Blootooth Pairing of Same Phone with Two Cars
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Joined: May 2003
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From: Long Island, New York
2018 E400 4matic Wagon
Blootooth Pairing of Same Phone with Two Cars
I noticed that when I paired my wife's Motorola to my Jaguar, the phone was no longer paired to the E350 anymore. I had to delete the MB system from the Bluetooth devices list on her phone, and then re-pair the phone with the MB as if for the first time. Is this normal?
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Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Essex County, NJ
2011 E350 Sport 4Matic - P2 & Drivers Assist / 2010 C300 Sport 4Matic - P2 / 2013 Porsche Cayenne S
I noticed that when I paired my wife's Motorola to my Jaguar, the phone was no longer paired to the E350 anymore. I had to delete the MB system from the Bluetooth devices list on her phone, and then re-pair the phone with the MB as if for the first time. Is this normal?
What I'm trying to get at is that her phone can have a relationship with both cars but can only be connected to one at any given time and that you only need to authorize a phone once per headunit when you are setting up the relationship for the first time.
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I noticed that when I paired my wife's Motorola to my Jaguar, the phone was no longer paired to the E350 anymore. I had to delete the MB system from the Bluetooth devices list on her phone, and then re-pair the phone with the MB as if for the first time. Is this normal?
I have my phone paired with four cars and the phone connects automatically to the one I start driving (assuming others are not running near by and the phone has not connected to a near by car before I start driving the car in question, which should be a normal case).
Are you actually talking about the phone loosing pairing or the phone loosing active connection?
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Joined: May 2003
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From: Long Island, New York
2018 E400 4matic Wagon
It loses pairing. That is, after connecting to the Jaguar, I can't then go into the menu on the phone and select "Connect to MB System." I tried that a couple of times, and it gives me a readout that it is unable to connect to MB System. So had to delete MB System from her phone, and go through the whole pairing sequence all over again. Sounds like her phone needs to just stay paired to the MB and forget about pairing to the Jaguar.
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From: Orange County, CA
E350
If OP meant that if it's normal for a phone with bluetooth to be ACTIVELY CONNECTED to only 1 vehicle at a time, then yes, that is NORMAL.
If OP meant that if it's normal for a phone with bluetooth to be PAIRED to only 1 vehicle at a time, then no, that is NOT NORMAL.
I currently have 2 cell phones paired to 2 x MB E350's, 3 x Bluetooth Headsets, and 1 x Bluetooth Link-To-Cell Cordless Phone System. My cell phone (as well as vehicles, headsets, etc) all remember my cell phones, so I only have to pair them once with each device. When I get within range of one of the devices (car, cordless phone, bluetooth headset, etc), then that ONE DEVICE ACTIVELY CONNECTS to my phone (and all other devices are prevented from actively connecting to my phone unless I go into the phone's menu and manually disconnect from the actively connected device... or turn off the car... or turn off the headset... or disconnect from my cordless phone... you get the idea).
Therefore, in replying to the OP, you typically do NOT need to re-pair your bluetooth phone every time when switching vehicles. Some vehicles (like some Lexus') may require to you manually connect to your bluetooth device by pressing a button on the vehicle's menu... but you SHOULD NOT NEED TO RE-PAIR THE BLUETOOTH DEVICE every time you switch vehicles once it is already paired to both vehicles.
NOTE: If your cell phone is operating on Android 2.0 (or maybe even 2.1), I do know that due to an incomplete bluetooth stack, bluetooth operation in these phones may be affected in crazy ways (frequent dropped calls, phone dropping bluetooth connections every few minutes, inability to sync phone with car correctly, phones needing frequent re-pairing with vehicles, etc). To remedy this problem, you may need to update your phone to Android 2.2 or higher (if available for your phone). Other than that, there really is no solution to this glitch in Android 2.0 (and maybe 2.1) other than to switch phones...
If OP meant that if it's normal for a phone with bluetooth to be PAIRED to only 1 vehicle at a time, then no, that is NOT NORMAL.
