2010 X5d Sound System dysfunction / bluetooth / BMW "allowed" phone list nonsense

[spacey]

2010 X5d (Nov '09 delivery)
"lbd" - Local BMW Dealer

I really feel like another major rant is in order but will spare thee the dubious pleasure of experiencing my spilled guts... well at least for the most part.

First a question - has anyone experienced their sound system cutting out all sound at random times for no apparent reason? Well I have... it started about a month and a half ago... all sound, not just the radio or CD, but also the proximity sensor beeps, phone, nav and everything else in between just stops... and doesn't come back until after the car is turned off and parked for a long (hours) time. And sometimes the sound doesn't even come back the next day (happened once). All visuals appear to work fine. No faults in the system stored of any kind as per lbd. lbd had the car on two occasions for days at a time including techs driving it home to try and reproduce the problem. 1st time they had the car they were able to reproduce the problem but not able to figure out why it was happening. They did notice I had the "unauthorized" phone paired based on which BWM NA tech in their moment of brilliance stated to unpair the offending device and drive the car. Well ok... I've been "caught" transgressing and decided to try it... so took the car back and it even looked promissing that day... drive all the way back home (about 1 hr) the soudn worked. Same thing 1st part of the following day. My feeling of joy was slowly trickling back even though I was half consumed by scheming how to comply w/the requirement of using one of the idiot phones "authorized" by BMW yet also be able to get a Droid or something more civilized at the same time (I figured out a way BTW...).

But nooooooooo! The sound cut out @ 12:47 pm... and then was on and off at completely random times the rest of the weekend. So... as per agreement w/the lbd service rep I drove back to service to return the car for further scrutiny. Of course the sound worked fine all the way there and for the next two days while in service. The most recent response by BMW NA tech support via a peel request from the lbd...? I should consider getting a different phone!

Ok... so as much as this is p**sing me off, I somewhat resigned myself that this might have to happen. And I need a new phone anyway... So I go to Verizion Wireless site, and guess what!? Not a single phone on the BMW "authorized/approved/allowed" list of Verizon phones is available for sale from Verizon Wireless! I am not sure when / how often Verizon changes their entire lineup and how often BMW updates their crappy phone list but they are 100% out of sync as of today! What a f*** up!

So... lets see... I have a bluetooth phone - Motorola Krazr (about 3 yrs old) from a major US carrier - Verizon Wireless and a BMW car with which not only I am not allowed to pair it with but I should explicitly turn off the bluetooth feature on entry (or maybe even within close proximity)!

Even if I accepted the ridiculous position/statement from BMW/which in and of itself is a problem, the fact that they sell a car w/bluetooth capability but oh by the way it just doesn't happen to work w/any bluetooth devices on the market as of today is just NOT ACCEPTABLE!!!

Ehem... any ideas? BMW are you listening to this? Any hope on revising the list of phones to something made this century? Or better yet, explain why all other bluetooth devices don't seem to have a problem communicating except for your cars?

Ok, no rant per se... but a bitching episode none the less...

Any helpfull or wiseass advice?

spacey

EDIT 0: Ok, after further analysis of the BMW crappy phone list vs. Verizon Phone list I have found 3 phones out of 10 which are on both lists - LGVX8360, LGVX9200 (enV3) and LGVX11000 (enV Touch). None of which I have any desire to own let alone actually pay money for. Each requires additional $10+ data plan and for a non BlackBerry/iPod/Droid phone that does not make sense to me.