# Car Phone Motorola V710



## grigia42 (Aug 10, 2004)

I have an 03 7 series. Bought it used and the car has a BMW Cingular Cell phone. I use Verizon and was tempted to buy the Verizon BMW Motorola version on Ebay that would be placed in the armrest cradle. Wondering, is it worth it? Or should I just go to a Verizon store and but the new V710 which does not interface with the 745.


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## kd2789mo (Jul 8, 2004)

grigia42 said:


> I have an 03 7 series. Bought it used and the car has a BMW Cingular Cell phone. I use Verizon and was tempted to buy the Verizon BMW Motorola version on Ebay that would be placed in the armrest cradle. Wondering, is it worth it? Or should I just go to a Verizon store and but the new V710 which does not interface with the 745.


Cellular numbers are now portable (belong to the owner, not the carrier)
Why not just have your Verizon number moved over to Cingular. You may have a cost of terminating your Cingular contract, though the cost your BMW Center will charge for re-programing your software will probably be more. You cannot just "insert" a different phone without BMW reprograming the EIS of the new phone into the TCU.


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## grigia42 (Aug 10, 2004)

Cingular is horrible in my area. I even asked the local BMW dealership aftermarket sales dept if they had a BMW Verizon phone on a trade in. They said no, but if I wanted a Cingular they had an entire draw full of them.


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## kd2789mo (Jul 8, 2004)

grigia42 said:


> Cingular is horrible in my area. I even asked the local BMW dealership aftermarket sales dept if they had a BMW Verizon phone on a trade in. They said no, but if I wanted a Cingular they had an entire draw full of them.


If you live in the mid-west, get a Cingular phone in the TDMA platform. Cingular's (and most carriers) GSM network works well, but only within major cities, and along interstates.
Both Cingular and BMW support the V60 in both the TDMA and GSM platforms.
For reference, the TDMA platform phone is the one without the SiM Chip. I have found this is how most BMW parts reps differentiate the two.
Cingular has TDMA coverage in over 90% of the USA.


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## ChadS (Jan 4, 2002)

kd2789mo said:


> If you live in the mid-west, get a Cingular phone in the TDMA platform. Cingular's (and most carriers) GSM network works well, but only within major cities, and along interstates.


Not if you have seen the most recent coverage map from Cingular. Their GSM coverage is rather expansive. Plus you may have to work a little to try to get a TDMA phone activated by Cingular. At least here in Philadelphia they will no longer activate TDMA phones; GSM only.


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## kd2789mo (Jul 8, 2004)

ChadS said:


> Not if you have seen the most recent coverage map from Cingular. Their GSM coverage is rather expansive. Plus you may have to work a little to try to get a TDMA phone activated by Cingular. At least here in Philadelphia they will no longer activate TDMA phones; GSM only.


Cingular will activate BMW TDMA phones, as there still exists an agreement between both companies. If you go to a 'local' Cingular store, the rep's there may tell you Cingular no longer activates TDMA's, but if you just call Cingular with the EIS, Cingular will indeed activate it.
With regard to Cingular's GSM coverage map, I suppose I would have to say it is simply unrealistic. I own 2 Nokia Cingular TDMA's and one Cingular Motorola GSM. I travel extensively throughout the US, and have never had any lack of service with the TDMA phones. The GSM phone always loses coverage 30-40 miles outside any major metropolitan area. I have had them both sitting side-by-side while driving, monitoring the signal strength. Just to be certain, the Motorola GSM phone has been replaced, to insure it was not a hardware issue.
BMW Assist (also operating on the GSM platform) also lacks coverage in the same areas.
Frankly, if I would need BMW Assist anywhere 50 miles outside St Louis (where I live), I would have to call their 800 number on my TDMA phone. The 'SOS' connection simply cannot complete the call.
For whatever it's worth, I have another 745il on order, which will be equiped with a Cingular served, BMW Motorola V60t TDMA phone.


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## Staszek (Jan 28, 2004)

Another option although would cost you a bit more, I believe that new Motorola phone you mentioned is bluetooth, you could get the bluetooth adapter for your car that way you can use any bluetooth phone from any company you wanted.