I currently have 2 cell phones paired to 2 x MB E350's, 3 x Bluetooth Headsets, and 1 x Bluetooth Link-To-Cell Cordless Phone System. My cell phone (as well as vehicles, headsets, etc) all remember my cell phones, so I only have to pair them once with each device. When I get within range of one of the devices (car, cordless phone, bluetooth headset, etc), then that ONE DEVICE ACTIVELY CONNECTS to my phone (and all other devices are prevented from actively connecting to my phone unless I go into the phone's menu and manually disconnect from the actively connected device... or turn off the car... or turn off the headset... or disconnect from my cordless phone... you get the idea).
Therefore, in replying to the OP, you typically do NOT need to re-pair your bluetooth phone every time when switching vehicles. Some vehicles (like some Lexus') may require to you manually connect to your bluetooth device by pressing a button on the vehicle's menu... but you SHOULD NOT NEED TO RE-PAIR THE BLUETOOTH DEVICE every time you switch vehicles once it is already paired to both vehicles.
NOTE: If your cell phone is operating on Android 2.0 (or maybe even 2.1), I do know that due to an incomplete bluetooth stack, bluetooth operation in these phones may be affected in crazy ways (frequent dropped calls, phone dropping bluetooth connections every few minutes, inability to sync phone with car correctly, phones needing frequent re-pairing with vehicles, etc). To remedy this problem, you may need to update your phone to Android 2.2 or higher (if available for your phone). Other than that, there really is no solution to this glitch in Android 2.0 (and maybe 2.1) other than to switch phones...
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It loses pairing. That is, after connecting to the Jaguar, I can't then go into the menu on the phone and select "Connect to MB System." I tried that a couple of times, and it gives me a readout that it is unable to connect to MB System. So had to delete MB System from her phone, and go through the whole pairing sequence all over again. Sounds like her phone needs to just stay paired to the MB and forget about pairing to the Jaguar.
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2008 Mercedes Benz E63 AMG, 2017 Porsche Macan S
My Palm Pre Plus pairs up between 2 cars, no problem. No need to reset or anything. Jump in my Accord - no prob. Jump in my MB - no prob.
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Joined: Sep 2007
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From: Essex County, NJ
2011 E350 Sport 4Matic - P2 & Drivers Assist / 2010 C300 Sport 4Matic - P2 / 2013 Porsche Cayenne S
At this point we are at the mercy of the Bluetooth implementation for each phone. Indium's Palm Pre can seamlesly connect between his two cars but my Blackberry Bold needs to be manually coaxed into connecting to the car I'm planning to sit in. Oggie, if you are still having a hard time with the sharing of the phone between the two cars your best bet would be to upgrade your wife's phone. I had to do that with my wife's phone. She used to have a Samsung flip-phone that was giving her issues with her MB headunit. I ended up getting her an iPhone and all is good.
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Joined: May 2008
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From: SoCal
2005 E500, 2011 ML350
At this point we are at the mercy of the Bluetooth implementation for each phone. Indium's Palm Pre can seamlesly connect between his two cars but my Blackberry Bold needs to be manually coaxed into connecting to the car I'm planning to sit in. Oggie, if you are still having a hard time with the sharing of the phone between the two cars your best bet would be to upgrade your wife's phone. I had to do that with my wife's phone. She used to have a Samsung flip-phone that was giving her issues with her MB headunit. I ended up getting her an iPhone and all is good.
Super Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 978
Likes: 3
From: Essex County, NJ
2011 E350 Sport 4Matic - P2 & Drivers Assist / 2010 C300 Sport 4Matic - P2 / 2013 Porsche Cayenne S
Thread Starter
Super Member
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 967
Likes: 77
From: Long Island, New York
2018 E400 4matic Wagon
Okay, so the postscript to this story is that there was something wrong with the Motorola phone's Bluetooth feature. With a lot of phone calls to Tracfones and talking to people who didn't know what a Bluetooth handsfree car kit was, I finally got someone who told me to do a master reset on the phone. That worked for a week, but then the phone wouldn't pair with any car at all. So, I bought a new LG phone, which works just fine.
