Does anyone know if the V60 color phone is going to become available or when M-B is going to update with a newer Moto phone (the V600 is about to come out but it is GSM-only and thus far M-B only offers TDMA and CDMA in U.S.)

 

I was trying to activate a Mercedes CDMA V60i with Verizon today and was told that as of 1/1/04, Verizon will no longer activate wireless phones that does not have built-in GPS software(what ever that means). In other words CDMA V60i's will no longer be sold and activated (at least by Verizon)

I am trying to contact MB-Motorola support to clear this information. If this is permanent, people who buy CDMA V60 Mercedes phones will be out of luck.

Anybody else experience this absurdity?

 

Hopefully Mercedes Benz will come out with their universal cellphone adapter soon, so that people who invested money in their integrated phone can use it beyond the lease term!!!

If not, we won't be alone, since the people who purchased the analog phones couldn't upgrade either!

The integrated phone may have been a bad idea...

 

the bulit in GPS means that 911 calls can trace your position when a call is made. THe older v60 does not have this feature. All the newer phones have this feature.

 

This is important news for me and lots of other new and soon to be new owners out there. I'll be taking delivery next month and one of the options on my car is the phone. Verizon is my carrier of choice so I guess I'll have to do some investigating on this issue before I tell my dealer which phone I want. Thanks for the heads up.

Jeff

 

Let's not overeact to unsubstantiated rumor. I doubt that this is true. If it is, I would expect it is because a replacement phone is in the works. Why not call Verizon and ask.

 

Confirmed. I just spoke with Verizon and they indeed verified that as of January 1st, they can no longer activate phones which do not support the GPS location services for 911. The V60i has been replaced in their lineup with 2 new versions, the V60s and the V60p (the V60p is the one with Push to Talk - like the Nextel direct connect feature). According to another member on the forum, MBUSA is supposed to be offering the V60s instead of the V60i for people who want Verizon sometime soon.

 

Well, things are inconsistent with Verizon. I made a few more calls to CS just to double check and got the old half of them know about it and the other half never heard of the new policy. Of course, it's only been a week so it may not have properly filtered through the ranks yet. I'm not freaking out about this or anything, just playing a little CYA. After the Nav fiasco, it's not a bad idea for any of us to ask lots of questions beforehand.

Jeff

 

Jeff,

I'm getting the same issue with Verizon too. Some know about the new Federal Mandate, and some don't, but either way I do get one thing for sure: they will not activate my V60i. However, when I call MB Technical Support for Motorola Phones (877)668-8600, I was told what you were told, dealers will now be offering V60s which is compliant. This is not the fault of Verizon, or Mercedes, they are just complying with Federal Mandate which was forced into effect without much public anouncement. On a side note, Verizon and Mercedes has to deal with a bunch of left over inventory of non compliant phones which are now useless.

Either case, you would be fine with V60s from the dealer. I'm sorry if I stirred up a rumor. I know that V60s has a speakerphone function by itself where V60i didn't.

Rudegar,

I made a typo. I wished to say that anyone buying a V60i CDMA would be out of luck. Dealers have already start selling the V60s which is a replacement that is P911 compliant. But for those who had an opportunity to buy Mercedes V60i phones second hand (ebay and other sources) should beware. I got my first V60i on ebay last november (for $280) and was able to activate it fine. When I bought a 2nd V60i for my wife and tried to activate it this year...out of luck.

 

Auxo,

No problem at all. Good to hear that MB was prepared for the switch and are now offering the V60s. The speakerphone may actually come in handy. Sorry to hear about your bad luck though.

Jeff

 

That's cool auxo. The speakerphone sounds like a nice extra! Wish they used the new color screen also. Or better yet, I expect the Moto V600 will arrive in CDMA form before year-end. I wish I knew this for sure. If I did, I would delay the installation of the phone until the V600 was available. Any thoughts on this??

