New iPhone 4 Bluetooth call problems

herbert68

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Yesterday I paired my new iPhone 4, my 9w3 module showed up as "SKODA-B" (?), it paired fine, but the call quality is far worse than my iPhone 3G I had before, there is a lot of static during the call.

Could it be connected with the new echo cancellation feature on the phone? Also, I seem to remember that my previous phone recognized my Jetta as "Volkswagen", not as "Skoda-B".
 

numl0ck

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Got my iPhone4 yesterday as well and it showed "Handsfree" as the BT module. With my old 3G it showed "VW UHV". I haven't tried making a call, but I will tonight on my way home to test the call quality.
 

danham

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I'm fairly sure that noise/echo cancellation only affects the built-in mic, not any BT connection.

-dan
 

ToeBall

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I'm fairly sure that noise/echo cancellation only affects the built-in mic, not any BT connection.

-dan
Absolutely correct. I actually spent a while the other day pulling my 9W3 out and taking the car apart so I could trace the microphone wires in the harness. The mic itself is very simple and straight forward. The bt protocol does nothing for noise cancellation, it leaves that for the endpoint device.
 

numl0ck

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I made two phone calls on the way home from work yesterday and had no issues. Phone paired right up, calls were initiated from the handset (stupid 9w2 :)). The call quality was right on par with the old 3G phone - easy to understand and clear. No static at all.

I wonder if it has to do with the placement of your phone? I don't use the MDI for my phone, I have an iPod hooked up to it all the time, so my phone just sits in the cup holders when I'm driving. If it was hooked up to the MDI I wonder if the center console was breakup the BT signal??

One interesting note about the phone itself: I have full signal (AT&T 3G) when the phone is sitting on a table, but when I pick it up, the signal power slowly drops down to 1 bar. This is repeatable with my phone, and my fiancée’s. This kinda make me wonder about the BT and WiFi signal strength from the phone.
 

danham

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...One interesting note about the phone itself: I have full signal (AT&T 3G) when the phone is sitting on a table, but when I pick it up, the signal power slowly drops down to 1 bar. This is repeatable with my phone, and my fiancée’s. This kinda make me wonder about the BT and WiFi signal strength from the phone.
ALL mobile phones have this built-in issue: the human body is a conductor and when you connect any of the phone's antennas (cell, WiFi, BT) to your body, you change the circuit in ways that can dramatically decrease signal.

On the new 4G iPhone, there are already reports of issues with touching the metal antenna band and losing signal (supposedly being corrected by insulating the metal band with a coating).

My Gen 1 iPhone has always had better signal reception lying on a table than in my hand. Ditto my wife's Razr. My ancient Verizon Samsung never had this problem, but it had a pull-up external plastic-coated antenna. Those external antennas went out of fashion, which is kinda too bad.

-dan
 

numl0ck

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On the new 4G iPhone, there are already reports of issues with touching the metal antenna band and losing signal (supposedly being corrected by insulating the metal band with a coating).
My coworker literally just told me that this issue is all over the Apple forums, and Apple's response was "you're holding it wrong." Apparently the phone isn't meant to be held in you right hand. Which is most unfortunate for those of us that are deaf in our left ear. ;) It's kind of hard to hold the phone with my left hand and hold it up to my right ear. I guess that's why the invented the "bumpers" for the phone. So much for all that R&D.

I see what you're saying about the human body being a conductor, but I haven't experienced as dramatic a drop in signal in other phones I've had (3G, Blackberry, Razr).

All that aside, this "phone", if you can call it that, is an amazing product, a great improvement over the 3G/S. If it wasn't for the fact that I work for the DoD and camera phones aren't allowed, I'd be playing with it non-stop. :)
 

danham

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@numl0ck:

That was an early Apple response (and pretty lame too). The latest is that they will ship out a new phone with coated antenna to anyone having the problem. Apparently some units got out the door sans coating. You can also use a rubber case and avoid the issue.

The 4G is different in that its antenna is directly touchable. All the other iPhones (and the ones you mention in your post as not having the issue) at least have some plastic between your skin and the antennas, but even close proximity changes the effective wavelength of the antenna. The degree of signal loss varies a lot with design of the phone.

