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Car Forum / Alfa Romeo Cars / November 2004CONNECT and T-Mobile problem
A week ago I took delivery of a new Alfa 156 Sportwagon GTA which is every bit as good as I hoped, it's fantastic fun to drive! The one minor irritation is that I cannot get the CONNECT hands free GSM phone system working with a T-Mobile pay as you go SIM card, it simply can't find the T-Mobile network, it only seems to recognise the Cellnet (O2) and Vodaphone networks. The system appears to have around 200 mobile networks predefined but not T-Mobile UK, a quick check on the internet has identified 3 network addresses that T-Mobile use and I have tried to add these into the system following the instructions in the manual however to no avail as it doesn't seem to store them properly. I have tried getting the dealer to help but the sales guy didn't even know how to insert the SIM card correctly and simply started reading the manual which I had already done. If anyone has any experience of using/configuring the CONNECT system with T-Mobile UK or successfully adding a new network I would be most grateful for some assistance. Glen > A week ago I took delivery of a new Alfa 156 Sportwagon GTA which is > every bit as good as I hoped, it's fantastic fun to drive! [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > can't find the T-Mobile network, it only seems to recognise the Cellnet > (O2) and Vodaphone networks. Hey Glen Just a thought, but O2 and Vodafone are on the same band (900Mhz). Orange and T-Mobile use 1800Mhz I believe, so could it be that your system is single band? Rgds Stuart > > A week ago I took delivery of a new Alfa 156 Sportwagon GTA which is > > every bit as good as I hoped, it's fantastic fun to drive! [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Stuart Stuart Many thanks for the suggestion, I have checked the manual again and it does indeed only cover the 900mhz band, pity the salesaman didn't tell me that rather than offer the advice that "you can use any SIM card", it would have saved me £30, as I had no idea there were different GSM bands. I will go and buy an O2 SIM card tomorrow, my religion (I'm a Man City fan) prevents me from having anything to do with Vodaphone. My trip up to The City of Manchester stadium for the game against Chelsea will be my first real run out in the car, (I live in Hertfordshire), as I've only done around 130 miles since I got it. This is my 3rd Alfa, I started with a 33 1.7 16v (brilliant fun) and have been borrowing my wifes 156 1.8 TS company car for the last 3 years, she's about to replace it with an Audi TT 3.2 Quattro as her lease has expired and her company no longer allows Alfa's due to the depreciation, she wanted to get a 147 GTA. Hopefully the moron's who clog the middle lane will be shamed into vacating it by the current campaign on the news and I will get a clear run up the M1 and M6 toll road to put the car through its paces, though I need to be a little careful until I finish saving up for a "New Road Angel" to protect my license. Regards Glen I had hours of fun trying to get my Connect system working with Orange (the salesman insisted it would). Yes, the system is single band and can only use O2 and Vodafone in the UK. >> A week ago I took delivery of a new Alfa 156 Sportwagon GTA which is >> every bit as good as I hoped, it's fantastic fun to drive! [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Stuart > I had hours of fun trying to get my Connect system working with Orange (the > salesman insisted it would). Yes, the system is single band and can only [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > > > Stuart Once Stuart suggested that the connect might only work on the 900mhz band I read the manual again and indeed at the end under technical specifications it does indeed state that it is restricted to the single 900mhz band. The really irritating thing is that the salesman assured me it would work with any! and I ended up wasting £30 and many hours of my time Have you managed to get the Targasys feature working? the manual states that a setup code is required but I do not appear to have been given one, though I am fairly certain I have read somewhere, although I cannot recall where at the moment, that 1 years subscription to Targasys services was included when the Connect system was bought. Regards Glen In article <PO3hd.77$HO1.59@newsfe6-win.ntli.net>, a@b.com says... > I had hours of fun trying to get my Connect system working with Orange > (the > salesman insisted it would). Yes, the system is single band and can only > use O2 and Vodafone in the UK. Once Stuart suggested that the connect might only work on the 900mhz band I read the manual again and indeed at the end under technical specifications it does indeed state that it is restricted to the single 900mhz band. The really irritating thing is that the salesman assured me it would work with any! and I ended up wasting ?30 and many hours of my time Have you managed to get the Targasys feature working? the manual states that a setup code is required but I do not appear to have been given one, though I am fairly certain I have read somewhere, although I cannot recall where at the moment, that 1 years subscription to Targasys services was included when the Connect system was bought. Regards Glen Hi Glen My salesman also insisted that, not only would my Orange SIM work in Connect, but also that my mobile handset and car could magically share the same number and would know which to ring when someone called. Seemed unlikely but he assured me it all worked perfectly. I should point out that my car is one of the last old-grille models and that it had already been built with various options when I bought it (at a hefty discount :-)). I had played 4 Alfa dealers off against each other in getting a good deal and the winning dealer (and I) hadn't noticed that Connect was installed in the car I had ordered. Hence the better price at that dealer I suppose. They tried to get me to pay extra for it afterwards but I really didn't want it (it's always seemed pants to me) and the dealer and Alfa eventually covered the extra cost. I bought an O2 pay-as-you-go SIM but the effort of getting whoever administers Connect to recognise the changed phone number was too great, and after trying to phone and fax unobtainable Italian numbers I gave up, so have never used Connect. For info, the unit has since gone back to Blaupunkt twice for repair but when it's installed in the car the O2 SIM works fine. PS, for alternative SatNav to Connect, the Tomtom GO is brilliant, costs c?450 and many points of interest (including speed camera locations) are free and legal to download from the web and use. Regards Barry |
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