silverstreak

Just bought a 2000 E55 from out-of-state with the integrated voice activated phone, and was disappointed to be told by both of the cellular companies in my area that they will not activate an account on an analog phone;everything's digital only. When I bought the vehicle, I had been told that the 2000's had a digital phone, but now I learn from my local MBz dealer that this didn't start until late 2000...
Is there a reasonably priced solution, or a retrofit? It's a little consternating that a state of the art two year old car has an obsolete $2000 option.

silverstreak

found out from another dealer that there were 17 different startac phones for MBz 2000, each geared to a different cellular system, each with its own MBz part number.
The one that was in the car I bought wasn't digital compatible here, but I am able to buy one ($575) that will work.
I'm going to have to lean on the sales dept for an exchange/refund on the original.
BTW, AT&T would only transfer an existing account to the MBz startac, saying they really didn't like the amount of bandwidth it used up, and wouldn't start a new account on one.

Robbie8586

I don't think there is a cost effective way to get around it. The analog phones are outdated. You can convert it to a Timeport or V60 phone but it will cost around $2500-$3000. BTW-What city are you in?

silverstreak

worked out a refund from the dealer on the original startac cdma phone that came with my car. the proper one was one of the tdma units for my area (santa rosa CA). i guess they actually are all some type of a digital unit; i assume the "d" in cdma and tdma means digital. i guess that's why it was a dealer installed option in 2000 as there were 17 different phones needed to cover most cellular carriers in the usa.

thanks all for the input