pennetta

Dear Mr. Pennetta:

Thank you for contacting BMW of North America, LLC regarding your 2004 BMW 545i. Regrettably, Bluetooth connectivity will not be available for the 2004 model year 5 Series. Conflicts with the Bluetooth module and the software built into the vehicle do not allow for the installation of a retrofit Bluetooth kit. Please accept my apologies for any frustration or inconvenience this situation may cause.

If you have any further questions, please respond to this e-mail or contact the Customer Relations and Services Department at 1-800-831-1117, Monday through Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. Again, thank you for contacting BMW.

Sincerely,

Anthony Salla
Customer Relations and Services
Representative

wassy

this is their standard response as of now, they have no idea that it was done at a couple dealers.. you are speaking to a general customer service rep!

pennetta

Thanks, because it would be really convenient to have it.

wnrussell

Yeah, Tony Salla still does not know that the 13.3 software fixes the issue.

It is a shame that the Customer Service people don't talk to the engineers, let alone read the Service Bulletins.

jamespratt

Please don't get too excited about bluetooth. It really isn't that great. Very, very few phones are compatible and as time goes by even fewer compatible phones are left available. Secondly, audio quality is pretty awful. I am seriously considering mothballing my BT system until (or perhaps I mean 'if') BMW get the whole system sorted. Please don't go out and pay for it yet!

wnrussell

What version is your software?

Bluetooth wireless is becoming standard equipment and the wired CPT9000, (V60i) which is already obsolete, is the option that is being mothballed from what I understand.

The future is with a wireless handset that can be moved from car-to-car. When Verizon fixes their Bluetooth, every major cellular carrier will have that capability.

Hormazd

What version is your software?

Bluetooth wireless is becoming standard equipment and the wired CPT9000, (V60i) which is already obsolete, is the option that is being mothballed from what I understand.

The future is with a wireless handset that can be moved from car-to-car. When Verizon fixes their Bluetooth, every major cellular carrier will have that capability.
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And Verizon is commited to fixing it by year end. They know thay will loose customers as their main competitor (Sprint) is coming out with a BT phone this month. And Sprint's plug is that their phone is not restricting any BT capabilities.

firewired

I repeatedly been told misinformation that seemed definitive from BMWNA reps. Both from my E60 that is currently on the water and on my previous BMWs. It is amazing how much one hand doesn't talk with the other.

On one previous car (E46 M3) they had the "M" specialist up at BMWNA that had supposedly just gotten back from Germany for training call me back. He was kind enough to give me completely wrong information that he thought was correct. Specifically that my MY04 would come with BMW assist buttons on the dash, not the mirror. That my mirror would stay the classic round M shape, and lastly that of course there would be active headlamps on the car. So now I am thinking, unless I get a call from overseas from someone with an accent, I don't know how confident I would be in them having the definitive answer. "Customer relations" is just that , not a product development or engineer.

Just frustrating that: 1. A company that prides itself on quality could not have decent intradepartmental communication. 2. They have been so wrong in their previous info I at least have gotten. 3. They seem so 100% definitive about their answers which later turn out to be wrong.

jamespratt

In answer to your question my software was updated about 2 months ago to version 12 or 13. Not sure what.
BMW tried to fix the BT audio quality only a month ago without any success. The information that I have received from a wide range of sources is that the problem is a BMW software problem. Bluetoth is not the 'standard' that it was intended to be and the variations made by the various manufacturers are causing them no end of trouble.

There are no immediate plans for ANY current or future nokias to be compatible. The most recent SE phones are less compatible than older ones...... and so on.
There may well be issues with Verizon that when sorted will make BT function, BUT it's not likely to improve the audio quality.

Please don't take offence, but the US system of mobiles is, I gather, technoligically far inferior to the system used by the other 90% of the world. BMW have been working on the audio and compatability problems for years now, so please don't think that Verizon getting themselves sorted will make a massive difference. It may work, but not well enough to impress. Be patient! Wait until BMW get the problems sorted. You'll only have to take it back for another upgrade when they do.

gdavis

Jamespratt, it's not that the US system for cell technology is inferior, it is that there are multiple cell systems in the US. The GSM system that is used in most of the world is also used by a couple of the biggest cell providers in the US just as it is used in Europe. Other providers have a couple other technologies in use as well.

But the problems with this audio issue is not in the cell technology, rather the processing of the audio by BMW's electronics. Probably the largest issue is how to avoid a feedback 'squeal' between the mic and the speakers whilst simultaneously accounting for ambient road and wind noise. These are no easy tasks to balance.

It is really up to BMW to solve this one, BT works well on many phones independent of the cell technology with the small ear/mics that are worn on the ear. Let's hope that they've got a team working on it aggressively and that the car's electronics already have the internal tecnology/hardware to support whatever they determine necessary to improve it.