phone or land-lime telephone).

Let me explain. For two consecutive year while driving north on I75, somewhere in south Georgia, all my TravelLink services malfunction and the screen only shows those “buffering” circles in front of the seven selections on the TravelLink screen.

Calling the Sirius general assistance number, 866-463-5326 gets you to someone who asks for your subscription information and e-mail address (as if they are actually going to send you some useful information). Describing the problem of a non-functioning TravelLink gets you a “let me refresh your signal”. When that does not work, they transfer you to “Tech Support” at 800-392-3673 and you again repeat your info and e-mail address along with your street address, gosh, is this not on their screen in front of them? Tech assistance tells you to pull, over at your convenience, in some place that the “antenna gets a clear view of the sky”. Then, to turn your vehicle off, open the driver’s door and remove the key fob from the vehicle while they re-send the signal. But this might take 24 hours to take affect. (Wow, traveling in the vehicle and this is a solution! I called back when I stopped for gas. Again, no solution)

Next call to Tech support indicated that I must return to the dealership so they can re-boot the system with a special CD from Sirius! What? Yes, that is what I was told (the tech at the dealership actually laughed at this comment, he couldn’t believe it).

OK to the dealership (day three after I first encountered the problem and was without the assistance of traffic conditions, weather, etc). The dealership couldn’t have been more helpful and concerned about my problem; they treated me very, very well and put a tech right on it. The tech later meets with me, saying they have re-booted my system and he needs to be in the vehicle with my Bluetooth connected mobile phone.

We start up the vehicle and he explains all the nuances of Microsoft and Ford and how advanced the system is and my mobile phone is actually communication with TravelLink through the vehicle. We re-connect my mobile phone via BlueTooth (as the re-boot erases the connection and all my saved destinations!). The tech points out the “buffering” icons, and that the Travel link is attempting to connect through my mobile phone. He voice commands “services” and asks for “weather”, the voice begins to give the weather for my location and PRESTO! The buffering for the weather and ski conditions menu disappears! Next he prompts “services” for sports and again, when the voice connects, the “Buffering” disappears for Sports Info. Wow! Next, he reconnects with “services” and asks for Traffic, BINGO, the “buffering” wheel disappears and I have Traffic On Route, Traffic Nearby! Also somewhere along the way, Fuel Prices and Movie Listings also no longer have the “buffering” icon!

The Tech goes on to explain that the vehicle communicates through my mobile phone to TravelLink and sometimes in areas of the country; the signal is lost and does not automatically reconnect. NO KIDDING, that was my problem and NO ONE at Sirius ever explained this and that the solution is simply to connect to Services and ask for one of the seven commands on the screen.

I am in awe of the tech at the dealership and his solution to this problem. He even suspected that the complete re-boot might have not have been necessary (loosing my BlueTooth connection and all my saved destinations) and if I ever encounter this, just to connect to “Services” and give the corresponding prompt commands to get the two systems to communicate.

I hope this long-winded story will be a potential solution to any My Touch, TravelLink similar situations.
 



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Tried it .......... I get the audio, but it continues to buffer and never loads onto the screen. It has operated this way since day one. It either works, or just buffers without loading. I really had my doubts if this were the solution as the weather would load at times when I didn't have the phone with me. There seems to be no standard to what is going on. Ford says it is Sirius and Sirius says it is a bad satellite module and it is a Ford problem. Then it magically starts to work again!
 






Both your Ford tech and your Sirius customer service connections are both morons. My Ford Touch and Sync DO NOT use your mobile phone's data connection over Bluetooth for ANYTHING except a vehicle health report - and THAT is over a slow Dial Up Networking connection to Ford's toll free number.

Sirius travel link is sent from their satellite directly through the satellite radio. It's a satellite solution and will work regardless of whether or not you have a phone. I repeat, it does not use your phone's data connection.

All your Ford Tech did when you brought it in is called a "Master Reset" and you can do it yourself - it's a menu option. Just be sure you are parked and everything will reset. Actually, a better way to reboot your system is to use a reboot file you can obtain from www.outofmytouch.com - just follow the instructions there and you can reboot your system using a USB drive. That usually fixes any problems.

The other option to try that can work is to simply pop out the map sd card, wait a few seconds, then pop it back in. This may work. It is the preferred solution when your weathermap data isn't showing up.

FWIW, Ford dealers know very little about MFT/Sync. It's actually better to ask here or ask one of the In Vehicle Tech people here (FordIVT).
 






Appreciate your input, however, connecting to the dial up Services did remove the buffering icons when asking for Weather, Sports and Traffic, and the system works. I will check out the links you suggested, however.
 






...
I am in awe of the tech at the dealership and his solution to this problem. He even suspected that the complete re-boot might have not have been necessary (loosing my BlueTooth connection and all my saved destinations) and if I ever encounter this, just to connect to “Services” and give the corresponding prompt commands to get the two systems to communicate.

I hope this long-winded story will be a potential solution to any My Touch, TravelLink similar situations.

Hi, Bohunk!

I'm glad your dealership was able to get this taken care of for you. I'm not so sure that summoning SYNC Services was the trick since Sirius XM Travel Link is satellite based, but the master reset normally takes care of it. After a reset, it takes approximately 30 minutes for all of the Travel Link options to fully load.

Tried it .......... I get the audio, but it continues to buffer and never loads onto the screen. It has operated this way since day one. It either works, or just buffers without loading. I really had my doubts if this were the solution as the weather would load at times when I didn't have the phone with me. There seems to be no standard to what is going on. Ford says it is Sirius and Sirius says it is a bad satellite module and it is a Ford problem. Then it magically starts to work again!

Hey, rmp301!

If it happens again, check your clock and the calendar on MFT and let me know if they show the correct time and date. Just shoot me a private message with the information; I still have your VIN so you don't have to include it.

... It's actually better to ask here or ask one of the In Vehicle Tech people here (FordIVT).

Thanks, jrmexplorer! BTW, I'm still waiting to hear back from my support about the dimensions.

Rebecca
 






Sorry, gotta disagree. I still get the buffering icons and dial up (voice command) to "Services" Then request "Sports" and let the "man" dictate my options, and bingo, the "Buffering" icon disappears. So it has to be something with a phone and satellite connection.
 






Sorry, gotta disagree. I still get the buffering icons and dial up (voice command) to "Services" Then request "Sports" and let the "man" dictate my options, and bingo, the "Buffering" icon disappears. So it has to be something with a phone and satellite connection.
That's weird as we all disagree with you, but hey, if it works for you, just keep doing it that way ...... At least it fixes the problem! :D
 






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