epasc

Has anyone tried this or something similar in the s-class?

I feel like the glass in my car is blocking my iPhone signal.

I'd love to have something permanently installed in my 2010 s550 that wirelessly bridges my phone to an external antenna and preferably also an amplifier.

Thanks.

skrontz

You're just holding it wrong.

MBZFAN55

You know, this is a really good question that seems to elicit a lot of questionable advice. I have a second phone (and number) that I keep in my car primarily for outgoing hands free calls. I had an 08 CL with an mbwireless cradle and mount for a hard wired Motorola Razr. It worked great. I now have a 2011 S and I am also fighting reception issues with my Razr as I am now suffering with a Bluetooth connection. The Razr is quite outdated and I want to upgrade to an iPhone since MB seems to endorse Apple products but only if I can get it hard wired into the Mercedes system. I understand you can get a charging adapter to fit the glove box onnection, but it is still only the iPhone antenna at work. I carry another smartphone so I dont need phone mobility, just better reception in the S-Class. Does anyone make a cradle mount that is hardwired into the Mercedes phone system/antenna beside outdated phones like my Razr? Any suggestions?

Cartronics

There are very very few phones that even have an external antenna connector anymore. The iPhone, all Androids do not. That went away for the most part with TDMA.
By definition, bluetooth uses the phones antenna, and with GSM networks, tower/repeater placement is 1 mile apart. There seems to be very little need on a 3G network for any kind of amplifier. In the most remote areas on 2G, a amplifier is of some use, but marginal. You can get one that picks up the phone signal and repeats it with an external antenna, but these are fairly expensive devices. The S Class in particular does have IR Glass, but it only knocks about 10% out of the signal in a worst case scenario. Nothing to get too worked up over.
We get these questions every day, as we are in the Mercedes phone business.....

epasc

Thanks.

But there's no question that an external rooftop antenna will far outperform a questionable iPhone antenna in a faraday cage of IR glass and steel.

The Wilson product claims to amplify the signal from a cell phone without a physical connection, using one of the primary properties of radio waves and route it outside. Wilson is a reputable antenna manufacturer and many attest to the product's working as advertised.

Some of the old Nokia cradles made for the mid 2000 MB UHI claimed to work the same way - by coupling the phone to the external antenna by "induction" or whatever the correct rf term is.

Why nothing like this for the iPhone that can be built into the new cars? It's desperately needed.

Diesel Benz

Most of the new MB phone cradles use antenna couplers like you explain above. I thought the iPhone cradle did the same but you need the comfort telephony option with the facelift 221 to be able to use the external car antenna.

A pity you don't have the BT SAP option for North American cars. This is a BT option where a galvanic (meaning low loss) antenna connection is used for the external car antenna. The point with BT SAP is that the BT adapter is a real phone and is just using the SIM card from the driver's phone via a BT connection.

epasc

Thanks.

Can I get the comfort telephony option for my US 2010 facelift car?

Diesel Benz

Is it an option for the US market? I did not find comfort telephony mentioned at the MBUSA site. You can have it retrofitted but if it isn't a factory option for the US market, it may be difficult to find installation support.

Since the BT SAP option is not available anyway, the main advantage from the comfort telephony option would be the phone cradle with an antenna coupler for the external car antenna.

hyperion667

hang up and drive

NISHANA

My personal preference would be to go for a cell phone booster.