Fully Loaded C5, but no phone!

[CelticWizard]

Hi Everyone
Just changed from a voyeur on here to a member as I picked up my 2008 C5 Exclusive last weekend. It is fully loaded and a joy to drive. Yes, it even has the massage seat

So I was a bit surprised when I couldn't connect my phone to the radio / navidrive. After looking through the forums I realised that I did not have bluetooth, but had to stick a SIMM card into a slot on the radio. So I stuck my SIMM card in only to get a "bad connection" error. More looking on here and lots of advice about fitting a third party bluetooth, not really something I wanted to do.

Took a trip to my local Citroen Dealer and they couldn't throw any light on it either (Service manager). Suggested it might be a radio fault. ching ching ching

Finally got the answer from my network provider Three. The built in phone is a 2G phone. Because 3 no longer supports 2G my 3 SIMM would not work in the car.

Luckily I still had an old Orange PAYG phone which had a 2G card. Stuck in the Orange SIMM and up came the phone.

I have a Samsung SII phone and it has a setting for forwarding the phone. Set the number to my old PAYG and got my wife to call me and it rang on the car. No idea where the Mic is but my wife said it was very clear on her end. So now all I have to do is forward my phone and I can receive calls. Downside is I pay for all the forwarding charges, but these come off my monthly allowance which I rarely use up anyway. Outgoing calls will be charged by orange on the PAYG tarriff, but I don't tend to make outgoing calls when I'm driving anyway.

So if anyone else is struggling to get their in-car phone working, you need a 2G SIMM card. These are gong to become very rare, so if you have one don't upgrade it. Orange actually sent me an upgraded card a couple of months ago, which I never activated. Glad I didn't now.

[qprdude]

It's a bit of a bugger, but bluetooth didn't arrive in the C5 until 2009 I think, with the "Myway" nav rather than the Navidrive that you have. Mine works fine with the SIM from my 3G LG360 veiwty.
The sim came with the phone but I had O2 change it to my old number. It's still 3G though as far as I'm aware. The downside is that you have to put the sim into the slot so unless you are driving a long journey, it's not worth the hassle. I've been advised to get a spare sim for the car, but it would have a different number so whats the point. I could transfer my contacts to it, but noone would know the number, or wouldn't know if I was in the car or on a bus!
I fitted a bluetooth system to my last two cars, but I don't want to do that while the car has a built in one. I only use mine on long journeys.
Nice car though, isn't it. I have the full leather, sat nav, electric heated massage seat 2.2 HDI Exclusive. The Exc. with full leather and Sat Nav seem to be rerasonably rare on the used car market. Plenty with full leather and plenty with Sat nav, but very few with both. The phone is a minor niggle in the great scheme of things. Enjoy.

[Trainman]

I have the same problem with the C6, I suspect you have the RT4 Navidrive, with the maps on a hard drive and also have the music on a "jukebox"

You have got round the issue in the same way that I have.

[mooseshaver]

When I had one of those my employers were going to get me a duplicate simm from orange. I think its only available from Orange business, but the orange shop know nothing about it.

[qprdude]

The o2 shop and website told me it's not possible, due to security and legal reasons.

[sprout]

Old thread but found it while searching as I could not get the phone to work in my newly acquired 2008 C5 Exclusive.

I was using a latest SIM so this thread now has let me know I require a 2G sim.

HOWEVER that is not all I need now! as when I was returning to the car to put the sim holder (+ new 3G sim, which I now know would be no goood)) back in I dropped it!

It was dark and I think it went down the side of the seat.

I have searched and searched but it seems to have evaporated

So, I now need the sim holder and a 2G sim.

Anyone know if these sim holders are available?

Are the phones locked to a particular network?

Thanks

(The new C5 is an Irish model)

[qprdude]

Not quite sure what you mean by sim holder? Do you mean the actual sim tray from the car, or the adaptor to fit the car and carry the new style micro/ mini sim card.?
I suspect you might have to go to Citroen to get a new sim tray.

[sprout]

Not quite sure what you mean by sim holder? Do you mean the actual sim tray from the car, or the adaptor to fit the car and carry the new style micro/ mini sim card.?
I suspect you might have to go to Citroen to get a new sim tray.

Yes the actual SIM tray, not an adaptor

[qprdude]

OK. There are loads at Amazon that look suspiciously similar. Might be worth getting more info on them. The tray from the C5 has a different shape hole for the car to read the SIM chip, but I suspect the tray is the same size and the shape of the hole doesn't matter. There are some for as little as £1.99p so not a lot lost if they don't work. They say they are for an Iphone, and some other stuff, so maybe you know someone with a phone tray you could borrow and try.

Incidentally, my old 2G LG phone packed up a few weeks ago and I purchased a new Sony Experia J with a new mini SIM. The guy in the O2 shop transferred all my contacts etc on to the new SIM card for me.
I understand that the new phone is 3G, and had accepted that the SIM wouldn't work in the car. Wrong! it works just fine . Question now is.....is the card 3G, or just the phone?

If the card is 3G, it means that all the talk about the C5 system only supporting 2G phone SIM's is not correct

[Mandrake]

Incidentally, my old 2G LG phone packed up a few weeks ago and I purchased a new Sony Experia J with a new mini SIM. The guy in the O2 shop transferred all my contacts etc on to the new SIM card for me.
I understand that the new phone is 3G, and had accepted that the SIM wouldn't work in the car. Wrong! it works just fine . Question now is.....is the card 3G, or just the phone?

If the card is 3G, it means that all the talk about the C5 system only supporting 2G phone SIM's is not correct

Only Three don't support their SIMs being used in a 2G phone, because they're a 3G only network and they have to pay loads of money to Orange to allow their customers to roam onto 2G outside of 3G coverage areas...

