CPT8000 replacement

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Aloha if anyone can give a little assistance I would appreciate it. The dealer here had no idea how to replace my missing phone but finally someone in service suggested I look on e-bay. Once I had a replacement phone I could then bring it to one of their experienced technicians and pay $300So, . I just bought a new cpt8000 for Verizon (duplicate replacement) on E-Bay. Can anyone suggest the process to activate and integrate the replacement phone. I guess the first thing is to take the cell phone to my Verizon agent and have my old cell number activated on the new phone? And then should I just be able to plug it in and be done or are there "high tech programming things" that only the BMW dealer can do??
Thanks,
Mark

Originally Posted by swannie

Aloha if anyone can give a little assistance I would appreciate it. The dealer here had no idea how to replace my missing phone but finally someone in service suggested I look on e-bay. Once I had a replacement phone I could then bring it to one of their experienced technicians and pay $300So, . I just bought a new cpt8000 for Verizon (duplicate replacement) on E-Bay. Can anyone suggest the process to activate and integrate the replacement phone. I guess the first thing is to take the cell phone to my Verizon agent and have my old cell number activated on the new phone? And then should I just be able to plug it in and be done or are there "high tech programming things" that only the BMW dealer can do??

You should just be able to call Verizon customer service and give them your cellular number and the ESN (inside the battery compartment) of the old and new phones. Once they process the change on their computer, just dial *228 (or is it *288 - I forget - they should know) and select "over the air programming". That should activate the replacement phone in the Verizon system. As long as it is a CPT8000 and your car has the car kit already installed, it should just work as-is.

I'm in the process of switching from the CPT8000 to a Motorola V710 with the BMW Bluetooth kit - in my experience, the CPT8000 phones are so old that Motorola no longer repairs them (they were obsolete before BMW introduced the CPT8000 - phone technology changes much faster than car technology).

Terry,

Did you do the switch from the CPT8000 to a Motorola V710 with the BMW Bluetooth kit? I would like to do the same thing for the same reasons. But, I also want to know if I can use the existing hands free controls and cradle. In other words, is there an adaptor for a new Bluetooth phone that uses the existing hardware in the car?

Originally Posted by fitzmarl

Did you do the switch from the CPT8000 to a Motorola V710 with the BMW Bluetooth kit? I would like to do the same thing for the same reasons. But, I also want to know if I can use the existing hands free controls and cradle. In other words, is there an adaptor for a new Bluetooth phone that uses the existing hardware in the car?

Yes, I switched - and then discovered the V710 doesn't work with the BMW ULF, which both BMW and Verizon now admit.

I then switched to a RAZR V3 w/ Cingular (keeping the BMW Bluetooth kit the same). It works fine.

There are cradles for some of the phones (actually, a cradle w/ a phone-specific snap-in adaptor). But I want to keep my cupholders, so I didn't get one. Also, the newer phones generally don't route the antenna to the phone's power/accessory cable, instead using a separate connector on the back of the phone. I'd be worried about crud getting into the antenna connector while the phone isn't in the car.

Switching from CPT8000 to ULF involves removing the old TCU and SES module. The Bluetooth kit replaces the TCU, and a jumper goes on the SES plug. The main car harness remains the same, though you replace the CPT8000 cradle w/ a pairing button and cable.

Older cars (2001 and older? 2002?) need adapters as their phone prewire was different.

Thanks for the info. It appears that there is no way to use the existing hands free in the car. Right? It seems to me the only option if I want toupgrade phones (and get a better cell plan) is to install new hardware. I was hoping that by now there would eb a simple interface adapter between the CPT8000 firmware/cradle and a new Bluetooth phone. From what I've gathered, that doesn'tr seem to be the case.

Originally Posted by fitzmarl

I was hoping that by now there would eb a simple interface adapter between the CPT8000 firmware/cradle and a new Bluetooth phone. From what I've gathered, that doesn'tr seem to be the case.

Well, what are you assuming that would include? You'd need a Bluetooth antenna (in the center console) as well as the electronics to speak Bluetooth to the phone. Right there, that means you need to replace the CPT8000 TCU with a Bluetooth ULF. That's the big piece of hardware in the kit - the rest is brackets, adapter cables, Bluetooth antenna (mentioned above) and the pairing button.

i can help, call me at 708-599-1300. We sell bmw phones and activate them you ca also visit us on eBay user name compassnortheast

The best option is to just upgrade to Bluetooth. The bluetooth upgrade is an easy installation.

This webpage has the users guides and functional overviews of the system.

http://www.bimmernav.com/What_is_BMW_Bluetooth.html

When you do upgrade to Bluetooth, be sure and get the most recent ULF module available. Teh old First generation ULF modules have voice quality issues and poor support of Bluetooth phones

Martin