Fwd: Phones for A6

[Sandy Duffy <sandyduffy@home.com>]

>From: Anthony Pennington <apenning@ix.netcom.com>
>To: "'quattro@coimbra.ans.net'" <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
>Subject: Phones for A6
>Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 08:51:33 -0700
>Sender: owner-quattro@coimbra.ans.net
>
>My 1995 A6 is pre-wired/equipped for a hands-free phone -- it has the
speaker, the connection port, and microphones built in.  I bought the
vehicle from an Audi broker.  He said that I would need to take it to Audi
and buy their proprietary phone for $1,500.  Has anyone successfully
installed a phone using the setup built into the car without going to Audi?
 Do you know the manufacturer of the phone?  Can I choose a phone of my
choice (looking at the new Digital hardware and service carriers) and plug
it into this car?

Anthony:

I have a 95 A6 Q 5 speed.  I had a Motorola phone model SCN 2555A installed
in the arm rest ($129.95 for the phone itself).  My local cell phone
company-Bell Atlantic Mobile did the work  They enabled the "hands
free/automatic answer after 3 rings" feature and mounted the mic up on the
left front driver's pillar.  I had to buy a special speaker driver
($60.extra) for the phone to allow it to operate with the "built in speaker
in the car" but other than that it went in without a hitch.  Er..maybe just
one hitch.  It seems there is no speaker actually installed in the plastic
plate that fits under the arm rest and it is "a dealer item only".  My Audi
dealer wanted ONLY $179.95 (plus minimum 4 weeks wait) for the plate with
THE Audi approved speaker in it. And, he needed to know the interior color
of my car to get one that matched.  I pointed out to him that I already had
a plate that was a perfect match (it came with the car) and only needed the
speaker to put in it.  "Nuthin doin!  Ya gotta get the entire unit"
Grrrr..... Well; Radio Shack makes a magnetically shielded 2 inch
replacement speaker (part no. 40-242, price=$2.97) for televisions that fit
(with a small bit of filling away some metal on the speaker's basket to
make the mounting holes line up) on my plate.  I filed a bit, screwed, and
hot glued it in place and it works flawlessly.  Not only that, but because
it is magnetically shielded, it has superior performance to the unshielded
one from Audi.

Hope this helps

Sandy