I read on this forum some posts from a few months back, where some members (BigMel, Skylaw and others) were discussing whether or not entering the *22890 command on a V60S CDMA phone being activated by Verizon will wipe out the factory software programming which is necessary for the phone to interface with the car's handsfree system.

The Verizon store representative insists it will not hurt the software in the phone if I use this command, that it changes only phone settings which used to be punched in manually into the phone back in the days when they had to manually input the NAM and SID information.

From BigMel's post it looks like activating the phone through AWS and using the *22890 command didn't hurt the software, however I will be activating directly from Verizon instead of through AWS, and wondered if that made a difference. I have seen posts elsewhere stating that the *22890 or *228 option 1 and option 2 commands do not hurt the factory software, and they even recommended using the *228 option 2 on a regular basis to keep the roaming profile updated.

Obviously I want to use caution before doing this command and potentially damaging or over-writing the MB software. Is this still an uncertain question or has it been settled whether or not the *22890 command will affect the software? AWS on their web site is now offering the bluetooth puck as the only option for my car, apparently they do not provide the V60S anymore even though I saw several posts on this and other forums where users bought the phone maybe 5 months ago.

Also, I saw a lot of comments about the cradle for the phone. My car had the V60T TDMA phone originally, I was not able to physically fit the V60S into the original cradle (without undue force!) and have a newer (used) V60S cradle on the way, the dealer won't supply them anymore. I did notice the antenna connector on the V60S is noticeably more recessed into the phone (deeper) than the old V60T phone was, so that the antenna pin connection on the newer cradle has to be longer to work with the V60S, otherwise the connection on the old cradle would be too short & wouldn't connect.

My plan is to activate the phone, swap the cradles, and hopefully I will be good to go! But I want to wait until I get a better understanding of what the *22890 command will do to my phone before activating it.

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

 

your phone should not be hurt...

the OTA (over the air) programming done by any of the *228 options should not hurt the phones programming.

as you mentioned, doing that only updates certain parameters like the ESN, NAM, MSID, SSID, PRL and what not (a bunch of fancy acronyms that make verizon's cell towers visible to your phone, and your phone visible to verizon's towers).

the real cause for concern would be if you had the firmware updated. that is usually done in store, and involves the phone being hooked up to a computer and usually takes at least 15-30 mins... now on some phones, it is able to update the firmware over the air (that is most likely not the case with these phones, but none the less possible). Doing *228xx should only take about 30 seconds, and leave the firmware intact (thats what locks/ unlocks the phone working with the MB system).

AWS doesnt do anything special in activating these phones... they just scare people into thinking a phone purchased from them is the only alternative.

good luck, and let us know how the install goes!

 

I got the phone activated today directly by Verizon (they charged me the $35 fee) and then entered *228 <send> and chose option 1. The programming worked and left the Mercedes software untouched, took less than a minute. Phone works like a champ.

The phone gets 3 bars of signal when undocked, but once docked in the car cradle & using the vehicle antenna, it gets 5 bars.

Thanks for the help & all the info posted on this site! This site provided tons of info. that the dealer couldn't or wouldn't provide.

By the way does anyone know how to (or is it possible) to check the cumulative minutes timer (total phone usage) on a V60S? The old StarTac had that feature, hard to believe the V60S wouldn't but I can't find it in any of the menus anywhere.

Thanks!