 

Rudegar,

When I talked to the MB support, they did say something about the Universal Interface soon to be released (but no idea when). Could this be what we heard about where any type of phone (any carrier) is adaptable to MB if equiped with this interface? In that case it will be very interesting to wait out a little bit if we are no longer bound by MB proprietary phone...but the catch is they don't have a time frame when it's going to happen.

At least the V60s's should come down in price if this universal system is introduced.

 

I was in the process of installing the phone system in the car. The last component I needed was the phone. I spoke with Mercedes Tech support and they said I needed the new V60s. I confirmed this with Verizon. The dealers in South Florida (I called 5 or so) did not have a clue about the change form V60i to V60s. I finally found a dealer who read the bulletin put out by Mercedes and they special ordered the phone for me.
During activation with Verizon they admitted they still would have activated the old V60i for me. Too bad! I paid $595 at the dealer for the phone. I found a new mercedes V60i on e-bay which I could have picked up for around $200. Oh well - better safe than sorry...I guess.

 

Although I was the one who started this issue (sorry!), after talking a bit more with dealer parts managers and a seller on Ebay (he sold about ten V60i's after 1/1/04), and they told me that they have still been selling and not one customer came back complaining. So I thought what the heck, I will buy a second V60i for my wife anyway (hehe, for $199) and if Verizon would not activate it, I would just keep it as a spare phone (since I do not want to spend another $319 for the V60s cradle and $595 for the phone). Well, I now have perfectly functioning V60i's for myself and my wife (activated on 1/20/04). I heard the key is to call in yourself to activate it, not through a retailer.

For those of you who wish to buy the new V60s:

V60s Part# Q6820891 (for Verizon)
Cradle Part# Q6820894 (V60s needs this cradle but V60i is backward compatible, but current V60i cradle will not take the new V60s).

 

I have the old cradle and the phone snaps into place just fine. I do not have the system installed yet but I've been told it should work fine. Let me know your thoughts.

 

Are the phones the same dimensions?

 

Then forgive me for giving out wrong information. I am just directly referring to what I was told. I was told that the V60i cradle would not take the V60s because the V60s is a bit "thicker" and would not fit.

I'm just curious, how did you get the newest V60s? I had the dealer check nationwide this past weekend, and was told none of the dealer has received shipment. In fact I went to Long Beach Mercedes, who was expecting one of the first shipments to the US last Tuesday, but they did not receive them...

Rudegar:

The V60s is supposed to be slightly thicker due to the speakerphone function (like that of the V60P from Verizon). But then again, I am giving you this information based on what I was told by the Mercedes Benz Technical Services. I was trying to confirm this by taking a look at the actual unit, but the dealer did not receive their shipment.

 

Per motorola specs the v60s phone is 3.42 x 1.77 x 1.22 inches. The older v60i phone is 3.42 x 1.77 x .97 inches. When you take out the slim battery plastic filler from the cradle you have a pretty good fit.

 

I ordered the phone by giving the parts department the mercedes part number (Q6820891). They then special ordered it. I had it within two days.

 

I have that plastic filler in my cradle too! That means I do not have to change the cradle if I go to V60s...that's good new for me. Thank You.

Special Order...ah I see. You committed to buying before checking it out.

Have a great day.

 

To clarify the phone fits in the cradle when the plastic insert is removed. I have yet to install the system in my vehicle so I can not say with certainty it will work. The female pin set up in the phone is consistent with the male pinset up in the cradle. Based on all this I'm pretty confident it should be o.k.
Hope that helps - Ken

 

Ken,

I currently use the cradle with the plastic insert in place(I use the slim battery and cover). I do have the larger battery with cover, but really not keen on the "bloated" look so never got using them. And you are definitely right, the new phone will fit when the insert is removed.

Thanks for being thorough though. And you are right the plugs are consistent between models.

Hopefully you can enjoy the phone system soon, they are really cool when used with voice recognition.

Have a great day.

Andy

 

So is the V60s the size of the V60i with the battery "bump-out"? Or is it a bigger body so when you have the battery bump-out it is .25 inches bigger than the V60i with the bump-out (if that makes any sense).