Eric (Plug Guy)

We have a 2006 A8L and my wife drives it 90% of the time. She's not a techie, and prefers a basic phone. So her Motorola dies this past weekend, and it worked fine in the A8L. All her contacts were there, etc.

Verizon (we're sort of locked in) has few non smart 'phones' anymore, so all they offer is a Samsung SCH-U360. Not a bad flip, feature packed and does all the basics she needs. So she goes with that.

I pair the thing to the MMI and it pairs fine, makes/takes calls. BUT it will NOT download the freaking contacts. I go through all the usual steps, remove it, re-pair, etc. My Blackberry pairs fine.

Then I find out from my dealer that this phone is not 'on the list'....

BS. I go to Audi's site, and their phone list (like most) is pathetic, and incomplete. Even her old phone says '2009 and up' and worked fine on the '06.

We're nearing the point of getting out of the '06 and moving into a '12...however, having this basic style phone, AND contacts downloaded, is critical.

So as much as this may seem like tail wagging the dog, I really need to find a solution. Either something Verizon offers that will mate to the finicky MMI system and download all contacts, OR maybe some other vehicle. Yeah, it's that important.

She won't go to a BB or iPhone, and the other basic phones are all teeny bopper flip out keyboard stuff, she does not want nor need that.

Dealer says a firmware update to the MMI won't solve this since the phone isn't on the Audi list (again, pathetic list and incomplete).

Any tips/tricks or suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.

doctorharrison

You'll have better luck changing your wife's mind than Audi Corporate. Take their list and go to a Verizon store and let your wife choose "Best of Show". Simple.

Eric (Plug Guy)

The problem is, there is a sheet from Verizon showing this phone compatible with the Audi. But the Audi website shows NO phones like this.

Then the other issue for us is Verizon offers no other plain phones other than teeny bopper keyboard flip outs. Their best of show non smart phones is zip. Just the Samsung.

We're screwed.

I got the damn thing to pair to the MMI after a lot of trial/error, but it will not download contacts to the Audi. The Samsung paired just fine to a new Mercedes.

And it shows it has that feature to download contacts, etc. It's an Audi issue. I just wish Audi had some brains to widen the number of phones it will accept.

Damn.

jakematic

Is your wife using voice tags to dial with SDS ?

My iPhone won't download to the Audi because I have too many contacts - probably because MMI is very old version.

I simply use MMI to scroll through the contacts on the phone and dial.
Would that work for you, or can you even see them that way?

Eric (Plug Guy)

Not using tags.

With the prior Motorola, all contacts were listed, and she could easily scroll and get the calls made.

With the Samsung, there are NO contacts - it will not download the contacts. But the phone pairs after some trial/error.

And it will pair and download to our other vehicles, so it's a shortfall on the Audi for sure.

subit0

Are you saying that the contact on your Blackberry shows up in the Audi?

I am experiencing the same problem with my car (early 2007) and phone (older Motorola). I believe the problem is due to a hardware failure with the Bluetooth Telephone module. My phone will pair with the car, make and receive calls, show incoming phone numbers, but won't sync the contact list that enables the car to show the name of the person calling. Same behavior with my wife's Blackberry.

I believe this actually broke when I upgraded my MMI to 3360, but I didn't notice it until I revamped the contact list on my phone (I suspect that the BT module cached the directory list, so it wasn't until I reset the module in the MMI that I lost all my contacts).

Audi had a campaign to replace the BT module (RVU - Repairing telephone preparation : TSB# 2018510/3), but it has since expired. Replacement cost for the BT module runs about $500, with another 2-3 hours labor for the work, $200-$300, totaling $700-$800 at the dealer. I plan to DIY for considerably less.

jakematic

Sounds like you have 3 options:

1) Get a new phone

2) Get a new car and demand the dealer let you try your phone(s) before purchase. I hear Ford Sync is great and can even read texts messages to you.

3) Get a new wife

Options 1 & 2 are probably the least expensive

Eric (Plug Guy)

Too funny, but I like your thinking.

Verizon: no other options. Waiting to hear from their sales team on something that may be out there but just not on the store shelves.

Audi: spoke with a techie today. He suggested that the phone list online is incomplete simply because they have not tested all phones with all vehicles. There may be quite a few other phones that work with the car but Audi does not include any on the list until it does 'extensive testing'....

Dealer: happy to check on a software update at no charge if that may resolve. We'll check it today/tomorrow I hope and see if there's any change.

Subit - I don't drive the car much so I don't make calls through the MMI with contacts from my BB but my BB pairs to it just fine. When wifey and I are in car at same time, whichever phone got in the car first is usually paired. But we've had both paired for years. Her old Moto (V9m) worked fine for 3+ years.

Going to dealer to check the '11 A8 MMI just to see if it will take the phonebook. Will report back...and thanks for all the suggestions!

AudiOx

This probably doesn't fix your issue, but how many of her contacts does she call on a regular basis?

I'm using an iPhone4 with a 2005 A8L with BT and no additional hardware like a cradle. I just keep my phone in the cup holder area with no plugs (it would be nice to charge in the car without a hokey cable, but I usually charge it every night at home and keep the cable in the glove compartment, reserving it for long trips).
The phone connects through BluTooth with no problems and displays the contact name and number during a call whether dialed or received.

I can't however download the contact list. I pondered manually entering in all my contacts as they don't change often; I have probably 100+ contacts.
But then I thought about it a bit more.
I find that less than 10 numbers make up almost all my dialed out calls. (probably closer to 5), so I just manually entered those 10 numbers and assigned voice tags to the '5' most used.

So far I have no regrets because I rarely even have the need to scroll, and if I do it's a very short list. I just use the few voice tags. In my two months of ownership, I haven't found the need to add a new number yet. I have however deleted two to simplify it to the most used number for a given contact; this minimizes the voice tag prompt interrogation like ("do you want the land line or mobile?"). For example I rarely call my wife's work number, just her cell, so I deleted the work number.

Now if I was a travelling salesperson making constant calls to dozens of different contacts, then the story would be different.

Eric (Plug Guy)

UPDATE:

Went by the dealer with phone and car. We have 33.60 and they can update to 46.10 if we want but could not do it today (2 hours plus).....and they offered to do it no charge. : )

However, the tech discussed some things that have happened over the past year in the first release of this, and said some modules were toasted from the update, requiring module replacement. I had read that in some other threads here too....so we opted to hold off until they do another 2006 A8L in the shop now.

We're shopping for a new 2012 A8 (maybe) so we sat in an '11 and had them fire it up. Guess what? Samsung flip paired instantly AND downloaded all contacts in a snap. Hooooha.

So we'll see. If the update will do the trick, it's a risk we may take, or we may hold off for a bit if we decide to sell, buy something new.

Thanks for the input.