Skylaw

Ted,

Would it work for you to forward from the hand held phone to the integrated phone in the car? That way, if the initial call were a text message, would it be registered and held on the handheld phone/PDA (or would the forwarding interfere with receipt of the text on the handheld phone)? I don't know the answer - but if it works, at least you'd get your voice calls when in the car and possibly have all text messages retained on the handheld.

Worth experimenting with (before buying equipment).

bigmel

hey sky

I think that may work bc my phone(iphone) has call fowarding that can be setup via setting menu. So i could just enable call forwarding each time i jump in my car.

Skylaw

The call forwarding for voice calls will work in either direction. My concern regarding Ted's question is whether the phone he uses to forward the calls FROM (e.g., a PDA) will retain the text messages received while calls are being forwarded.

This is important because he points out that text messages cannot be forwarded with no-answer call forwarding, and he needs to get his text messages. I don't know the answer, but thought trying it out between any two cell phones might answer the question before investing in any equipment purchases.

If it does, then using the main business phone (e.g., the PDA one carries) as the primary number, forwarding voice calls to the car, would work - but only if it retains any text messages that it doesn't forward.

bigmel

I just setup call forwarding and it did not forward text. However the text was still received on the phone that is forwarding calls.

Diesel Benz

I actually have close contacts with experts who build these services. Call forwarding is standard on any GSM phone, there is a standard star/hash sequence that works on every phone even if users usually don't do that but use the phone menus which is simpler (specifically US operators often restrict phone capabilities on their branded versions, nor sure if anybody would disable call forwarding).

SMS (text message) forwarding is not supported by the GSM (or any of the cellular standards that are defined by 3GPP). What pissed me off was that I read service experts opposing an initiative to make SMS forwarding available just like call forwarding. Chinese were suggesting this but the Western world had the opinion that "IMS is the way to go, SMS is an old service and would not need to be enhanced any more". Now how many of you have used IMS, when would you plan to use it, or have you actually even heard about it Would anybody want to have the email/phone info to talk with these guys.

I browsed my cell phone service provider options, they actually have an IN (intelligent network, that is from time before GSM) option if the user has two SIM cards on the same subscription. If one of the phones was switched off, the IN service would take care of not only forwarding calls to the "correct" phone but also taking care of SMS forwarding to the correct phone. However, this IN can only take care of this if the "unwanted" phone is switched off. Not sure if this is sufficient for you.

Ted Baldwin

Wow! thank you. Yes it will help. What phone service provider do you have? Your profile says you are in Europe. I worry that this is something that the US cell phone providers at my neighborhood Cingular or T-mobile store will look at me with a blank stare when I mention text message forwarding. I will try it.

Ted

Diesel Benz

I am using European service, would not really help if you referred my service provider. But I would assume the dual SIM option being available from Cingular/AT&T or T-mobile. I might browse European T-mobile web pages to see what they have.

It may not be a good idea to ask for text forwarding, they would probably say "does not exist" even if they actually had a dual sim option that makes it happen. I would start asking for a single number, dual sim service, this would anyway be intended for one user who is using multiple devices. If this is equally "does not exist", plan B could be asking text message forwarding.

Ted Baldwin

.......officially confirmed that there is no text messag forwarding service available. T-Mobile claims they do not support single number dual sim service.

..........For those that have BT service, can you confirm something for me. When you are in your car and your phone rings, is it all possible to talk privately on the phone itself.......even if it requires several steps. Thanks.

Ted

bigmel

when I had it on my Iphone when the i received a call in the car on the screen pop a box with option to answer the call. One will say Iphone and the other is MB phonesystem. if you press mb phonesystem you can take the call via iphone.

However on my Razr I had to answer the call, then go through the in-call menu to select "use headset" option.

Vik888

Ok, so from what I understand, there is a BT cradle for the RAZR, not just a cradle.

Does this mean when the phone is docked in the cradle, you need to turn BT on? The cradle itself can't interface with the phone?

I'm taking delivery of an 08 E550 in a few weeks. I'm thinking of getting the BT cradle. So far I've read one post in this thread giving it the thumbs up.

bigmel

the MHI BT cradle is BT and integrates to you car for charging and antenna. i you don't have your Razr in the cradle it would work the same way but you won't have the advantage of the integrated antenna or battery charging.