Anybody have an OEM in car phone & still working?

[Prometheus]

Just wondering.

[72tpik5]

I thought they would be analog and no longer be able to access any network.

[Prometheus]

Just wondering if somebody made an adaptive device that would allow a person to still be able to use the in car phone.

its a pretty cool accessory & it would be neat to see one in working condition.

[jcs1966]

Frequency and communication method is totally different. The best you could do is wire power to it so it looks like it works.

[MonsterJam]

What's the point of having it since you will be only able to use it if you are parked. Or used by the passenger.
Unless it is hands free, it would be a few hundred dollar ticket

[olinjohnston]

No possible with US-spec car phones as analog networks were dismantled in February 2008. The European ones still work since they are GSM, but the frequency band is not the same as US networks, so buying one and installing it still would not work. I looked into making this work several times. The only way would be to transplant some digital hardware into the old handsets, or built some kind of signal converter system.

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What's the point of having it since you will be only able to use it if you are parked. Or used by the passenger.
Unless it is hands free, it would be a few hundred dollar ticket

It is hands-free, and voice activated.

Plus, the GSM ones can used a duplicated SIM so your car phone would be used while you're driving, and your regular phone would be used normally.

[pumpedTSI]

I actually still have mine......just like it came from the factory.....powers up just fine.

[bdiefAZ]

I fed mine to the trash can.

[legoman67]

ive seen a few that turned on, but as others have said, thats about as much as you will ever get in north america.

The only way to ever make it "functional" would be to completely rebuild the brain box into basically a modern cell phone using the inputs on the handset. not a task for the average DIY'er.

[revtor]

The European ones still work since they are GSM.

That's right, but there are some limitations and it looks like the end may be near for the European BMW car phones as well...

Unlike modern multi-band mobile phones, the BMW GSM supports only the original 900 MHz 2G band (P-GSM). Luckily most Western European telecommunications operators have multi-band networks including the 900 MHz 2G band so that's not much of an issue. At least not up until recently... Over the past year telecommunications operators in the Netherlands upgraded the 900 MHz 2G network to 3G to improve the mobile Internet coverage (which up until then used higher frequencies which have less range than lower frequencies). Sadly old GSM phones, like the BMW GSM, are not compatible with these network changes. So even though the 900 MHz network is still there, the BMW car phone is unable to connect to it. At this moment I'm not aware of other European countries dumping 2G on the 900 MHz band, but it's probably just a matter of time... That's a bit of a bummer because even though it's 20-year-old technology, it still worked like a treat.

[huldra66]

Mine still works , that said I have problems finding a SIM card it will accept.
Only older sim cards work in mine , and I cant get hold of them anymore in Norway at least

I know the phone works as my friend have an 4 year old card in his phone we tested and worked fine

Would love to get hold of a working card :-)

Regards
Terje

[revtor]

Mine still works , that said I have problems finding a SIM card it will accept.
Only older sim cards work in mine , and I cant get hold of them anymore in Norway at least

Strange because SIM cards are supposed to be backwards compatible. Here in Belgium the BMW GSM works with SIM cards from all major telecommunications operators. In fact, I replaced the SIM card in my BMW GSM just last weekend with a brand new one and it's working just fine.

[Khan850i]

Have one car phone in. With out the cord have no clue if it works.

[MParallel]

Strange because SIM cards are supposed to be backwards compatible. Here in Belgium the BMW GSM works with SIM cards from all major telecommunications operators. In fact, I replaced the SIM card in my BMW GSM just last weekend with a brand new one and it's working just fine.

I know some guys here had problems with new SIM cards in the newer version phone (with positive display) or visa versa. Something to do with older 5v vs newer 3v SIMcards. On the older systems also only the reader in the S/E module worked, but not the one in the ejectbox.

And as you found out this week, yes, our 900MHZ 2g doesn't work anymore and it break my heart. It was the single coolest option in my car.

[Craig540i]

Anyone have a phone for sale - Euro GSM spec?

[revtor]

I know some guys here had problems with new SIM cards in the newer version phone (with positive display) or visa versa. Something to do with older 5v vs newer 3v SIMcards. On the older systems also only the reader in the S/E module worked, but not the one in the ejectbox.

The old GSM systems in our cars are all 5 V whereas modern cell phones operate at voltages as low as 1.8 V. But once again, that should not be an issue because SIM cards are supposed to be backwards compatible. Old 5 V SIM cards will not work in modern mobile phones, but new cards should work with all previous systems. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:

There are three operating voltages for SIM cards: 5 V, 3 V and 1.8 V (ISO/IEC 7816-3 classes A, B and C, respectively). The operating voltage of the majority of SIM cards launched before 1998 was 5 V. SIM cards produced subsequently are compatible with 3 V and 5 V. Modern cards support 5 V, 3 V and 1.8 V.

Anyway, I've read similar claims (SIM not working) over at 8er.org. Maybe some telecommunications operators cheap out and provide SIM cards that do not comply to the standards, or maybe the users were not aware the operator must exploit a 900 MHz P-GSM 2G network in order for the BMW GSM to work (not all do)... If the BMW GSM asks to enter the PIN code you can be sure the SIM card works fine. If you still can't make or receive calls after that, the most likely cause is the operator not having a 900 MHz P-GSM 2G network. Over the years I've used quite a few (Belgian) SIM cards in the BMW GSM and I have yet to come along a SIM card that doesn't work.

[DA850CSI]

Looking for an OEM phone for my 850 CSI. Can anyone help me out?

[okwestern]

I have opened a thread to check interest in OEM BMW car phone modified to work with todays networks:
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...odays-networks

[jayseitz]

My phones fires right up lights up all the lights as it did when it was new ......... But that's ALL it does is fire up, its nothing more than a toy to play with !!

[PabloRock]

Now a days it's really just a talking point. When I bring it to shows, people are most surprised at the phone (the v12 comes in second). When I first got the car and I turned on the phone, James Earl Jones would come on and say "Welcome to Bell South". I never hooked it up, but it was cool. That along with the computerized weather band (which is now off as well), I used to tell people the car was so fancy they got Darth Vader to do the phone voice and Stephen Hawking to do the weather.

[MParallel]

They still work, in some EU countries. Not in mine anymore, but in Germany (and I guess Belgium as well, as Revtor told his one works in Belgium).

If not, it still beats it for period "Miami Vice" coolness over an ashtray or cupholder.

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They still work, in some EU countries. Not in mine anymore, but in Germany (and I guess Belgium as well, as Revtor told his one works in Belgium).

If not, it still beats it for period "Miami Vice" coolness over an ashtray or cupholder.