timorgan

Hello All,

I'm seriously considering getting one of the Motorola options for a C-Sedan, but I have a few hangups that I need to get cleared up first.

I currently have a Nokia phone that uses GSM and a SIM card.

The phones that you can get with an MB are the Motorola V60 or Motorola Timeport. I know that both of these phones are available in either GSM, TDMA, and CDMA from Motorola, but I'm wondering which is the one that comes with an MB? Do they give you an option of which network you want to be on?

Seeing as how I'm on GSM right now, I'd only consider the Motorola phone option for the C-Sedan if I could keep my same phone number.

I've looked for the specifications on the MB website, but they are few and far between on what comes with the phone.

Does anyone have any information on this to enlighten us all with?

Also, do any other phones fit in the supplied armrest cradle other than the V60 and Timeport?

Thanks very much,

Tim

Ski Guru

Go to whoever is your phone system guy now and tell em your thoughts. Yes, the Motorola 60V should be able to do GSM and you may be able to keep your current cell vendor as well as your number. You will have to buy a new chip as I do not think the Motorola 60V fits with the Nokia in the chip (sim) department.

The phone with the car is a cool system. (this is a new car right?) The intirgation with the Nav and the stereo is great. Auto muting ans stuff. As well as being able to just blurt out phone home!

Have fun!

Boo2

As of now, the dealer told me that Cingular, AT&T,and Verizon are the supported providers. They are still negotiating with Sprint.

B

DtS

Hi Tim.

I live in Europe, where the only cell-phone system available is GSM (except for the VERY old NMT-system). The phone-option for the C-class over here supports GSM-phones using a SIM-card exclusively.

My guess is that this option is country-specific though. Since you are able to use GSM in Canada, and the cars deliverd to Canada is (more or less euro-spec.), my guess would be that there is a phone-option supporting GSM. Why don't you give your dealer a ring?

Good luck!

MahinS

I thought that the V60 through Mercedes was NOT available for GSM/Cingular. Can someone confirm this? Has anyone been able to get the Mercedes firmware installed on an existing V60?

born2drive

hi guys, just want to share my thoughts

BMW has the similar Motorola options. There are phones out there that are the same exact phone as what the BMW dealer sells, but the non-BMW phone can't be used with BMW motorola installation kit, because the Motorola BMW phone has a special chip that will recognize the installation kit.

So, before you spend your money on it, you might want to make sure your non Mercedes V60 works with the installation kit. Or else you'll be buying the most expensive cell phone charger.

If you end up buying it, do let us know how it works. I'm curious too. Good luck.

awiner

Currently Mercedes does NOT offer a v60g (GSM). Mercedes only offers the v60c (CDMA) and v60t (TDMA) at this time. The TDMA v60t supports Cingular TDMA service where available.

awiner

You are correct. Mercedes is the same way. Unless you use the Mercedes branded Motorola with the Mercedes firmware, it wont work. A normal v60 or Timeport will just turn itself off when docked into the Mercedes system.

greg230

sprint provides CDMA PCS and AMPS service, so the verizon version of the V60 from MB will work on sprint service.

GSM is not supported by MBUSA with any motorola options. however it is rumored that motorola will produce other CE port platform phones with mercedes software.

CE platform-V60, v120c, v200, v270 etc etc

btw my own v60c from verizon DOES NOT work with the MB install kit.... 470 dollar paperweight

timorgan

Does anyone know if MB plans on allowing for other phones/networks to be integrated in the near future? ie. for the 2003 model year?

I think it would be a very wise addition. From what has been said in this forum, it sounds like a lot of people would go for it if it was more adaptable.

Thanks again,

Tim

toki999

i heard that u could still use the existing service u have on the new v60 phone..........talk to you mb sales representative.

greg230

i have my new MB v60 hooked up with my old verizon phone number.... its not like i got a new phone line or anything to support it, but my old non MB phone is pretty much a paper weight on my desk

(actually i use it to charge my extra batteries)

Vince

i'm sorry, but i think this option is a waste of money. think about it. in about a year or two the v60 will be obsolete as something better will come out. $2000 for a cellphone or whatever MB charges is just a rip. for that price you could keep on upgrading your phone whenever you want to, to whatever you want. just buy a nextel phone they come with a speaker phone. i just got a i90c, that's their (motorola's) new flip phone. it's much smaller than the previous i1000 plus and looks alot better, not to mention the clarity. It sounds like a land line. Whenever i call my friends, they can never tell i'm in my car or that i'm even on a cell phone. sure the v60 looks good and all and if you buy the mb one it can be integrated into the car but the network's which that phone runs on don't sound as good. How do i know this? my friend has the v60 on att and from my personal experience, i've had service on every network, except for verizon, and i can definately say that nextel sounds the best and get's the best reception, at least where i live and communte.

my two cents. kind of lead away from the topic at hand. sorry.

vince

greg230

i dont want to start a big flame war here or anything, but nextel is the most lame provider in america.

1. their phones, besides the i90 blow (big, poor battery, low tech)
2. their calling areas are diminutive (they have one of the smallest wireless networks in america, of the major players)
3. they use the slowest data technology around vs 40-60k w/verizon's 1xrtt (or any other 2.5g system for that matter)
4. that stupid beep from the 2 way cellular assisted short range radio is annoying as all hell
5. Iden is the most outdated system ever... even nextell is dumping it and switching to new generation cdma technology.
6. they arent particularly cheap
7. no one at nextell has ever heard the words "duplex speaker phone"
8. insufficient network capacity to support existing customer base for cellular service.

the big advantage of motorolas new platform... when the v70 comes out, "theoretically" i will be able to go to MB dealership, and buy a compatible v70 to pop in my car, no new installation needed; almost all new motorla phones now use the same port, and basic software.

