Verizon Bluetooth update

Well, I did the "Let Me Know When It's Available" signup, so I just hope it's avaliable from Verizon too. No solid announcement from them yet that I've seen...

 

As an FYI for those of you hunting for compatible and inexpensive Bluetooth phone's, the Sony-Ericsson T616 is once again on sale at Best Buy stores, free with 1-year or 2-year activation on Cingular. The sale comes and goes about once a month. I've had it for two months now and it works great with the car (and isn't a bad phone stand-alone either).

On a side note, my Bluetooth headset (Bluetrek brand) that I snagged off of ecost.com for $36 is finally shipping this week! Can't beat the price. Everyone else wants over 2X that price....

 

If you really need bluetooth on verizon, and need it now, you can always go and buy a used Motorola 270c and the optional "smart module". It's fairly legendary as the only way to get a bluetooth phone on the verizon network.

 

i hadn't heard of the 270c. can you point me to more sources of info?
thanks.
-r

 

It's been a while since I've looked at this, but your best bet is to look here...

http://commerce.motorola.com/cgi-bin/ncomm...fnbr=1&zipcode=

Which is the info page on the phone. Unfortunately verizon no longer sells the phone, so you'd have to get one off ebay (they are out there) and have it activated by a 3rd party dealer who handles Verizon.

It ended up being too much of a hassle for me, so I dumped verizon for cingular.

 

Re the 270C, I've read somewhere on one of the forums that it doesn't work in the Prius. It's a great phone (I have one but won't have my Prius for another week or so) but that would be a drawback.

 

You need to look at what is supported on the 270C phone. It supports the headset. If you want to be able to download the directory, this requires additional support. So, as I understand it, Blue tooth is the protocol. Does anyone know more about this?

 

Again, you'd have to look it up. But I do recall people syncing palms via bluetooth, so it seems to me it was a full bluetooth implementation, not just the headphones.

 

so i did some more research and there is another option to get bluetooth on verizon today and not with a super-old phone...

you can go somewhere like www.cellularimage.com and get the ericsson T61C. you may note it's related to the 616, 610, 608. then, go to ebay and buy the dba-10 bluetooth adapter. i was told this works. it seems to check out to me, given the "t61x" family of phones are compatible.

total it will run you <$100 on ebay.

i investigated but have decided to wait for the v710. yes, a camera is egregeous, but monochrome phones are hard to go back to once you have color.

-r

 

The rumors of Verizon deleting the Bluetooth functionality persist.

Let's hope for the best...

 

it will happen, but i wouldn't count on this month... i hope i'm wrong, but they don't release new phones during the latter parts of a month. they get release in the first 2 weeks of each month.

anyway... the time is coming, regardless. i just wished i could get a base model with btooth. no camera and stuff.
-r

 

I got my Tideland #9 five days ago and I'm a Verizon customer. I figure I can wait a month before I dump Verizon is search of a Bluetooth phone. If they delete the v710's Bluetooth functionality, I'll dump all my Verizon services. Home phone, DSL, and wireless.

-Jody Rawles,
Long Beach, CA

 

I sent a message to Motorola, asking about the rumor of Verizon removing the Bluetooth functionality. Here's their reply:

I also checked out the Ebay auction for the Sony Ericsson T608, and ordered one. My sister has the same phone with another carrier, and it works great with her Prius.

The seller is offering to provide instructions for $15 for anyone with a T608 to set it up for Verizon. I hope it's ok to post it. His email is: [email protected]. Since I just ordered mine, I can't say whether it works, but another post says that it worked for the Poster.

Lou

 

The instructions to convert a Sony T608 to Verizon are a little more involved than stated above but they do work. I've converted two T608 phones to Verizon. They both work on Verizon and in my Prius. You must have the individual MSL# or be able to get it. Most E-Bay sellers provide it. I am buying a serial cable that is supposed to help me retrieve the number from the phone if it is not provided.
I like it so far. My phone bill will be higher than before because I use it much more frequently.