-dan
 

herbert68

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I made two phone calls on the way home from work yesterday and had no issues. Phone paired right up, calls were initiated from the handset (stupid 9w2 :)). The call quality was right on par with the old 3G phone - easy to understand and clear. No static at all.

I wonder if it has to do with the placement of your phone? I don't use the MDI for my phone, I have an iPod hooked up to it all the time, so my phone just sits in the cup holders when I'm driving. If it was hooked up to the MDI I wonder if the center console was breakup the BT signal??

One interesting note about the phone itself: I have full signal (AT&T 3G) when the phone is sitting on a table, but when I pick it up, the signal power slowly drops down to 1 bar. This is repeatable with my phone, and my fiancée’s. This kinda make me wonder about the BT and WiFi signal strength from the phone.
Thank you. I have the same setup as you and my phone usually sits in the cup holder too. Now that the iP4 has voice dialing, that's even better. Just wish my 9w3 would do such easy and straight forward voice dialing. Oh well ...

After I read your post I deleted the pairing and connected again, but the static is still there. It wasn't there with the 3G, so I guess, it's safe to assume it has to do with the phone, not the 3w9 or my car.

Don't really know what to do next to resolve this.
 

herbert68

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My coworker literally just told me that this issue is all over the Apple forums, and Apple's response was "you're holding it wrong." Apparently the phone isn't meant to be held in you right hand. Which is most unfortunate for those of us that are deaf in our left ear. ;) It's kind of hard to hold the phone with my left hand and hold it up to my right ear. I guess that's why the invented the "bumpers" for the phone. So much for all that R&D.

I see what you're saying about the human body being a conductor, but I haven't experienced as dramatic a drop in signal in other phones I've had (3G, Blackberry, Razr).

All that aside, this "phone", if you can call it that, is an amazing product, a great improvement over the 3G/S. If it wasn't for the fact that I work for the DoD and camera phones aren't allowed, I'd be playing with it non-stop. :)
Here is a great response to Steve's comment "you're holding it wrong", without words and using only Apple images.

It seems, everyone is holding it wrong, including Steve.
 

meowguy

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Yesterday I paired my new iPhone 4, my 9w3 module showed up as "SKODA-B" (?), it paired fine, but the call quality is far worse than my iPhone 3G I had before, there is a lot of static during the call.
Are you certain you have an antenna on your 9W3??? My dealer installed mine and had no clue an antenna is required. The antenna is a small circuit board that plugs into the back of unit under you passenger seat. SEE IF YOU HAVE ONE.

You cannot see the antenna from the back seat. You need to remove the Styrofoam block from under the front passenger seat (velcro attachment), turn it around gently and look at the back for the antenna.
 

herbert68

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Are you certain you have an antenna on your 9W3??? My dealer installed mine and had no clue an antenna is required. The antenna is a small circuit board that plugs into the back of unit under you passenger seat. SEE IF YOU HAVE ONE.

You cannot see the antenna from the back seat. You need to remove the Styrofoam block from under the front passenger seat (velcro attachment), turn it around gently and look at the back for the antenna.
I'm pretty certain, my Jetta is a sedan and came with this module installed. Besides, my previous phone worked flawlessly ...
 

meowguy

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my previous phone worked flawlessly ...
The only thing obviously different then is the phone. Either it has a weak BT antenna or it is defective. What else could it be?

How about you go down to the dealer or to a friend and try it in another Jetta with 9W3?

BTW my Blackberry worked pretty well without the antenna. Much better after the install.
 
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herbert68

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"Try it in another Jetta", that's a great idea! I'll do that this weekend, thank you, excellent suggestion!
 

SRT4Johnny

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Heres my experience guys. I've had the 3G and 3GS And it always paired up and worked fine with my 9w2. Like someone said above it paired it as VW UHV.

Since I go the iPhone 4 it won't pair at all to my golf. Tested it with my buddies iPhone 4 as well to see If it was just mine and same thing wouldn't connect. Not sure what to do now!?

Only thing I could say is maybe it's a software issue and will be resolved with an update hopefully
 

dzcad90

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I've had the iPhone 4 since launch day and I've had no issues with the 9w3 in my 09 sedan. One co thing I've noted in iOS 4 is that the phone now delivers the ringtone via Bluetooth to the car vs a generic ringing sound.

