How can you tell if Bluetooth + if fitted

[Auric Goldfinger]

Does my Vrs have it

 

Thanks

[Yogi-Bear]

Did you order it? 

 

I think you need to look at the cubby hole in front of the vRS mode / lock / etc. buttons and see if there is a bluetooth symbol somewhere.  If not, then no.

[Auric Goldfinger]

Did you order it? 

 

I think you need to look at the cubby hole in front of the vRS mode / lock / etc. buttons and see if there is a bluetooth symbol somewhere.  If not, then no.

 

Cheers, I'll have a look, didn't order it as the cars an Ex Demo

[Eddie-NL]

it should have the basic Bluetooth

 

Look for BT devices on your phone, i did that when I had a test drive when the O3 Vrs was released

[Auric Goldfinger]

it should have the basic Bluetooth

 

Look for BT devices on your phone, i did that when I had a test drive when the O3 Vrs was released

 

I've got Bluetooth Eddie, was wondering if I had the Bluetooth Plus Jobbie

[Shermo]

Bluetooth+ is just a small area with a sliding lid in front of the gear lever. It has a rubber bottom and it has a symbol of a phone in it, the rubber bottom is connected to the antennae and boosts the phones signal.

[Briskodavrs]

What a great thread.

I've got the 'plus' thing - wee pocket to put phone in.

So does anyone know how this works from a tech point of view.

So what difference does putting your phone in the pocket make?

I'm thinking either the phone is connected by Bluetooth or it isn't - what difference would having the phone actually in the pocket make - anyone know?

[SnailUK]

If you havn't got satnav, then having a roof aerial is a good sign you have bluetooth+

[Yogi-Bear]

Bluetooth+ is just a small area with a sliding lid in front of the gear lever. It has a rubber bottom and it has a symbol of a phone in it, the rubber bottom is connected to the antennae and boosts the phones signal.

 

The symbol is the key bit - the small area with a sliding lid and rubber bottom is standard.

[Schodoodles]

What a great thread.

I've got the 'plus' thing - wee pocket to put phone in.

So does anyone know how this works from a tech point of view.

So what difference does putting your phone in the pocket make?

I'm thinking either the phone is connected by Bluetooth or it isn't - what difference would having the phone actually in the pocket make - anyone know?

 

The name is a bit misleading. It's not the bluetooth connection to the car it affects but the phone's connection to the GSM network that this assists with. When I have my phone in my pocket the GSM can be ay 2-3 bars, but when using my bluetooth+ box it jumps up at least 1 bar. So leaving it in your phone in your pocket doensn't take advantage of this feature. It's similar to those phone holders with coild in to do the same function; this just then leads upto the antanna on the roof.

But as Wiggos said the symbol indicates you've got this extra featue, and if you don't have satnav but the aerial on theroof is there then you definately have it as this is where the GSM and GPS antennas are located.

[andyvee]

If you have a phone that will actually show you the signal strength in dB (like an Android one will) it is a fair jump in signal strength when placed in the tray. Also, you can see the speed of your 3G or 4G connection increase by a fair amount.

 

The signal strength bars that a phone displays are just eye candy, they don't actually mean much as each phone manufacturer decides what the thresholds are between each segment. You may as well have two states - you have a signal, or you don't. Anything in between is pretty much meaningless.

[blahde2]

The signal strength bars that a phone displays are just eye candy, they don't actually mean much as each phone manufacturer decides what the thresholds are between each segment. You may as well have two states - you have a signal, or you don't. Anything in between is pretty much meaningless.

A really clear answer, digital signal is either there or not, with analog things just hissed more the further away from the source you got, digital just cuts out.

My question would be, if you are speccing a new Octy, why spec something which improves phone signal when 85% of the UK has excellent mobile signal anyway? Maybe it's because I have no friends and nobody ever calls me......but I don't see a use for it unless you live in the back end of the sticks where signal is a lottery, not a given.

