Activating car phone in E39 540 UK - which network?
SteveB
go about activating the car phone that's already in the car. It sits in the
arm rest and is hard-wired with a curly cable.
Is it simply a case of buying a sim card from eg The Link, Dixons etc? It
looks like the phone takes a sim about the size of a credit card!?! I seem
to recall the last time I got a PAYG sim it came as part of a credit card
piece of plastic and I popped the small sim out - do you just leave the
small sim as part of the big piece of plastic?
Finally - will the phone be locked to a particular network?
Any help would be greatfully appreciated
thanks
Steve
Scotland, UK
Randolph
cards. As you note, that is also how they still are delivered, leaving
it to the end user to break off the small piece that fits in modern
phones.
Phones are usually locked to a particular provider only if that provider
subsidizes the cost of the phone. If the phone was installed by the
previous owner it very well might be locked to a specific provider. If
the phone as original to the car I would doubt very much that it is
locked. Perhaps if you go to your favourite phone retailer and explain
the situation, they will let you borrow an active SIM card to try in
your car and see if it works?
In most countries the network operator is obligated to give you the code
to unlock the phone after the initial contract term is up. Only problem
is that you need to know who that provider is so you can contact them.
Nick
O2 works fine, heard problems with orange?!?
Grant Mason
news:Xns949FEF869ECE5...@140.99.99.130
>
> Is it simply a case of buying a sim card from eg The Link, Dixons
> etc?
Yes.
They may charge up to £30 - you can get them from net-based retailers for
under £10.
> do you just leave the small sim as part of the big piece of plastic?
Yes.
> Finally - will the phone be locked to a particular network?
Maybe. There's a good chance it will only work with an O2 or Vodafone SIM.
(Orange and T-Mobile operate on a different frequency which, IIRC, BMW
didn't offer in '98)
Hugh Gundersen
I believe that the VODAPHONE cards work but I would advise (and did it myself)
junk that load of crap and get a car kit for you current cell/mobile phone.
I have the Nokia 6310 and it works just fine and I can take it with me when I
leave the car which you can't with the BMW one.
Hugh
Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!
Hugh Gundersen
h...@h-gee.co.uk
h...@bognor-bill.co.uk
http://www.bognor-bill.co.uk
Bognor Regis, W.Sussex, England, UK
-------------------------------------------------
Vyisder Asmeni
Orsisarsis Asderisorsis.
B.Cozderiz
Vunarz
PERORZ
-------------------------------------------------
Hugh Gundersen
BTW do not use ORANGE, VIRGIN or T-Mobile as the frequency is wrong for the
phone unit.
Simon
small self adhesive recess to hold the SIM card.
I bought one about 3 years ago for £6 from my contract supplier.
Simon
"SteveB" <steve...@ic24.net> wrote in message
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Dori A Schmetterling
I am not familiar with the phone specifically but if it has a SIM card slot
then why can't one use any SIM card? If the SIM card slot in the phone is
big one may need to insert the whole credit-card-sized card.
I know that service providers can now block phones when they are told of the
serial or EMEI number, but I was not aware that a handset is programmed to
work with a specific provider only.
Note Hugh Gundersen's comment about networks. What he really means is that
the phone is only single-band at 900 MHz, which is why he implies using O2
or Vodafone only. Check that the phone is, indeed, single band. Five years
go it might have been.
As an aside, I am wondering whether T-Mobile and Orange now have 900 MHz
transmitters, just as Vodafone and O2 have 1800 MHz ones. (Virgin is a
virtual network, of course.)
DAS
Confused from Notting Hill
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"Simon" <simon...@nospam.hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Grant Mason
news:404476f8$0$14403$cc9e...@news.dial.pipex.com
> I find a number of queries and comments a little puzzling.
>
> I am not familiar with the phone specifically but if it has a SIM
> card slot then why can't one use any SIM card?
For the reasons you yourself outline below - single-band and/or locked
hardware.
> I know that service providers can now block phones when they are told
> of the serial or EMEI number, but I was not aware that a handset is
> programmed to work with a specific provider only.
All Orange handsets are locked to Orange. Some O2/Voda/TM handsets are
locked.
Unlocking costs range from free to £20.
> As an aside, I am wondering whether T-Mobile and Orange now have 900
> MHz transmitters, just as Vodafone and O2 have 1800 MHz ones.