GSM has its advantages, CDMA has its pluses, hell even tdma has a couple of nice things to it (its everywhere) but iden... it just stinks.

try a verizon phone, or a voice stream one, see how much nicer cdma, or gsm is vs tdma or iden.

awiner

Supposedly the new dual Phone Support Electronis (Supports v60 and Timeport Phones) for the 2001 + model year is forward compatible with upcomming phones. Therefore as new phones are introduced, a handset and cradle kit is all that is needed to upgrade. Of course the Mercedes branded handset will run $400.00+ .. The Mercedes branded v60 handsets are currenty ~$500.00 ..

The best part about the phone option in Mercedes is the integration and the voice control.

Mercedes has stated that they are working with Sprint and probably will soon offer a Sprint compatible v60 phone as well as a v60g (GSM) phone. Mercedes has offered a Sprint compatible Timeport phone for sometime now. Who knows when this will be. I've seen the word 'soon' mean many things.

I have Verizon (CDMA Network) service. As a former AT&T (TDMA Network) customer, I feel Verizons CDMA network sounds a lot cleaner espically where I live and commute. We use Nextel's at work and the 2 way radio is pretty good. The cellular service though our Nextel's is handled by AT&T (Again TDMA) however.

greg230

the sprint timeport phone for the MB and the verizon timeport phone are exactly the same so if you get a verizon 60c you should be able to program it to work on your sprint network.

try pressing "74663#"menu "menu" if that gets you into programming you can program in your sprint number, and then the SID code (area specific) (for the v60c)

or "fcn 0000000000000 "rcl" for a timeport

idens is indeed TDMA but it operates at 800 and 1500 MHz
ATT/Cingular operate TDMA at 800 and 1900 MHz, so not exactly the same.

Flashman

Personally, I'm way too quirky about cell phones. I currently use an AT&T Ericsson 289lx which gives me:

1. Handsized.
2. WAP/Internet/Email Access.
3. T9 Typing for text messaging.

Instead of getting the MB phone option, I ordered mail order their true-duplex hands free kit (List $599, mail order $35.95). It included a cradle (that I placed on the same location the european MBs place their phone cradle), a CPU, a speaker, and a microphone.

I had a local audio place install it for $50. Their removed the underside of the passenger area foot well area and showed me right where the MB factory phone CPU and speaker go (it's really obvious when you take it apart). They installed the Ericsson CPU there and the speaker.

I *could* have paid extra had them wire the "auto-mute" into the stereo and find/wire it into the built-in microphone. But this was not personal biggie for me, so I had them ignore the auto-mute and had them put the Ericsson microphone on the upper left corner of the front windshield.

The result is a really seamless integrated system. Sure, I can't use the steering wheel on/off phone button, but that really is a minor thing considering it all cost me under $100.

Richard

In Europe we have Nokia phones [as pointed out above] in Mercs and not Motorola. Also we dont have to buy special Nokia phones, we can order the integrated phone with or without the Nokia portable, and then use a Nokia portable from any source, provided it has a reasonable version of s/w on it, and its free to get s/w upgraded since its the same s/w they release for anyone).

Nokia do tend to mess up, for instance the 6310 thats just been released doesnt work in the car yet. (The current supplied phone is a 6210). One of the other UK guys phoned Nokia and they said there will be a general s/w release in about a month that will work again.

The same happened when they released the 6210 (at that time the cars came with 6150 and was sold as working with 5xxx and 6xxx phones), and they had to release upgraded phone software and a new phone controller. That phone controller was meant to work with future 6xxx phones :-)

It is (vaguely) possible that a US Nokia phone may work in a European Nokia phone kit (although signal strength may be a bit week because the booster in the system here boosts 1800mhz, and yours is 1900mhz there, 900mhz doesnt get boosted as it doesnt need to be) - but I dont have one to try it ...

R

VoyagerDude

Rick, what is this "true-duplex hands free kit" you're talking about?

Thanks!

timorgan

AWINER> Thanks for the info! Hopefully soon will mean SOON.

GREG230> Are you saying that the phones can be programmed by hand (pressnig buttons) to be able to integrate them with the MB?

Thanks,

Tim

Flashman

Most regular hand-free system are single-duplex. Meaning only one party can speak at a time. Like a speakerphone. A true-duplex system lets you listen and talk at the same time, just like a handset. This system is so good, most people think I am on a handset at my office when talking hands-free and driving down the highway.

VoyagerDude

Thanks for the detailed info.
From your signature I see that it's made by Ericsson.

I got the impression it was from a 3rd party and perhaps they make stuff for Nokia

awiner

No... Greg was just explaining how to re-program the handset for different cellular provider networks and ID's ...

Flashman

Nokia makes comparable stuff. Check out these pages as examples:
http://www.1800mobiles.com/fulincarkit.html
http://www.1800mobiles.com/hansolforcel.html

pixmation

Is that a radar detector at the driver's visor? Is it hard wired installed?

The installation part always keep me from getting a radar.