[Briskodavrs]

Ah yes. Hit nail on the head. Scotland.

[bouff34]

A really clear answer, digital signal is either there or not, with analog things just hissed more the further away from the source you got, digital just cuts out.

My question would be, if you are speccing a new Octy, why spec something which improves phone signal when 85% of the UK has excellent mobile signal anyway? Maybe it's because I have no friends and nobody ever calls me......but I don't see a use for it unless you live in the back end of the sticks where signal is a lottery, not a given.

But 85% refers to where 85% of the population live i.e. heavily biased towards towns and cities.

 

I live in a large village in West Sussex, not what I would call the back end of nowhere, but still I get a poor or non-existent signal most of the time. Bluetooth+ seems to help a fair bit with the signal levels I get.

 

Even if you do live in the area of the lucky 85% you are going to travel at times outside of this zone so I would think that makes it worth it for some of you lucky ones too?

[Farsider]

I'd like to think it does a great job of getting a lot of the radiation from the phone out of the car to protect the occupants (read young children).

[pipsyp]

I'd like to think it does a great job of getting a lot of the radiation from the phone out of the car to protect the occupants (read young children).

True enough but we're constantly being bombarded by cellular radiation anyway, care of all the base stations knocking around.

Probably fair to say that today where ever you stand (very rural areas excluded) you're probably never too far from a cell tower.

Also almost every home has WiFi now and certainly in my own home (as O2 is so poor) a femtocell (or O2 Boostbox in normal speak)....I guess me and my own are done for where this is concerned :-)

[Farsider]

I get that we're always bombarded with wireless radiation of some sort but I've always thought that it's the close proximity to a radiation transmitter (ie your phone) where the real risk lies rather than being in the vicinity of a cell tower signal.

Therefore, Bluetooth+ would go someway to reduce radiation exposure for occupants of the car as it takes the signal out of the car(?).

I have no technical knowledge to back any of this up of course but it sounds common sense to me.

[pipsyp]

I get that we're always bombarded with wireless radiation of some sort but I've always thought that it's the close proximity to a radiation transmitter (ie your phone) where the real risk lies rather than being in the vicinity of a cell tower signal.

Therefore, Bluetooth+ would go someway to reduce radiation exposure for occupants of the car as it takes the signal out of the car(?).

I have no technical knowledge to back any of this up of course but it sounds common sense to me.

V true, wasn't knocking your post just sadly we're so reliant on wireless comms now that we're dosed with it no matter what we do

[JamesVRSmk3]

In the streets around me there is nearly no phone signal, my actual road doesn't even get a television (freeview) signal but with the bluetooth plus I get nearly full signal.

There's also a couple of "blackspots" nearby where if you drive through the particular spot, 99% of the time, the phone call cuts out. It does it on all networks. It's never done it since I've had the bluetooth+ though.

[blahde2]

I think I must be short on friends as I rarely ever get calls except from my 3 year old telling me that our 3 month old has had a big poo! My life must be very boring.

[andyvee]

LOL that takes me back 10 years!

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[sh4rpsh00ter]

Can it be retrofitted?

[Yogi-Bear]

Can it be retrofitted?

 

Like a lot of things, I'm pretty sure that technically it could be possible, but you'd have to disassemble so much of the car (especially as you'd need the roof aerial too) that it would be totally cost prohibitive.

[sh4rpsh00ter]

I have Columbus fitted, so have the aerial etc. Is it a case of just a coding mod? or does it require the bluetooth antenna/loop thing to be installed as well?? Does anyone have any part numbers for this/experience of whether the wiring is installed???

[JPH0091]

I'd like to think it does a great job of getting a lot of the radiation from the phone out of the car to protect the occupants (read young children).

That´s exactly the point. Within the box, the phone will radiate less for the same level of signal.

On top it goes direct to the external antenna and does not radiate within the Faraday Cage formed by the car, as if kept in your pocket.