RicardosBenz

I recently purchased a 1999 s500 Grand Edition, unfortunately
the operating manuals were not included. Does anyone know
how I can use the integrated phone located on the dash? I've
pushed every button and nothing happens..!! How does this
thing work? Any advice would be appreciated.

Racin_fool

good luck getting that thing to work. All of those older analog phone systems will soon no longer work and most people don't want to pay to have those systems diagnosed anyways.

Just use your cell phone.

RicardosBenz

I really appreciate the advice. Too bad. Anyways, I thinks its an interesting feature.

Peter Guenther

The question is do you have a phone? All 140s were wired and had the handset in the arm rest. The hansets were service provider specific, and MB specific. The technology has changed, the phones are pretty well obsolete, and most providers wont activate them, Analog will be history in US and Canada after the first of the year. This includes all Tel-Aid installs prior to 05, the upgrade is scheduled for $1000!

Vasir

Not all phones had a wired handset int he armrest....my s600 has a MB cell phone (old and bulky) and the speakerphone pad in the dashboard. maybe the older 140ws that had the integrated phone had wired handsets?

skorupa

There is an off/on switch next to the phone in the center armrest

RicardosBenz

Are you sure theres an on/off switch.? I just looked and didn't see anthing.

Substance

No analog phone will work after december 07. either mb will activate your teleaid nor any cell phone provider would activate your phone. ALL MB cars prior to 05 has analog devices so they have to be upgraded to digital. I dont know how much would that be but the upgrade kit is only available for the car MY01 and on. So unlikely there is/will be any upgrade kit available from Mb for w140. There might be some aftermarket solutions. I have heard of argos which enables you to connect your current phone to MB phone kit through bluetooth connections and is about 700 dollars. And Mikbox but I am not sure these are applicable to w140.

okc329

if all the components are present. If it is analog type, the service is referred to as AMPS which I think stands for Analog Mobile Phone Service or something like that. Go to a Cingular store and ask if they still offer the service in your area. I have such a phone in my '97 E320 and it always worked better than a hand unit because the car has a transmission amplifier and a better antenna than the small hand-held unit. Even though I have terminated the service for the car because I needed to switch carriers, I can still make a 911 call from the car. I understand that that feature is to be available for awhile.

Peter Guenther

The older phones did have a handset in the arm rest and/console with a transmitter in the trunk. The newer ones did have a "handset" which was a portable cellular phone in the armrest, and was still controlled bythe control unit in the dash. In the 2000 and up models the pad, in the radio was used with the "portable handset in the armrest.The first versions were AMPS, they progressed to digital but were still ANALOG, and CDMA TDMA was available in Timeport and Star-Tac, none of those were 911 compatible and cellular operators were hesitant to activate them. As of Spring 08 The FCC will allow the operators to shut down all ANALOG systems in the US, Canada will follow. This includes Tel-Aid, and those channels will probably resurface as GSM which is becoming the global standard.