540i car phone

[Barkie]

It might sound stupid to some but I would like to know if it is possible to get the in-car phone to work. I do get signal but it is just displaying " Un Registered Sim" Anyone know how to go about this.

 

[brian.washington.397]

I wanna say no. I could be wrong. But I say this because I think all phones use the sim card technology now. Gone are the days of calling the provider to perform an ESN change when you get a new phone. I would love to be able to link the console mounted factory Panasonic in my 97 528 but I think AT&T would just laugh at me.

 

[Barkie]

I do use my working SIM in the car, but only get the message

 

[RAArmstrong]

IIRC when my dad had his 540 he had to get a special sim for the car... :thinking:

 

[Barkie]

@ RAArmstrong, Thanks, wonder what do you tell the guys you need!

 

[ChefDJ]

I wanna say no. I could be wrong. But I say this because I think all phones use the sim card technology now. Gone are the days of calling the provider to perform an ESN change when you get a new phone. I would love to be able to link the console mounted factory Panasonic in my 97 528 but I think AT&T would just laugh at me.

Welcome to the forum here in South Africa :wave:

 

[brian.washington.397]

Good morning from California. I'll be posting and reading a lot. I've had my 528 about 5mos now and at 240k miles, needs some tic.

 

[ChefDJ]

Please post a new intro thread and share with us :chef:

Would love to hear of stories from you and see pics of your car!

 

[RAArmstrong]

@ RAArmstrong, Thanks, wonder what do you tell the guys you need!

I'm not sure, this is going back to like 2004 when I was very young, but if I remember the thing went into the boot and was the same size as a credit card :roflol:

 

[Barkie]

My card just go below the phone, in the armrest

 

[ChefDJ]

Don't you have an owner's manual that might assist?

 

[Dewald Basson]

Get a separate old school simcard. I think my dads e39 2002 M still works of that old simcard he bought years ago just keep the contract going.

 

[Budleigh]

Isn't there a separate module in the boot into which a SIM card goes? I thought I saw that on an E38 some time back.

 

[RAArmstrong]

Isn't there a separate module in the boot into which a SIM card goes? I thought I saw that on an E38 some time back.

That's where the sim went on ours

 

[msm]

What sim are you using? Most of the newer SIMs are 32k (or 64k), the older ones being 8k or 16k, which is sometimes a problem on older handsets (i.e. not accepting 32k+ sims). Some phones get around this with firmware updates - not sure how it works with the BMW handset.

Perhaps if you can find an older SIM card to test, it might help narrow down the issue. With some operators, 16k or 32k is stamped on them, but not always. If someone has not upgraded for a few years, chances are they might have a 16k sim which you can test with.

Also don't know if the local operators still supply you with the older sim on special request (MTN used to at some point). They used to do when the first introduced 32k and some people had problems in their handset. However, now that these old handsets are disappearing from the market, they only supply the newer sims.

 

[Barkie]

Thanks, will try and get hold of an old sim card.

 

[Ralf*]

My card just go below the phone, in the armrest

on my E38 I have the GSM module in the left hand side of the boot ( toegether with the radio/cd/TV tiner), the GSM module has a place to insert the card.
But
on the E38 there is also a slot under the physical phone in the centre console, and this is where I have the sim card inserted, the large sim card ( credit card size), and mine is the 64k type sim card.

I also got the unregisterred message once, and in my case it was that MTN decided to de-register my number due to lack of activity.
I had re - RIKA it again, and buy some airtime for it, now I have to remember to use it once a month or so, to keep it registered and active

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[OppositeLockMT]

+1 on needing an older sim.

Have the same car phone in my 328i but it doesn't work due to the change in technology. It did work 3 years ago though, albeit intermittently. Maybe it was just the sim I used at the time.