Texas John

I have a 2008 S550 and subscribe to Sprint. I want to buy new Motorola RAZR phones along with the Mercedes BT adapter. In reading the Mercedes approved list for BT-compatible phones, I see that ATT and T-Mobile RAZRs are listed but not Sprint. The only one shown for Sprint, except for the Verizon Motorola V3m, is the Blackberry 8830. Will a RAZR V3 supplied by Sprint work in my S550 with the Bluetooth adapter, or do I need to change carriers? I know the M-B list shows software codes, which are Greek to me. I would appreciate input, but take it easy on the technical stuff, please; most of it is beyond my pay grade. Thanks.

Skylaw

Sprint pretty much goes its own way in writing its phone firmware; Bluetooth has "standards" but cell service providers often do strange things implementing them (Verizon is notorious for crippling its phones via firmware, to force you to buy features from its own "business partners").

You might search this forum and BenzWorld for results of the owners of the phone you want, from Sprint. However, you take a risk, and may wind up with limited compatibility (lack of phone book download, etc).

Your best bet is to pay any early termination fee, and get a phone from a service provider that has compatible phones and firmware, from the AWS list you have already seen (http://www.wireless4mb.com/MB.pdf).

Lee Wireless

AT&T works fine and will be around after Sprint bites the dust. They are dropping customers left and right.

Diesel Benz

I don't know about Sprint versus AT&T but from close friends in the business I know AT&T too forces their phone suppliers to switch off features that otherwise would be available.

It is not equally easy to buy an unbranded and unlocked phone in the US but you can do it for GSM/UMTS(3G) phones. Any quad band (plus UMTS, the operating band varies a lot) phone bought perhaps from a European web shop would work fine in the AT&T network too, without any of the restrictions AT&T would set on the phones. Myself I would never buy an operator subsidised, SIM-locked and crippled SW phone (but I admit it is easier for me in Europe).

Skylaw

You are correct about the U.S. cell service providers, Diesel Benz; they all do it. However, some of the providers' firmware works out better with Benz systems than others. None of them really writes for any particular manufacturer; MB had to develop firmware for plug-in phones with Motorola and the service providers, so that they would integrate with its cars; and with a very small market, that's why those old plug-in phones like the V60S, V600, and V710 are so expensive.

However, they integrated well, and provide more features (like SMS, and fewer phone book conflicts with the Voice Control memory function) than many Bluetooth configurations - which is why I cling to my old V710 despite having a V3 and a V3 Bluetooth combo cradle in the closet.

But Verizon and ATT seem to have the most compatible firmware for "locked" phones, covering the broadest range of phones and PDAs, in the U.S. Of course, ATT has the coolest of the phones, the iPhone.