WhiteTooth

I have a april 2004 build 545i and I had my dealer see if they could get the car to work with a Motorola V710. Since I currently have service with verizon, I purchased the one and only bluetooth phone available from Verizon which is recommended by BMW (the V710).

My car had all the necessary hardware, but required 3 hours of labor to update software, and get the phone working.

I was dissatisfied with the Verizon/V710 combination since the person I was calling would hear my voice with terrible distortion and fade/dropped signal as the speaker phone function switches between parties. I had Verizon check the phone to be sure it was programmed properly including an up-to-date list of towers. It was no better.

The solution in my case was to go to Cingular and purchase a Motorola Razor V3
(or a Motorola V551). The salesman allowed me to link up the Razor V3 and V551 with my car system, and both worked much better than the Verizon/V710, i.e., the sound quality on the receiving end was much better, and the speaker phone switching was cleaner. The V551 is relatively inexpensive. My conclusion is that the Verizon CDMA network just doesn't work as well as the Cingular/AT&T GSM network with a bluetooth phone.

Now I love the bluetooth phone/ car I-drive combination.

Delta

GSM in general has better sound quality compared to CDMA, so that may also have been a factor.