A few test ones, but nothing that would represent a usable service for a
single band phone.
Hugh Gundersen
wrote:
>I find a number of queries and comments a little puzzling.
>
>I am not familiar with the phone specifically but if it has a SIM card slot
>then why can't one use any SIM card? If the SIM card slot in the phone is
>big one may need to insert the whole credit-card-sized card.
>I know that service providers can now block phones when they are told of the
>serial or EMEI number, but I was not aware that a handset is programmed to
>work with a specific provider only.
>
>Note Hugh Gundersen's comment about networks. What he really means is that
>the phone is only single-band at 900 MHz, which is why he implies using O2
>or Vodafone only. Check that the phone is, indeed, single band. Five years
>go it might have been.
It was and --- still is!
>
>As an aside, I am wondering whether T-Mobile and Orange now have 900 MHz
>transmitters, just as Vodafone and O2 have 1800 MHz ones. (Virgin is a
>virtual network, of course.)
All the Virgin/T-Mobile (same network) and Orange are PCM or 1800Mhz the others
are 900Mhz the reason for dual band phones is so that you
a, can swap networks.
b, only one type of phone need be made (cost).
c, when "roaming" you can use whatever network happens to have an agreement with
your provider.
BMW used Vodaphone network (I think) @ 900MHz.
Still crap and if it has the steering wheel controls use the Nokia phone that
use the CARK-1 and then contact Connect2 for a complete kit to use the original
wheel controls and speakers
Hugh
>
>DAS
>Confused from Notting Hill
Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!
Hugh Gundersen
wrote:
>I find a number of queries and comments a little puzzling.
>
>I am not familiar with the phone specifically but if it has a SIM card slot
>then why can't one use any SIM card? If the SIM card slot in the phone is
>big one may need to insert the whole credit-card-sized card.
>I know that service providers can now block phones when they are told of the
>serial or EMEI number, but I was not aware that a handset is programmed to
>work with a specific provider only.
>
>Note Hugh Gundersen's comment about networks. What he really means is that
>the phone is only single-band at 900 MHz, which is why he implies using O2
>or Vodafone only. Check that the phone is, indeed, single band. Five years
>go it might have been.
It was and --- still is!
>
>As an aside, I am wondering whether T-Mobile and Orange now have 900 MHz
>transmitters, just as Vodafone and O2 have 1800 MHz ones. (Virgin is a
>virtual network, of course.)
All the Virgin/T-Mobile (same network) and Orange are PCM or 1800Mhz the others
are 900Mhz the reason for dual band phones is so that you
a, can swap networks.
b, only one type of phone need be made (cost).
c, when "roaming" you can use whatever network happens to have an agreement with
your provider.
BMW used Vodaphone network (I think) @ 900MHz.
Still crap and if it has the steering wheel controls use the Nokia phone that
use the CARK-1 and then contact Connect2 for a complete kit to use the original
wheel controls and speakers
Hugh
>
>DAS
>Confused from Notting Hill
Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!
Randolph
> are 900Mhz the reason for dual band phones is so that you
> a, can swap networks.
> b, only one type of phone need be made (cost).
> c, when "roaming" you can use whatever network happens to have an agreement with
You are tight that T-Mobile and Orange use only 1800 MHz. however:
Vodaphone uses both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
O2 uses both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
And to make the confusion complete, most US GSM carriers use 1900 MHz,
with some also using 850MHz
Hugh Gundersen
This is because some daft nut in the US said that 800 & 1800 were too close to
ICBM control systems (Inter Continental Ballistic Missile) and they used
slightly higher frequencies.
However the truth is that they wanted to be DIFFERENT and totally incompatible
with the rest of the world as they are with NTSC (Never twice the same colour)
TV and BIG cars with nowhere to go (or very seldom go outside two blocks from
home) ......
Ho Hmm.....
Hugh
SteveB
impressed with how friendly everyone is
Thanks again
Steve
Hugh Gundersen
Just wait till you say something stupid! They'll shoot you....
Hugh
Dori A Schmetterling
umbrage...
DAS
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"Hugh Gundersen" <h...@h-gee.co.uk> wrote in message
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Dori A Schmetterling
DAS
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"Randolph" <tr...@junkmail.com> wrote in message
news:4044D1BF...@junkmail.com...