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## ChadS (Jan 4, 2002)

kd2789mo said:


> Cingular will activate BMW TDMA phones, as there still exists an agreement between both companies. If you go to a 'local' Cingular store, the rep's there may tell you Cingular no longer activates TDMA's, but if you just call Cingular with the EIS, Cingular will indeed activate it.
> With regard to Cingular's GSM coverage map, I suppose I would have to say it is simply unrealistic. I own 2 Nokia Cingular TDMA's and one Cingular Motorola GSM. I travel extensively throughout the US, and have never had any lack of service with the TDMA phones. The GSM phone always loses coverage 30-40 miles outside any major metropolitan area. I have had them both sitting side-by-side while driving, monitoring the signal strength. Just to be certain, the Motorola GSM phone has been replaced, to insure it was not a hardware issue.
> BMW Assist (also operating on the GSM platform) also lacks coverage in the same areas.
> Frankly, if I would need BMW Assist anywhere 50 miles outside St Louis (where I live), I would have to call their 800 number on my TDMA phone. The 'SOS' connection simply cannot complete the call.


Actually BMW ASSIST works off Verizon's network. The BMW ASSIST module the tri-mode Sony-Ericsson CDMA CM42. Here are two links to the data sheet about it.

http://home.att.net/~burke.steve/cm42_datasheet_1.jpg
http://home.att.net/~burke.steve/cm42_datasheet_2.jpg

I'm not doubting your experience with Cingular GSM, but mine has been different. When Cingular overlayed their network with GSM in Philadelphia about 2 years ago, I upgraded to the Nokia 6340i GAIT phone which works on both GSM and TDMA networks. After using that phone for a while and noticing that the phone was hardly ever in TDMA mode I switched to a GSM only phone and can't remember the last time that I flat out had no service. Some areas may be poor (as with any carrier), but I have also traveled all over the US and have always had service on my phone. For me the coverage map above has been fairly accurate, but keep in mind that a lot of the coverage comes from roaming partners, many of which are still in the process of overlaying their networks to GSM. There are still areas where TDMA is better, but in the populated areas GSM has been much better for me than TDMA. In addition in just about all of Cingular's markets since they have stopped selling TDMA phones, focus has shifted to optimizing their GSM network. That means that capacity for TDMA is decreasing which translates to more system busies and dropped calls. Overall, more Cingular customers are now using GSM so more capacity is needed and the only way to get it is to take it away from TDMA. Also all new towers that Cingular is adding are GSM only. Cingular has added hundreds of new cell sites this year, however except in a few rare cases, they have all been GSM only. No new TDMA equipment is being added; existing equipment will be maintained, but TDMA coverage problems that exist now will not be fixed. Long story short, TDMA is a dead technology.

For really good information on Cingular as well as other carriers I would highly recommend visiting www.howardforums.com


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## kd2789mo (Jul 8, 2004)

Thanks Chad....I'll follow the links and do some more research on the issue.
Much appreciated!
Would you happen to know if Verizon is planning on remaining with their CDMA network? I have not been able to find any Verizon offered GSM networks.


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## Staszek (Jan 28, 2004)

kd2789mo said:


> Thanks Chad....I'll follow the links and do some more research on the issue.
> Much appreciated!
> Would you happen to know if Verizon is planning on remaining with their CDMA network? I have not been able to find any Verizon offered GSM networks.


I am not as knowledgable as Chad, but I think Verizon is planning on staying with CDMA, its their verison of GSM, they are staying proprietary, but that is just what I heard I definetly could be wrong on that.


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## ChadS (Jan 4, 2002)

kd2789mo said:


> Thanks Chad....I'll follow the links and do some more research on the issue.
> Much appreciated!
> Would you happen to know if Verizon is planning on remaining with their CDMA network? I have not been able to find any Verizon offered GSM networks.


Verizon is commited to CDMA. In Washington DC, San Diego, and Las Vegas they have launched their next generation CDMA network (EV-DO) which Verizon calls "Broadband Access". Speeds average from 400 - 500k and can burst up to 2Mbps. From an industry perspective, Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel are committed to CDMA while Cingular, AT&T Wireless, and T-Mobile are committed to GSM.


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## grigia42 (Aug 10, 2004)

Staszek said:


> Another option although would cost you a bit more, I believe that new Motorola phone you mentioned is bluetooth, you could get the bluetooth adapter for your car that way you can use any bluetooth phone from any company you wanted.


I do not think my 03 il can use a bluetooth adapter?


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## Staszek (Jan 28, 2004)

grigia42 said:


> I do not think my 03 il can use a bluetooth adapter?


Your right they dont have it available for the 745 yet, that makes no sense to me you can get it on a 3 series but not a 7.


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