How to answer/place calls?

[Kyle]

Anybody out there have the RS6 with the integrated Motorola v60 phone? How do you answer calls? How do you place calls?

I ordered the car pre-wired and bought the phone from the dealer ($600). The phone fits in fine. When it rings, it mutes (or lowers the volume...can't remember) on the stereo and the ring tone comes through the stereo speakers. The display says "PHONE". However, I can't figure out how to answer the call. I was thinking that maybe I need to open the flip phone to answer or place calls, but it will not open while it is secured in the cradle.

Any ideas?

[gjg]

phone should be programmed for HAND FREE and AUTO ANSWER. It is in SETUP menu of the phone. If that fails read the manual.

gg

[Kyle]

Thanks for the reply, gjg. Having worked as a programmer for years, I am very familiar with "RTFM". My first step was to check the manual. No dice.

I stopped by the dealership and three or four of us put our heads together and got it figured out. The button near the OnStar button with the little white dot is what you push to answer a call. You can also initiate a call by pushing the same button and using voice commands. However, that is nearly impossible to do with 2 kids in the back!

You can, however, use the keypad on the phone while it is plugged in to initiate a call --but... The cradle makes it impossible to open the flip phone when it is plugged in. To get around this you can:

A) Open the flip, then plug the phone into the cradle. You can then close the flip almost completely. It's still open a bit, but doesn't interefere with the lid.

B) Grind away a little bit (about 1/16 ") of plastic on the cradle that blocks the flip from opening while plugged in

Right now, I'm using method A, but I may get out the dremel tomorrow and go with plan B.

[gregoryindiana]

This thread is a little discouraging for me. I ordered my RS6 with the integrated Motorola phone setup, hoping that it would at least be the equal of the phone setup on my 94 Ur S4, with the microphone on the windshield surround, auto muting, etc, and handsfree calling and receiving, but with the advantage of a digital phone not even conceived in 1994.

It doesn't sound like much progress has been made.

Under the circumstances, that is too bad, because not having to take attention from the road to monkey with a center console phone, even to open the flip, is a critical advantage in a car with the potential of the RS6.

[bilbozilla]

My dealer told me there are two different phone options. Does someone know what the differences are? Is this another salesperson in the know? (see my other post )

[Bauer]

I ordered my car pre wired as well and this news IS a little discouraging. I have a 92 S4 with the same phone option you have gregory...but can't use...no anolog phone scv anymore. I am wondering should I even buy the phone if it is such a pain in the a**.

Bauer
01 S8
92 S4
03 RS6 ordered

[Nordschleife]

Kyle
Why don't you follow George's advice and set the phone to hands free auto answer?
FTFM, really

R+C

Originally posted by Kyle
Thanks for the reply, gjg. Having worked as a programmer for years, I am very familiar with "RTFM". My first step was to check the manual. No dice.

I stopped by the dealership and three or four of us put our heads together and got it figured out. The button near the OnStar button with the little white dot is what you push to answer a call. You can also initiate a call by pushing the same button and using voice commands. However, that is nearly impossible to do with 2 kids in the back!

You can, however, use the keypad on the phone while it is plugged in to initiate a call --but... The cradle makes it impossible to open the flip phone when it is plugged in. To get around this you can:

A) Open the flip, then plug the phone into the cradle. You can then close the flip almost completely. It's still open a bit, but doesn't interefere with the lid.

B) Grind away a little bit (about 1/16 ") of plastic on the cradle that blocks the flip from opening while plugged in

Right now, I'm using method A, but I may get out the dremel tomorrow and go with plan B.

[Kyle]

Originally posted by Nordschleife
Kyle
Why don't you follow George's advice and set the phone to hands free auto answer?
FTFM, really

R+C

I may look into that. I don't really like the idea of auto answer. I usually like to check the caller ID before I answer to see if I really want to take the call. Also, I might be negotiating a series of tight, downhill, switchbacks and would need 100% concentration. Or, I could be giving them my order at the drive-thu at Wendy's. You never know... I will give it some more consideration before I totally dismiss it.

RTFM = "Read the F'ing Manual" and was kind of an inside joke when users would call with dumb questions. What is "FTFM"? Find? I spent some time on the RS6 manual, but not much on the v60 manual so far.

gregoryindiana : You could place a call with one push of the "white dot" button and voice commands --if you don't have a lot of noisy passengers and have the patience to speak slowly and clearly.

bilbozilla : As far as I know, the Audi/Motorola v60c is the only phone that works with the system --at least that's the only phone that was offered to me. You will have to chose service providers before you order the handset and that will determine exactly which version you get (CDMA -vs- TDMA). I have a CDMA phone with Verizon. I am very pleased with it so far.

Bauer : I didn't mean to make it sound like such a big PITA. It's really not that bad. One button to answer calls. One button to place calls (using voice commands). I was just frustrated because I didn't have access to a numeric keypad.

[sal3coach]

The second phone option is to use the OnStar as a phone--good luck.