The signal issue is repeatable everytime on my phone, however it's a non issue if you get any type of case that will protect the sides of the phone. I don't think the purported software update to address this issue will do much, as it seems to be a physical issue.

Stock up on $29 rubber bands, I mean Apple Bumpers ;-)
 

sportwagen rick

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No problems with my iPhone 4 pairing with my 9w2. No problems with static or Bt streaming. I also don't experience the signal drop due to touching the metal band as some have reported.

Hope everything stays problem free when I switch over to the 9w7.
 

Farfromovin

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@numl0ck:
The latest is that they will ship out a new phone with coated antenna to anyone having the problem. Apparently some units got out the door sans coating.

-dan
Sorry to keep this off topic, but do you have a source for this info? All the phones have "non coated bands" and I haven't heard anything about them changing the design to coat the bands now...
 

numl0ck

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Stock up on $29 rubber bands, I mean Apple Bumpers ;-)
We ordered two bumpers (one for each phone) and they won't ship until July 16th. :eek::mad:


Oh, and still no issues pairing with 9w2 and iPhone4. :D
 
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Beanie-Bean

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No problems noted here.

I've broken out the old Belkin cup holder holster (since the FM transmitter/charger piece is not supported with the iPhone 4...) to have the unit sitting in the fwd cup holder so that I can see what's going on call-wise.

My unit doesn't have the phone book option in the MFD (I just have the MDI w/iPod interface--for the iPod, naturally) so if I want to know who's calling, I just peek down at the phone to have a look.

Voice control works just fine through the car's microphone, and I like hearing the actual ringtone coming through the speakers.

A2DP works just fine through the stereo, too. Excellent for the Pandora streams.

I guess that I have the "9W2" system, based on what I've read so far about the JSW and all the BT module variants. I just wish that the steering wheel controls for the voice commands worked in mine. Can't justify spending lots of $$$ for the new 9W7 module. I think that a new head unit and steering wheel interface would be a higher priority than another BT interface. I can make/take calls just fine, and with the iPhone 4 sitting in the cup holder dock I'm good to go.

No static, as noted in earlier posts. Since I don't have my paws on the phone, I don't experience the "you're holding it wrong" signal issues.
 

danham

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Sorry to keep this off topic, but do you have a source for this info? All the phones have "non coated bands" and I haven't heard anything about them changing the design to coat the bands now...
You are correct. The report that Apple was taking back phones and shipping new ones was accurate at the time I posted, but it turns out they were grabbing units with signal issues for teardown and analysis, not because they were going to coat the antenna. Now I'm reading that they will not take any more back for this purpose.

Sorry, but I've read so many pages of info on this that digging back to find the links would take me all day.

I'm also hearing that Apple plans to release new firmware, perhaps as early as next week, that =may= address the issue. But bottom line, I will probably buy an i4 to replace my Gen 1 iPhone once the craziness settles down and I'm not overly concerned about this. Every cell phone does it to some degree and normally it only causes voice and data problems where the signal is very weak to begin with. And the workaround is very easy: put the phone down (which is natural when using data), or use a BT setup so you don't have to hold it while talking. I've been doing this for years with VZ and AT&T phones in fringe areas.

I'm much more concerned about BT pairing issues with my JSW. That would be a deal killer.

-dan
 
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danham

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Yesterday I paired my new iPhone 4, my 9w3 module showed up as "SKODA-B" (?), it paired fine, but the call quality is far worse than my iPhone 3G I had before, there is a lot of static during the call.

Could it be connected with the new echo cancellation feature on the phone? Also, I seem to remember that my previous phone recognized my Jetta as "Volkswagen", not as "Skoda-B".
I just found this item on Macworld's site (http://www.macworld.com/article/152382/2010/06/iphone4accessories.html#jump) and it may apply to your crummy sound quality issue. Try adjusting both volumes (car and phone) for the best result:

"One change iOS 4 did bring—to both the iPhone 4 and previous iPhone and iPod touch models—is the ability to control Bluetooth playback volume using the iPhone’s own controls. (You were previously limited to adjusting the volume level using your Bluetooth headphones or speaker system’s own volume controls.) This change does mean that you now have to perform some level matching to find the iPhone volume level that gives you the best range of volume on your Bluetooth headphones or speakers, but it’s a welcome tradeoff. For example, last year I tested a set of Bluetooth headphones that I couldn’t use because the headphones’ lowest volume level was still too loud. I can now reduce the iPhone’s volume level and use those headphones comfortably."

