Cell phones forum: Can Tracfone Motorola w376g phone link up Bluetooth in cars?

Bought the TracFone W360g and have a 2007 Toyota RAV4 with Bluetooth. Tried several times unsuccessfully then enlisted help from someone with another Motorola phone. Theirs connected easily while the Toyota can't find the TracFone. There's something about the TracFone being "hardwired" with a "0000" code and I do not know how to get around it. Some folks say there is a work around but I can't understand what they are talking about.

Just received the new phone and I tried multiple times to get it paired up with my Camry's bluetooth without any success. Even changed the car's passkey to "0000" but still didn't work. Will try to call customer service for help. I should mention I haven't activated the phone yet since I gather pairing bluetooth shouldn't have a bearing on the activation. Does anyone know whether the phone has to be activated first before pairing will work? With my other LG cell phone (not Tracfone), I actually have to enter the car's passkey code for it to pair up. This w376g doesn't even give me the option to do that.

Wyy168 paired up his car awhile ago using the code '0000'.

I was the source of the '0000' option and it was based on the interaction between my 2008 Prius and the w376g. Standard pairing procedures didn't work so I applied what little common-sense my tells me that I possess and went into Tracfone thinking mode. I came up with zero, thus '0000' is the default code for the w376g.

While it is obvious that the w376g can link up with using pairing codes other than '0000', that pairing process can often be an ordeal. The w386g doesn't seem to function in the bluetooth environment as well as other devices and pairing can be inexplicable. Some car systems are able to perform a 'handshake' with the w376g and pair with any desired code the first time. Many of us aren't that lucky and have to find a way to initially pair our phones, thus the '0000' and/or the use of another cellphone to pair up initially before being deleted.

The w376g can pair up with car bluetooth systems with the selection of any pairing code; however, the car must first pair up successfully with a cellphone, w376g or other. After sucessful pairing, the car's system can be used to delete the registered cellphone and establish a connection with the w376g using whatever code desired. The w376g will respond with a 'bonding request' and if selected the w376g will ask for a passkey code corresponding to the car's passkey.

I know the above process is accurate and I would like to believe the SIM pin is the 'magic bullet'. I plan to contact Tracfone and get a handle on th SIM pin and try to pair in a default state with the w376g using the SIM pin for my cellphone.

Pairing the w376g is not as straight-forward as one should expect; the use of the '0000' is the simplest and most diresct solution for many.

Your successful pairing is one of several that have been offered up in the forums and it reflects the erratic nature of the Tracfone BT implementation. Others may have a better technical orientation on this and I hope we hear from them, but I believe that it would serve most users well it they assumed the default w376g BT passkey is '0000' and that it has no relationship with the SIM Pin.

Tracfone doesn't have a systematic data-supported technical support process and will typically provide packaged answers, answers probably provided by mgrs in proddev and mktg. If you attempt to change the SIM Pin code and fail to accurately enter the default code it will eventually come up with the 'Enter SIM PUK' code which is Tracfone's way of telling you to call them and have them assist you in resetting the SIM Pin code. CSRs at Tracfone, as a matter of routine, tell customers to enter the code of '1111' as the SIM Pin. The SIM Pin2 code is probably '2222', if true then it should be easier to remember the codes for SIM Pins 1 and 2.

As much as I would like to accept the SIM Pin of '1111' as the 'magic bullet' it doesn't mesh with general bluetooth implementation of the w376g. Granted, my orientation with a 2008 Prius and the experience of many others with different car systems doesn't guarantee 100% accuracy of the assertion that the code of '0000' is the default BT passkey. It does indicate that the w376g is erractic in its BT implementation and acts illogically in many cases, depending on the car's BT implementation. The '0000' code works if you can initially establish a passkey change to '0000' on the car's BT or if you can establish a connection with another cellphone that has a more elegant BT implementation allowing for car BT passkey changing after deleting the first successful connection.

I tested a SIM Pin of '1111' on the w376g with a passkey of '1111' on the 2008 Prius and it failed to pair; the '0000' remained necessary in order to initially pair the devices. I first deleted all references to BT connections in the w376g and cleared the car's bluetooth of connections and set it to the default state, which establishes a default passkey of '1111'. After the initial pairing with the '0000' passkey I was able subsequently pair the devices with a code of '1111', but it required a messy process that is not easy to describe. The w376g is not an easy device to use with BT if you want the same flexibility that other cellphone users have; however, it does the job as a BT phone and it is good value.

Various car BT implementations will react differently with the w376g with many considerations involved, i.e. ability to disable 'auto connect' at the time of initial pairing, BT handshaking, navigation/non-navigation, etc.

