Nav and phone retrofit

[geoff]

My wife wants the Nav for her new 997. The sticker lists "PCM Color Display, Radio with In-Dash CD" as a standard Comfort/Convenience item. She spends LOTS of time in her car on the phone, also, and thinks she wants the in-car phone setup also. The dealer said the in-car phone kit isn't available yet.

Is there any advantage to getting both Nav and phone installed at once, other than possibly cheaper to pull the dash apart once instead of twice?

Are there any benefits of having the two together, instead of just the Nav and using her regular cell phone?

I've only driven the car a little, but it drives very nice. It sure feels a lot bigger than my Boxster. Once the break-in period is over, we can have more fun

[996TRUNDLE]

The GSM phone is very well engineered and hands free is the way to go. You must have a PCM that has the Sim card drawer ans SOS button to add this option. (early prod cars did not have this faceplate)

p/n 997 044 900 71 Telephone Module PCM2

NAV is GREAT as well and well worth having

p/n 997.044.900.70

Both options will require an additional Optical Waveguide p/n depends how vehicle is equiped (Bose c/d etc.)

You can call your dealers parts dept and ask for stock and availability of the above p/n's

Perhaps you can cut a deal for the install of both at once

Seperately the install labor is:

GSM phone 4.6 hr

NAV 3.1 hr

[geoff]

Thanks for the info. The car has the little SIM drawer, and lots of buttons, including SOS. I'll check with my dealer's service manager when he gets back from Hawaii. Glad to hear the Nav is good. So many of the cars we looked at (e.g., BMW) has really bad systems.

Is there any way to use her current phone (Cingular GSM) with the Telephone PCM2 module, or will I need to get another SIM with a different phone number? Would I be better of with a Bluetooth phone and figure out how to make that talk to the PCM2 system, so 1 phone does it all? I haven't seen the PCM2 in action with the phone setup, and my salesman wasn't up on all the details.

[996TRUNDLE]

They have done a very good job with the implementation of the GSM phone module, sound quality is great in both directions.

She can use her exhisting SIM from her current phone, just take the card out of the phone and pop it in the drawer, bit of a pain since we can't get dupe cards, but after you do it a few times it's an easy task. Coolness is that the stored numbers come across as well, and appear and can be scrolled thru and seen in the OBC window under the tach.

Bluetooth at this time will NOT interface with the PCM

Edited March 14, 2005 by 996TRUNDLE

[ronbonner]

I don't know if this will help you in the US as I am not fully up to speed on your phone rentals or agreements but here in the UK we are able to get around the sim card swopping by having two sim cards, albeit two differing numbers and differing rental agreements.

In my case I have a normal monthly rental on my cell phone and a sim card for the car that is a "pay as you go" which means exactly that. you have phone credits on the card which can be topped up when required at most gas stations. I know that in the US phone cards have been around for years but as I said I am not sure what you have in place with cell phones.

When in the car I simply divert my cell phone number to the number for the sim card carried in the car for the duration of that journey. A pain to have two numbers perhaps but with the ability to divert I have no really issues regarding confusion. Every now and then I copy my cell phone directory and download the it to the car by switching sims around.

It just makes life a lot easier than opening the phone every time I want to be in touch with the world when I am driving and remember, in the UK it is illegal to use your cell unless it it hands free!

RB

[geoff]

Unlike the highly civilized cell service practices in Europe, here in the US the recipient of the phone call pays the cost. :angry: Prepaid GSM here is considerably more expensive than contract rates, and SIMs typically need to be topped up every 90 to 120 days or they expire.

When I travel to Europe, I buy prepaid SIMs to stay in touch with work, and talking for 12 hours in a week when they call me costs exactly $0 (actually €0). I haven't found any prepaid GSM provider here in the US that offers free incoming calls. I'm not sure if the US will ever catch up to Europe with respect to cell service