I've been with Three since late 2009 and in that time I've seen them disable 2G roaming (onto Orange) in many/most areas and more recently they have disabled data access on 2G as well, in those few areas (mainly rural) that they still allow 2G roaming. So outside of their 3G coverage areas you get calling and texts and that's it.

If you put a Three SIM into a 2G phone it might work for a short time but the phone will quickly be "blacklisted" and unable to ever connect to their network again.

The "3G" SIMs provided by other networks (more correctly called a USIM) support both 3G phones and nearly all 2G phones, except for a few very very old ones made before approx 2000. An in-car 2G phone made in 2008 should have no problem working with a modern USIM - even my old 2002 Nokia 6100 (2G only candy bar) phone could!

[sprout]

OK. There are loads at Amazon that look suspiciously similar. Might be worth getting more info on them. The tray from the C5 has a different shape hole for the car to read the SIM chip, but I suspect the tray is the same size and the shape of the hole doesn't matter. There are some for as little as £1.99p so not a lot lost if they don't work. They say they are for an Iphone, and some other stuff, so maybe you know someone with a phone tray you could borrow and try.

Incidentally, my old 2G LG phone packed up a few weeks ago and I purchased a new Sony Experia J with a new mini SIM. The guy in the O2 shop transferred all my contacts etc on to the new SIM card for me.
I understand that the new phone is 3G, and had accepted that the SIM wouldn't work in the car. Wrong! it works just fine . Question now is.....is the card 3G, or just the phone?

If the card is 3G, it means that all the talk about the C5 system only supporting 2G phone SIM's is not correct

OK,

Thank you for your input.

I have just finished an long search and fishing exercise and have recovered my sim and tray

I will continue my response below quoting the poster that replied to yourself.

[sprout]

Incidentally, my old 2G LG phone packed up a few weeks ago and I purchased a new Sony Experia J with a new mini SIM. The guy in the O2 shop transferred all my contacts etc on to the new SIM card for me.
I understand that the new phone is 3G, and had accepted that the SIM wouldn't work in the car. Wrong! it works just fine . Question now is.....is the card 3G, or just the phone?

If the card is 3G, it means that all the talk about the C5 system only supporting 2G phone SIM's is not correct

Only Three don't support their SIMs being used in a 2G phone, because they're a 3G only network and they have to pay loads of money to Orange to allow their customers to roam onto 2G outside of 3G coverage areas...

I've been with Three since late 2009 and in that time I've seen them disable 2G roaming (onto Orange) in many/most areas and more recently they have disabled data access on 2G as well, in those few areas (mainly rural) that they still allow 2G roaming. So outside of their 3G coverage areas you get calling and texts and that's it.

If you put a Three SIM into a 2G phone it might work for a short time but the phone will quickly be "blacklisted" and unable to ever connect to their network again.

The "3G" SIMs provided by other networks (more correctly called a USIM) support both 3G phones and nearly all 2G phones, except for a few very very old ones made before approx 2000. An in-car 2G phone made in 2008 should have no problem working with a modern USIM - even my old 2002 Nokia 6100 (2G only candy bar) phone could!

Ok, as you will have seen above, I have retrieved my sim tray

Now not sure what is or isn't going to work in this system.

I tied my virgin contract sim and calls fail.

I purchased a virgin PAYG sim with £10 credit, made sure it was activated in my iPhone 4S and then tried that in the car, that to failed

I have now ordered from the bay an Orange sim that the seller states are old 2G Sims, wont arrive 'till next week.

The reason I wanted to use the Virgin SIM is that all family members have Virgin contracts and can call Virgin phones for free (unlimited)

The phrase USIM is new to me, but would it apply to any modern sim purchased? i.e. the Virgin PAYG sim I got yesterday is a USIM?

Are the phone systems locked or open to all networks?

Could the phone side have been damaged/corrupted by the previous owners software update?
It is running 8.2 with all Europe up to date maps and speed camera warnings.

Hopefully not an issue, but I think the last SIM that was used was Romainian, as the owner travelled there recently.

Thanks again in advance

[sprout]

UPDATE:

Virgin PAYG sim inserted in car: Is ee three bars of signal.

Cannot dial out or receive calls.

Have just spoken to Virgin, they confirm this sim will work on 2G only phones as well as 3G

With Simm in the car, Virgin tried calling it, there system message would indicate either:

1) The phone is blacklisted
OR
2) The phone is locked to another network

Third and vaguely possible reason could be the "handset" needs configuring.

I continue

[qprdude]

Firstly, the phone (if you mean the car phone) isn't locked to any network . The SIM card might be locked to the supplier, which is normal I think, but the car phone will happily read any 2G SIM and load the contacts ready for use .

It would seem that I have a 2G SIM, in a 3G phone, which is no problem as they are forward compatible.

The only difference is the memory size and the speed. This doesn't matter to me, as I don't use 3G data. I always use free wi-fi connections(which are quicker than 3G anyway), either from home, with Sky Cloud or any free wi-fi providers such as most of the motorway services, JD Wetherspoons etc.

Glad you found the tray and hope you get the problem sorted.

[sprout]

Firstly, the phone (if you mean the car phone) isn't locked to any network . The SIM card might be locked to the supplier, which is normal I think, but the car phone will happily read any 2G SIM and load the contacts ready for use .
.

Yes I mean the car phone, and if it is not locked to a network then I may have a fault

It is a 3G sim, but Virgin assure me that it will work in 2G handsets, but I wouldn't rule out some weird peculiarity that Citroen manage