[jpickeri93420]

I only have a cell phone to make the occasional call to the wifey and for emergency purposes. Sometime ago I found that Virgin has an account where you are only billed $20 every 3 months. And they gave you a free phone. While the per minute charge is pricey (currently $0.20 a minute though mine is a bit less), it is perfect for me, as I seldom use the phone (have about 7 hours of rollover minutes banked).

Since buying my Z4MR laster September, I have been curious if any of Virgin's phones would work with BMW's bluetooth. Searched wide and far and only read how limited BMW's support is. Virgin recently dropped their price on the Samsung M340 to $20. Seemed like it was worth a shot, so I ordered one, figuring that if it didn't work, at least I has a new phone that took photos (pretty crappy ones though). Got the phone last week and it worked right off. Took a couple of attempts to get it to pair with the car. Don't know what I did right or wrong to get them to pair though.

So the phone works great in hands free mode; the nav display screen even displays the phone's address book. At least part of it. BMW seems to have put a limit on the number of entries.

Bottom line for the rest of you cheapskates ... a bluetooth phone for less than $7 a month.

Cheers, Jim