Bluetooth car/phone connection shows five bars but phone shows none?

[iceman2]

In a remote spot I frequent in Wales my phone says there is no signal at all yet when the phone is connected via bluetooth, the phone display on the dashboard in the car shows five bars of signal. In addition I can make phone calls fine through the car but not directly from the phone (as its not registered on any network).

 

Why is this?

 

Yes I know that the car is using its own aerial which may be better than the one in the phone but as I understand it the phone is doing all the processing and the bluetooth is a rather dumb connection, simply communicating a 'user interface' to and from the car.

 

So if the phone thinks there is no signal and it isn't registered on a network, how can it allow the car to make a phone call through it?

 

[tubbytommy]

its because its in rsap mode.

basically the car is using the phones sim card so the phone now has no sim card in it essentially so wont function as a phone although everything will work that doesnt need a sim connection.

[TheRobinK]

Is your phone connected to the car in rSAP (remote SIM access profile) or is it in basic  hands free mode?

 

If you have a phone that supports rSAP / premium connection then it "takes over" the SIM and that might explain what you are seeing?

 

You might tell us what model and OS you are using on the phone - one of the pro's here (I'm not one!) may tell us if this is normal or a phone model thing.

 

(Edit - looks like tubbytommy confirmed this while I was typing an answer).

Edited 7 November, 2016 by TheRobinK

[iceman2]

To be honest I don't know if its in rSAP mode or not but from what has been said it must be!

The phone is a Nexus 5x running Android 7.

 

So basically what you are both saying is that the only bit of my phone that's being used is the sim card and that the car really is doing all the rest of the processing ie the car has all the software and electronics in it to make it behave like a phone?

 

(That makes a change, I'm used to my phone behaving like a web browser, gps, camera etc but had never heard of a car behaving like a phone <grin>)

 

I've now researched rSAP. That's it, thank you for the answers.

[chimaera]

One thing to be aware of with rSAP mode is that any calls/texts sent or received while the phone is connected to the car are not synced back to the phone on disconnecting. There's some obtuse manual procedure for syncing stuff back I think but I haven't had the willpower to bother figuring it out. Handsfree mode works just fine enough of the time for it not to be worth the effort IMO.