Regular '6 owners have phone controls on the wheel--we are stuck with the paddle shifters instead-- oh darn!

[peterb]

Originally posted by sal3coach
Regular '6 owners have phone controls on the wheel--we are stuck with the paddle shifters instead-- oh darn!

The multifunction wheel is available as an RS6 option in Europe, but then you get the 'front of wheel' tiptronic buttons in stead of the paddles.

[dabull]

[COLOR=darkblue]Excuse me but when you push the "white button" to place a call aren't you in fact using the OnStar system rather than your cellular phone? My dealer advised me that Audi and Motorola are aware of the problem with the V60i and the Audi installation and that a new phone with the corrected software will be available in March of 2004 and supposedly you will be able to just exchange phones. If I had it to do over again I would never have had the phone installed. You should not have to look that far away from the road to dial the phone and the dialing info should show up on the dash display ( with the new phone the info is supposed to be displayed ) .

[Kyle]

Originally posted by dabull
Excuse me but when you push the "white button" to place a call aren't you in fact using the OnStar system rather than your cellular phone?

If your Motorola V60 is currently plugged into the cradle, it will automatically be selected to make the outgoing call when you press the white button.

If your Motorola V60 is not plugged in, it will automatically use the On-Star built-in phone.

I have gotten pretty good at voice dialing now, but I still can't use the thing if my kids are jabbering in the back.

[Aronis]

This is a great thread!

I had a 2000 A6 4.2 and wanted the integrated cell phone. However at the time they only offered an analog
phone which was 800 or 900 bucks! The dealer did not even want to offer it because he was embarrassed by it.

I moved the BMW/Motorola Voice Activate Analog phone which I had put in my 1994 325is and then moved to 1997 M3 into the 2000 A6 4.2. I paid $700 for it back in 1996, and used if for 8 years, so it was worth it! I wanted a digital phone, but no dice until now.

(I followed a nice post about how to use the factory wire harness in the A6 with Motorola phones but I was blocked by a mid year change in the harness, i.e. a Plus 12 on a line which was supposed to be a simple wire to the harness in back, so just used the original wires and installed antenna)

Anyway I gutted the A6 took out the phone with the intent to put in the RS6- but got the digital phone bug again and now that the North Country (up state New York, yup up by Canadian Boarder) has digital cell phones, I looked at the Audi Motorola V60 phone setup. The information on their site is weak, but I got a V60i from United Cellular which the hope that it would work with the Audi Cradle designed for the V60 type phone. I refuse to pay 600 bucks to the Audi Specific phone which offers no other functionality over the V60i which I bought for $75.00. They should have designed the cradle setup to function with any V60 phone.

So will any V60 work with the Telemetrics system?

I found out that indeed the outgoing calls via the On Star White Dot Button do preferentially go through the cell phone, but what was more intriguing was that I heard the hand held cell phone uses the Full Power Cell phone of the On Star System, so you end up with a full 3 watt instead of 0.6 watt transmission. Is this true?

I spoke with several dealers, none of which had any experience installing the V60 cradle in any Audis so they had nothing to offer from experience. Also none of them had installed a Sat Radio module, so I am very concerned about the On-Star being messed up by the installation of the Sat Radio.

Websites such as this make the internet worth it for me.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

[Bauer]

Aronis-

With regards to the increase in the wattage for the phone when in the cradel. I have noticed that there is a spot by my house that I loose coverage when the phone is OUT of the cradle and when it is in the cradle it does not. The phone would ALWAYS drop calls in this spot when it was not in the cradle. So I would assume it does increase the wattage. If you look at the back of the phone by the antena there is a rubber cover over a plug that connects with the cradle, which means it does connect the antena not just the functions of the phone to the car.

[Aronis]

This was intriguing to me since the so called 'Cloning of Phones' was made illegal. This is how Motorolla used to have a handsfree kit with higher power transmitter for the first handheld cell phones.

Nokia designed their phones differently early on so that their handsfree kits for the handhelds did not have to "Clone the phone" inorder to plug in.

With good digital coverage the need to step up the power in your car became less of an issue. But where I live the old analogue phone I had was much more reliable for reception.

Thus the idea of the Motorolla Telemetrics sytem using it's own transmitter is nice when coupled to a removable handheld cell.

I currently use the Onstar Cell Phone, it cost $300 for 1000 minutes good for a year. This actually works out to be cheaper than a regular cell phone, since my car came with a year free of the basic On-Star service. 85 minutes a month is plenty for me. That's $25.00 per month!

I want to plug my V60 into someones Audi with the cradle and see if it is compatible....

Mike

[Bauer]

Mike,


The basic V60, I was told (by friend who is parts dept mngr) would not work becasue it needs to have the software in it. I even pluged my friends V60 in to check if it would work and it did not. The dealers I understand no longer sell the phone you have to go directly to the service provider or Motorola, I cant remember which. Good luck.

[Aronis]

Bauer,

Thank you very much,

that information is very helpful....

I'll stick with the handheld and use the On-Star phone! Wish it had a keypad! LOL

Mike