-dan
 

Pelican18TQA4

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How about the garbled phonebook info on the RNS-510 and MFD? That is a problem unique to iOS4, so it affects the 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4. The phonebook information downloads fine, but it's displayed as strange characters and numbers rather than a name and phone number. This makes the phonebook and call logs completely useless and forces one to use the phone to initiate a call. This is also not a problem unique to VW's BT units, as many Mercedes Benz owners are complaining of problems as well. C'mon Apple, I'm a self-proclaimed fanboi, but this is absurd!

As for the signal problems, I haven't experienced any either and in fact, I have found the reception on my iPhone 4 to be noticeably better than my 3GS. Maybe I just know how to hold a phone properly? :p
 

danham

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I haven't gotten into the issues with the RNS-510 (don't have one), but over in the GPS forum I help moderate, we see a lot of BT phonebook pairing issues between various phones and Garmin nuvi GPSes.

The worst offenders are usually Verizon phones, but some iPhones and some nuvis fail to get along and dump garbage into the phonebook. My Gen 1 iPhone and nuvi 760 do OK, though duplicate or missing entries are common and occasional garbled ones too.

I blame the Bluetooth "standard" which isn't [g], meaning everybody does it a just a little differently and then blames the other guy when it doesn't work. A royal PITA.

-dan
 

herbert68

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I just found this item on Macworld's site (http://www.macworld.com/article/152382/2010/06/iphone4accessories.html#jump) and it may apply to your crummy sound quality issue. Try adjusting both volumes (car and phone) for the best result:

"One change iOS 4 did bring—to both the iPhone 4 and previous iPhone and iPod touch models—is the ability to control Bluetooth playback volume using the iPhone’s own controls. (You were previously limited to adjusting the volume level using your Bluetooth headphones or speaker system’s own volume controls.) This change does mean that you now have to perform some level matching to find the iPhone volume level that gives you the best range of volume on your Bluetooth headphones or speakers, but it’s a welcome tradeoff. For example, last year I tested a set of Bluetooth headphones that I couldn’t use because the headphones’ lowest volume level was still too loud. I can now reduce the iPhone’s volume level and use those headphones comfortably."

-dan
Thank you Dan, this article is very interesting and helpful!

I just came in from testing this suggestion and I was surprised that the volume change on the iPhone didn't work. While in a conversation I could adjust the volume on the head unit just fine, but pressing the + and – buttons on the phone produced no results. I had successfully used this function on my previous iPhone 3Gwith OS 2 and 3, but not on the iPhone 4 with iOS4, strange ...

On the upside, the test showed that the static is only on my side and when I speak, when the other party talks the static disappears, and they don't have static at all on their side.

I still suspect the new fancy noise canceling system in the new iPhone.

So I guess, I can live with these facts, though I still don't understand where the problem actually lies, in the phone or the RCD510.

Oh well ...
 

meowguy

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herbert68,
Glad to hear you at least know which side the problem is on.

we see a lot of BT phonebook pairing issues between various phones and Garmin nuvi GPSes.
My Nuvi 285T portable and my Blackberry Storm are not happily married. They match-up about 25% of the time. The other times I have to enter the code again to get a match up. The phone book is the least of the problems. Not a happy marriage at all. :mad:
 

cmeller

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I just my iphone 4 and forgot the code to link it to my TDI JSW. Can someone remind me so my phone can link for my ride home?
Thanks!
 

dzcad90

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How about the garbled phonebook info on the RNS-510 and MFD? That is a problem unique to iOS4, so it affects the 3G, 3GS, and iPhone 4. The phonebook information downloads fine, but it's displayed as strange characters and numbers rather than a name and phone number.
Ran iOS 4 on my iPhone 3G and now my iPhone 4. Reporting ZERO issues with any aspect of BT connectivity with my car. Pairing works correctly, calling works correctly, and phonebook transfer to the BT Module / RNS works perfectly.

Don't you have a "B" module installed? Maybe there's something to that?
 
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