MIINTY

Hi

I'm awaiting in anticipation for my 2004 530. It comes with a built in phone. Is there any way I can do a cheap, quick change to Bluetooth. Or am I lumbered with it, needing 2 SIM cards and the pain and hurt of diverting the number?

5er Sport

You should be able to get your Bluetooth to work with a software upgrade.

what month was your car build ?

Rich

Rudy

If your car was built before 3/2004, you can use the "Bluetooth Upgrade Module" (BTUM) which is a simple part that pops into the cradle where the phone is now. It allows the car to use Bluetooth so you won't have to worry about being forced to use the second phone, etc.

If your car was built on or after 3/2004, then you should be able to get Bluetooth activated via a software upgrade. This isn't free unless you can complain about another software bug that affects the car in some way (not hard to do at all if you search the forums here). If they have to do a software upgrade to take care of your "complaint," then all you need to do is have them perform a "retrofit Bluetooth" procedure during the update. Usually this will be done at little or no cost to you since they're already going through the software update process.

It's been posted here a bunch of times but I'll make it easy for you -- the following is the service bulletin that goes over the Bluetooth issue on the E60. It can be a bit confusing at first but I tried to explain it for you above...
BT_TSB_6_2005.pdf

acme

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm confused about this in my car. I just bought a 2004 E60 that BMWNA tells me had a build date of Jan 2004. From reading the TSB it sounds like I shouldn't have the cradle in the console, but I do. Why would that be?

Rudy

As I mentioned above, the bulletin is pretty confusing...

Your 1/2004 car probably has a CPT-9000 cradle which was used before the Bluetooth implementation. The CPT-9000 was a non-Bluetooth cradle that was designed for use with the wired Motorola V60 phone. If that's what you have (and it's pretty likely that's what you have), your car should be easily converted to BT operation by purchasing the BTUM I mentioned above. It should be a plug-and-play deal.

The bulletin is confusing because it refers to Bluetooth cradles (used to help boost signal and/or facilitate charging of a BT phone) that aren't compatible with cars of your vintage.

Does that clear things up or confuse things more?

acme

Rudy,

This is great info. Another question -- Is one CPT-9000 the same as another CPT-9000? I ask because the ebay listings always show the particular vehicle model. If I buy one that someone lists as being for an E65, for instance, is there any reason it wouldn't work in my E60?

Thanks for your patient responses!

Rudy

I can't say 100% but the following link will take you to a ton of information about the CPT-9000 phone. It's from a DIY thread from a while ago when many people were installing the eject box (cradle) themselves (before BT came to the E60.)
http://forums.e60.net/index.php?showtopic=2709

I seem to remember that the term CPT-9000 referred to the specific generation of phone that is used (Motorola V60). Obviously, there are different kits for different cars but the phone itself was the same -- you just had to get the V60 model that matched the carrier's technology (i.e. GSM, TDMA, etc.)

Hope that helps...

MIINTY

Thats great... car was registered on the 17/4/07.. so it should be BT preped. Time to phone BMW to chuck it in for free (they're still sorting out my car).. But I doubt it.

acme

Thanks again for your help in this thread, Rudy. Much appreciated.

Another question -- My car appears to have some kind of cellular connectivity already, but I can't make it tell me exactly what it is. At the bottom of the screen there are little icons that look like the signal strength indicators on a cell phone. The number of bars changes as I drive around so it appears that clearly there is some kind of connectivity going on. I have an "SOS" button overhead that doesn't do anything. Is all of this just the mechanisms for BMW Assist, or could there be something else going on here? And if I have BMW Assist hardware in my car, does that buy me anything toward my goal of getting my phone connected via bluetooth? I understand that I'll still probably have to buy the BTUM, I'm just trying to understand what all this other stuff is.

How sad is it to buy a nice preowned car and have no idea how to work half the features, or even know what features are included?

Thanks again -- and sorry for the stupid questions.

Bteljuice

nothing stupid about ur question. Ask all you want. the bars are used for BMW assist.