>
> Vodaphone uses both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
> O2 uses both 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
Yes. At least as regards O2/Cellnet, the network started installing 1800
MHz transmitters to improve coverage years ago. It's not a secret but it's
never been publicised. I was sure -- and you and others have confirmed --
that Vodafone has the same. (BTW, it's VodaFone, not ...PH...)
>
> And to make the confusion complete, most US GSM carriers use 1900 MHz,
> with some also using 850MHz
I knew about the 1900 MHz in US (have been using a tri-band phone for years
and go to North America) but not about 850 MHz. Is that widespread? Is 850
MHz considered GSM-compatible? I read that GSM-compatible services are
rising rapidly in North America, but I think that there is a price
difference.
For North American readers: 900 MHz is, of course, the original GSM
frequency and is the one which spread internationally first and on which
international roaming first started and rapidly spread (sounding the
death-knell for widespread, cheap satellite telephony, as it became
redundant for most people).
Randolph
> I knew about the 1900 MHz in US (have been using a tri-band phone for years
> and go to North America) but not about 850 MHz. Is that widespread? Is 850
> MHz considered GSM-compatible? I read that GSM-compatible services are
> rising rapidly in North America, but I think that there is a price
> difference.
850 MHz is relatively new, Cingular (one of the 4 main carriers) placed
the first GSM 850 call in May of 2002. Most of Cingular's phones are now
at least dual band (850 & 1900). The old, analog systems AMPS, and later
N-AMPS (both similar to the NMT system used in many European countries),
operated in the 850 MHz band. The digital D-AMPS (TDMA) also operated at
850 MHz (and other frequencies as well). Many US carriers "own" 850 MHz
spectrum, and the introduction of GSM 850 is to be able to reuse that
spectrum. AT&T is also using GSM 850.
GSM is on the rise in the US. Both Cingular and AT&T are concentrating
on GSM even though they operate different networks also in some areas.
Close to 60 US carriers use GSM. Prices vary by geographic region, but
there is no discernible difference in price between GSM carriers and
competing carriers in the same market. It seems prices are higher in the
US than in Europe, but it is also hard to compare. Most plans in the US
include free long distance and at least hundreds of minutes of talk time
at a fixed price. I pay US$36 / month for free long distance, 300 day
time minutes and unlimited night / weekend minutes. I also have a
European plan with no monthly charges, and about US$ 0.37 / minute for
domestic calls (I keep that second plan because it is free when not used
and because US carriers really stick it to you when you are romaing
overseas; A cross-town call in London on my Cingular plan is US$2.99 /
minute vs. US$0.43 on the other plan).
SteveB
I bought an 02 sim for £10 - works perfectly
cheers
Steve
Dori A Schmetterling
on some tariffs O2 no longer charge more for calling numbers on other
networks).
:-)
DAS
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"SteveB" <st...@nn.com> wrote in message
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bimmerbob
...he he, I have the same problem - got a 1998 540i 3 weeks back, bought
an O2 sim card, phone insists that I "check the card"!
Any ideas anyone? I assume that unless the phone recognises the card, I
cannot register it by dialing 450.....
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
--
bimmerbob
Message Origin: TRAVEL.com
R. Mark Clayton
"bimmerbob" <bimmerbo...@no-mx.forums.travel.com> wrote in message
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h...@h-gee.co.uk
<bimmerbo...@no-mx.forums.travel.com> wrote:
>
>..he he, I have the same problem - got a 1998 540i 3 weeks back, bought
>an O2 sim card, phone insists that I "check the card"!
>
>Any ideas anyone? I assume that unless the phone recognises the card, I
>cannot register it by dialing 450.....
>
>Any help would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks.
The problem is that the system only used Vodaphone I think. Th eBMW system is a
fixed setup and the phone were either eriksson or motorola on 900Mhz??? or
something like that.
Ther is a bluetooth conversion available for the car - ask your dealer or go to
bmwoem.co.uk - or do a google search for bme-bluetooth.
I have seen a US site but I know parrot do something that works.
--
Sir Hugh of Bognor
The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
Intelligence is not knowing the answer but knowing where and how to find it!
Hugh Gundersen
h...@h-gee.co.uk