Need car electrician help: volvo aftermarket 4G phone

Post by **CIK7** » 12 Sep 2020, 16:52

Anyone that is into the executive Volvo models (7/9/S80) may know that the top trims came with a factory installed Southern Bell (AT&T) telephone. My car is prewired and premounted (front passenger floorboard and rear glass) for that phone. That was whatever came before 2g i think. AT&T 3g is about to be phased out in 2021 or 2022. I want to install a 4g phone WITH the number pad and retro phone cord. I need help figuring out how i can do this. Can I use the prewiring for the 4G? The phone fuse is already there. I would like to get as precise info as possible so I can get it rolling (I mean dialing). Another idea is that I could buy the factory phone and update it with a 4G motherboard.

Post by **RickHaleParker** » 13 Sep 2020, 09:31

CIK7 wrote: 12 Sep 2020, 16:52 I want to install a 4g phone WITH the number pad and retro phone cord.

To what end? You could not legally use it .. Hands free only. That why you are not going to find one. There is no market for them.

Post by **abscate** » 13 Sep 2020, 09:33

I would research and try to find who made the phone for Volvo in that model to see if there is an up compatible version from that manufacturer.

I can tell you that compatibility in phone hardware is of lower priority to phone makers that keeping the flowers in reception watered. Its a total obsolescence business.

yanga001 · Post by **yanga001** » 13 Sep 2020, 20:24

If you post a picture of the phone then maybe we can have some ideas. I'll echo the others in saying that it would be more of a gimmick then anything else and it would be expensive given it would be a niche market. However, you might be able to get away with a simple system which takes the numpad input and ports it directly over to a normal cell phone. Can you post a picture of the handset or any other documentation.

Your best option would likely be to find a bluetooth link for your phone to the handset. You could probably work with an arduino/stm32 to pair your phone to the handset outputs. I would honestly nuke the remainder of the hw as its way way too old.

Just get a fancy radio with a touchscreen and phone pairing. I know china makes some that allow you to playback movies on aliexpress.