Partial Phone Installation Question

[Andy Stanton]

I'm about to order my E220 and I'm having a dilemma with the phone installation.

The standard aftermarket install at work is the handset cradle screwed or inserted to the dashboard, speaker box in the footwell, mic in the A pillar and aerial shoved somewhere (it's currently in the tax disc holder in my case).

However, I want to use the proper merc kit so the handset sits in the armrest, the calls can be handled via the steering wheel/command module and the sound through the speakers.

Herein lies the problem. The former is completely free. The latter goes onto the options list when I order it and will cost me approx £25 per month. We can ask for a Premium install which drops the speaker box and runs an aux cable to the radio instead but it's still basic to say the least.

So I need to know whether our Premuim option will plug into the Command module (obviously not a standard radio) and work from the steering wheel and speakers or whether it's likely to just put the phonecall out to one/all speakers.

Has any one got the Merc Phone Prep installed and if so what does it provide?

I'm trying to get the detail of the premium install but as we're changing fleet companies in two weeks everythings gone quite and I can't get the info. So I thought I'd ask the experts...

The handset is a Nokia 6210 by the way and I can get the software upgraded no problem.

 

[sym]

I know of somebody with a 6210 comand phone kit which will be for sale soon . . PM me for further details.

They are also selling a 6310 kit which will be MINE !! (and will link into COMAND that I am half way thru installing at the moment!)

S.

 

[scotth_uk]

Bluetooth? Just leave the phone in your bag, and everything is voice activated.

Sony's HCB-30 is pretty darn good.

 

[sym]

Yeah . . . . bluetooth is great ! (But it won't work with COMAND . . . . yet !!)

S.

 

[GrahamC230K]

Bluetooth is OK, but it cant charge my battery, hence I prefer a wired kit.

 

[scotth_uk]

Bluetooth is OK, but it cant charge my battery, hence I prefer a wired kit.

Damn! You are right. I never considered that.

[/moron off]

 

[RichardM]

Originally posted by scotth_uk
Damn! You are right. I never considered that.

[/moron off]

My battery lasts a week and over 24 hours when it gets to a single bar so I don't see that as an issue. Go bluetooth!

For the Nokia car kit I was told there was no way to interface this to the car's audio system because it uses fibre optic wiring, so I had to use the Nokia speaker.

 

[Andy Stanton]

Thanks Guys.

Sadly I'm stuck with my 6210 handset. Also I hate those handsfree earpiece jobbie, especially the larger Bluetooth ones. I'm far to self concious to be seen wearing one. All a bit out of place if you're not on a star trek set. Call me old fashioned if you want. If god intended me to have a headset attached to my ear he would have turned my knob into an aerial!

Still waiting for news from our new fleet company re a funded formal mb install. I'm hoping they'll make a good will gesture as part of the new business setup.

Cheers!

 

[RichardM]

The bluetooth car kits are different to the headsets, they work like a normal car kit with speaker and mic, they just don't have a cradle for the phone. You don't have to put anything in your ear!

What also put me off about the headsets is they have a very short standby time so you'd have to be charging them all the time.

 

[Tan]

Vodafone told me last week that the bluetooth kits should not be installed into MB's as they effect the airbags. MB said that they are unsure??

Anyone got any ideas??

 

[malc_n]

Andy

I have the factory fit Nokia kit in mine, and its the best car kit I have ever used. The sound is much clearer, and can be turned up much louder, than the std nokia aftermarket kit.

I had the same decision to make, but tried one in the dealers and that swung it for me

Malc

 

[RichardM]

Originally posted by Tan
Vodafone told me last week that the bluetooth kits should not be installed into MB's as they effect the airbags. MB said that they are unsure??

Anyone got any ideas??

Well mine haven't gone off yet! What I heard when I was buying mine was that for normal car kits Mercedes have to have a certain type of arial, not a glass mount or tax disk arial because of the airbags, but for bluetooth this isn't applicable as there's no external arial.

The bluetooth kit I have now (CARK-112) is much better than the standard Nokia kit (CARK-91) I had in the last car, it is clearer and louder but I'm sure the proper factory kit would be much better still.

 

[Aswall]

I'd echo what Richard says, the Nokia CARK112 is excellent. I use my phone a lot but still only have to recharge every 2 days so the cradle isn't an issue

Cheers
Andy

 

[scotth_uk]

should not be installed into MB's as they effect the airbags

Just like mobile phones crash planes then. Or make fuel pumps explode.

Unless that airbag is triggered wirelessly, I can't see how BT can affect a circuit.

 

[Andy Stanton]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

Our new Fleet Company are due to go 'Live' at the end of this month so I'm hoping for a decision from them pretty soon.

Btw, I believe the issue with mobiles and crashing planes/blowing up the local tescos petrol station relate to earlier handsets that were a little less refined than todays models.

The handset has an electrical current running through it and it's power usage increases when it originates or receives a call. It's this surge in the handset that generates the 'potential' for a minute spark to ingnite vapours or for unprotected electrical circuits to behave in unusual ways.

This could mean free petrol, very expensive petrol or no petrol and a big hole in the ground. It could mean the radio transmission on the plane is affected or worse still, flicks the inflight entertainment to a repeat of Only fools and Horses for the remainder of the flight. Disasterous as you could imagine!