Just thought I should share this information.

For my F700bt, the quality of bluetooth performance is tied directly to the state of my phonebook. When I sync my phone with the F700bt without editing/scrubbing it first on my computer manually, I get TERRIBLE bluetooth functionality/performance. (There are many other posts on this forum that tell "How to" edit the phonebook.) I can really understand why so many people hate the bluetooth function of the AVIC.

Here's what I experienced:

1) Sync old RAZR with HU: Slow bluetooth, no voice dial, unresponsive (hangs), only a portion of names transferred properly.

2) Manual edit RAZR phonebook: Voice dial work great!, Bluetooth responsive, no hangs!!!!

3) Retire RAZR, Sync new W760a: Entire phonebook transferred perfectly, BUT Slow bluetooth, no voice dial, unresponsive (hangs).

4) Manual edit W760a phonebook: Voice dial work great again!, Bluetooth VERY responsive, no hangs!!!!

NOTE: On manual edit, must remove all non-alpha numeric characters ("), $, &, /, -", etc.). I used "&" and ")" in my phonebook (I sync my phone with Outlook), so these where causing me problems.

This scenario reminds me of what happens when I try to open a corrupt database or spreadsheet on my Windows laptop. It causes the entire system to run slow or hang. Much like the response of my F700bt.

Hope this helps someone!

When you had VR problems, were you able to tell it to call a contact with no wacky characters or did none of them work at all?

To rephrase, will an unrecognized character on one contact throw off the VR for the entire phonebook? I think most Verizon phones come with a bunch of weird ones that they want you to use like #MIN and stuff... Hopefully you're on to a 'fix' that most will find useful!

...and what were you using to "manually edit" the phonebook?

will an unrecognized character on one contact throw off the VR for the entire phonebook?

 

...and what were you using to "manually edit" the phonebook?

Any unrecognized character anywhere in the phonebook caused VR to NOT work for the entire phonebook! Even if only one name has one character, to whole thing would not work. At least, in my experience.

I used a free Firefox addin called SQL lite. This is a great tool that also allows you in import and export to CSV, etc. in the case you prefer to do most of your editing in Excel or something similar then use SQL lite for placing it back in a format that the AVIC can use.

There are also a few other tools mentioned in this forum. Do a quick search and you'll find them.

This is like a revelation... Has anybody tried this yet!?

Unfortunately, my wife drove my car to work today and I can't try it out yet!

This is like a revelation... Has anybody tried this yet!?

 

Unfortunately, my wife drove my car to work today and I can't try it out yet!

Others have tried it for VR functionality, and it works. (That's how I found out about this VR fix by searching this forum.)

The new information I am trying to share is the link between this same phonebook issue and problems like slow response and unresponsive bluetooth.

As I said before, it's like opening a corrupt database or a damaged index on your PC or laptop - it will clobber your system resources.

Well, I didn't have a lot of them at all, so on my phone I just removed every single character that was not a letter or a number. I'll re-transfer later and see if this works!

Well, I didn't have a lot of them at all, so on my phone I just removed every single character that was not a letter or a number. I'll re-transfer later and see if this works!

Good idea for a quick and easy way to test! Let us know what you find out.

Another side benefit I forgot to mention about a manual edit is you can modify the list order any way you'd like. For example, my first 6 names that fill my opening contact screen are my most frequently called numbers. It does not matter if the name starts with "Z", you can place them 1st. This is nice when VR is not an option, for example when my windows are open. (Which I do often!)

Another side benefit I forgot to mention about a manual edit is you can modify the list order any way you'd like

I've been wondering how I could do this... I'll try out my 'new' contacts list and let you guys know. Then, even if it doesn't work, I'll be using the software to essentially put some "speed dials" at the top of the list in the AVIC.

Holy crap - it friggin worked. I can now make VR phone calls with no problems - it recognized my commands the first time I tried after I re-uploaded my contacts!!

This is good enough to be in the Wiki... waddya guys think? Everybody and their MOM is encountering this problem...

Holy crap - it friggin worked. I can now make VR phone calls with no problems - it recognized my commands the first time I tried after I re-uploaded my contacts!!

 

This is good enough to be in the Wiki... waddya guys think? Everybody and their MOM is encountering this problem...

Glad it worked for you!!!

Did you edit the phonebook on your computer or simply remove the strange characters from your phone and re-sync?

Does this apply to ( and ) in the phone numbers as well? I went and fixed all my names, but the phone numbers still have those characters in some instances.

Does this apply to ( and ) in the phone numbers as well? I went and fixed all my names, but the phone numbers still have those characters in some instances.

Yes! Remove the characters EVERYWHERE! The names should ONLY have LETTERS and the numbers should ONLY have NUMBERS.

Okay, I've been scratching my head with this one. I sync my contacts through Outlook, using an AT&T Tilt WM6.1 phone. No matter how I insert the phone number in either the phone or Outlook, it formats it with parenthesis. Example: If I enter 8888888888, it changes it to (888) 888-8888. Does not seem to be any way around this change in formatting. I'll check the other threads, but anyone know a way around this one?

Did you edit the phonebook on your computer or simply remove the strange characters from your phone and re-sync?

I just edited the stuff on my phone and re-synced it. Works great now!

Does this apply to ( and ) in the phone numbers as well? I went and fixed all my names, but the phone numbers still have those characters in some instances.

I don't have any parens in my phonebook so I really don't know...

Now, my phonebook has contact names with NOTHING except for letters and numbers. For example, I have "Google411" as a contact name and it still works. I also have radio stations "987" (used to be "98.7" as the name) and they all work great! I also have one contact that has nothing except an email address in it - and I left it in the normal email format: [email protected].

I seriously recommend that EVERYBODY having this issue does this.

Okay, figured this one out. NOTE: I am not responsible for anything the this may screw up in the meantime!!!

I am running WinXP with Outlook2007. Under Control Panel->Phone and Modem Options->Dialing Rules you'll probably see one entry - New Location. Hit Edit. Under Country/region, choose "International Freephone Service". This allowed me to freeform enter the phone numbers without it changing the format.

I sync'd to my phone, all the special characters are gone from phone numbers.

NOW, before I go and re-sync this with the AVIC, these special characters don't apply to addresses, correct? Just names and numbers?

I sync'd to my phone, all the special characters are gone from phone numbers.

 

NOW, before I go and re-sync this with the AVIC, these special characters don't apply to addresses, correct? Just names and numbers?

Correct! Just names and numbers. The phone sync process does not touch the street address or email address.

Okay, figured this one out. NOTE: I am not responsible for anything the this may screw up in the meantime!!!

 

I am running WinXP with Outlook2007. Under Control Panel->Phone and Modem Options->Dialing Rules you'll probably see one entry - New Location. Hit Edit. Under Country/region, choose "International Freephone Service". This allowed me to freeform enter the phone numbers without it changing the format.

 

I sync'd to my phone, all the special characters are gone from phone numbers.

 

NOW, before I go and re-sync this with the AVIC, these special characters don't apply to addresses, correct? Just names and numbers?

I believe that it is only the contact names - cuz you don't say to the unit "call my friend who lives at 123 main street" - it should only be looking through the contact names to figure out what you're trying to say.

I believe that it is only the contact names - cuz you don't say to the unit "call my friend who lives at 123 main street" - it should only be looking through the contact names to figure out what you're trying to say.

I'm afraid you also need to remove the characters from the phone numbers so there is only numbers so no "()" or "-"

I'm afraid you also need to remove the characters from the phone numbers so there is only numbers so no "()" or "-"

Alrighty - I guess I just didn't have this problem with my contacts... It makes sense, though I guess.