After spending hours trying unsuccessfully (phone kept saying it couldn't find the device) to pair up the w376g with my car's Bluetooth even with the car's Passkey code changed to "0000", I decided to call Product Support for help. I spent close to 40 minutes on the phone with them and had this issue elevated to the Tier 3 level of their product support, the official answer from TracFone is this w376g will NOT work with any vehicle's Bluetooth system since it lacks the "software" to sync up. The only Bluetooth device that TracFone says will work with this w376g is either an earpiece or a headset. They are going to revise their website description on this phone to clearly state this phone's limited Bluetooth capability. They confirmed that they have received numerous calls on this issue from others who've purchased this phone thinking it would pair up with the car's system (even TracFone's phone sales people including their Tier 1 level tech support staff thought it would pair up to anything including cars). They also confirmed that they are currently working in updating the "software" to allow the pairing of this phone to vehicles in the near future and they are hoping this updated version will be released in about 2 months. They assured me that I have no need to buy a new phone for that. The update will be done over-the-air (not sure how this is going to work since TracFone never tells you to do the update of the software or programming like Verizon does with its *228). This official answer from TracFone should clarify the very limited Bluetooth capability of this w376g phone. Suggest for those of you who've purchased this w376g to call TracFone to complain this issue.

Since my car is a '08 Camry, my bluetooth system should be same or very similar as your Prius and other Toyota and Lexus vehicles (maybe different vintage based on the year of the car). My car has no problem pairing up 2 other bluetooth phones (LG and Motorola from Verizon). I actually took my car in to the Toyota dealership yesterday and 2 techicians failed to get the w376g paired up but confirmed my system is fine. They even tried pairing the w376g to the service manager's own Highlander which already has 3 other phones paired up (the system allows up to 6 phones) but unable to do so. BTW, they used the "0000" passkey code already set in my car when trying to pair. In the service mgr's car, they changed the passkey to "0000" before trying to pair. None worked.

I even went 1 step further yesterday after the dealership visit. I went over my neighbor's to try to pair the w376g with his 2008 Lexus ES350 and again no luck (with passkey code set to "0000").

Your answer that the w376g paired up to your Prius really surprises me especially after TracFone's level 3 tech support told me otherwise and my dealership's failure to do same. I guess I'm at a loss now and more puzzled with your "success" story. Maybe others can share his success stories here.

It pairs up fine in my 2009 Sonata using the "0000" code.

I have successfully pair two of these tracfone phones to my 2007 Camry hybrid. One for the wife and one for me. I did change the code on the camry to 0000 and it took. The second one paired without any problem. Originally the camry was set to some other number and it would not pair.

Has anone figured out how to transfer the phone book of the phone into the cars phonebook via the bluetooth? the car is easy to setup for the transfer however the phone seems lacking a transfer menu?


Thanks

My 2007 Camry has the navigation system. Sorry, this probably will not help you, after I hit bluetooth on the screen I get the passkey settings with a change symbol next to passkey along with a keypad on the screen so I can change the existing number very easy and then enter OK.

I bought the W376g today. I WAS ABLE to sync it with my 2008 Prius blue tooth system. I changed the cars passkey to 0000 and told the car to connect while the phone was searching. It found the "Hands Free" connection and works great. It took about 30 minutes of experimenting then i had to reconfigure my other phone to the new passkey. All work fine in the end.

I found on my 2008 Prius that in addition to changing the code to 0000, I also had to change the Device Name on the Prius screen to match the Name of the Tracfone which is "Motorola Phone". Only then did they pair up.

the new LG-420G bluetoothh tracfone pairs very simply with any 2010 GM model.just follow GM's instructions, thats it just that simple, I e-mailed both tracfone and LG looking for a bluetooth phone that would pair with GM's bluetooh, both were no help, so LG and tracfone your LG-420g phone is the answer, and its only 19.99 with double time

Hey JEM2114:

Thanks a zillion for the tip on the 0000 passkey! I had already paired my Samsung phone with the NAV in the 2007 Toyota Sienna but spent two hours yesterday trying to pair the TracFone. Once I changed the passkey on the NAV from 1111 to 0000 I was able to pair the phone with the NAV in less than a minute!

As to TracFone CSRs giving out bad info, perhaps they're not yet fully familiar with the functionality of the phone. In any case, I can absolutely confirm that I got the phone and the NAV to work together.

Thanks again!

i have had this phone for less than 2 weeks and ive spent more time talking with tech support than with my girlfriend. and now its the bluetooth. i cant get it to even see my bluetooth ready computer never mind my 08 accord. i set my computer to allow discovery. but the w376g doesn't even notice that there is anything there but the pc sees the phone.any help would delay me taking this P.O.S to the range and using it for target practice.

I'm here answering an earlier question, that I never saw answered. The question stated, "Does your phone need to be activated in order to pair headsets?"

The answer is no, as soon as I received my w376g, I went and transferred my old number and minutes over. And then paired my headset and waited. And couldn't wait until my first call, lol. Bluetooth is amazing, with my particular headset I can auto-redial the last number with one button press.