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Hands free phone question

11K views 16 replies 13 participants last post by  The_Judge 
#1 ·
I have a 2013 CTS with blue tooth. My phone has blue tooth but blue tooth will only work if I say 'Handsfree' and then 'call'. It doesn't recognize my phone directory, but it will dial if I give say the phone number. Time to upgrade my phone? My phone is about 3 or 4 years old. US Cellular is my servie and its an LG brand. Not a smart phone, btw. Thank you.
 
#4 ·
Congratulations on the new car. The system in the current CTS is an older system, licensed from Microsoft. Its voice commands are more limited than the new CUE (Cadillac User Experience) system and it doesn't understand natural language -- you're required to say exactly the things it can understand. The third-generation CTS will have CUE when it comes out later this year, just like the ATS, XTS, and SRX do now.

What you're describing is exactly how your car works. That being said, the system does work great for dialing the phone, answering incoming calls, etc. You just have to manually add contacts to your address book and record "name tags" for each one (refer to the manual -- it's really pretty simple). Also, be sure to check out the downloadable voice command "cheat sheet" someone shared on here previously. It's pretty handy.

FYI, if you do opt to get a new phone and want to do more sophisticated things via voice commands, Apple's Siri system on iPhones does work through the Bluetooth system in our cars. You just have to push and hold the home button on the actual phone to access it (rather than using the steering wheel controls).
 
#5 ·
FYI, if you do opt to get a new phone and want to do more sophisticated things via voice commands, Apple's Siri system on iPhones does work through the Bluetooth system in our cars. You just have to push and hold the home button on the actual phone to access it (rather than using the steering wheel controls).
Also, as mentioned in the cheat sheet, you can say "bluetooth" followed by "voice" to access Siri. Slightly slow process, but that way you can leave the phone in your pocket etc. and still use Siri.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I use a 10 year old Sony Erickson phone with no problems. Your car has a memory for numbers and does not use or transfer the list in your phone, but storing is easy and makes the system simple to use.

If you want to call Mr NAME at (123) 456-7890,
instead of saying:CALL 1234567890
say: STORE 1234567890
The car will ask for a name to go with the number. Give it a NAME to go with the number (e.g. home, office, dick, jane).

From then on, after you press the phone button on the steering wheel, you can simply say: Call NAME
It will respond: Calling NAME using TWINNED PHONE
and it will connect you to (123) 456-7890

The car can store up to 30 NAMEs and numbers.
All of the above assumes that you have already twinned your cell phone to the car, and your phone is turned on and in the car.

PS: Saying "hands free" is optional, and I never say it, but then I do not have an Onstar phone number for the car. if you have one, you may have to say it in order to differentiate between phones. You can TWIN up to 5 phones. I named mine Sony. My wife's twinned phone is named iPhone.
 
#8 ·
My last two cars had bluetooth and actually the CTS has worked better than either. I don't have to say handsfree and I do like hauler and have names stored and is pretty easy. The only issue I have occasionally is that when someone calls, the phone will ring through the system and when I answer, only the phone is working. In other words, the stereo cuts out, the phone symbol is on the radio, but the speakers don't work. I then have to physically pick up the phone. Very odd and annoying when it happens, but it doesn't happen a lot, and I'm on the phone quite a bit.
 
#9 ·
angelbones said:
My last two cars had bluetooth and actually the CTS has worked better than either. I don't have to say handsfree and I do like hauler and have names stored and is pretty easy. The only issue I have occasionally is that when someone calls, the phone will ring through the system and when I answer, only the phone is working. In other words, the stereo cuts out, the phone symbol is on the radio, but the speakers don't work. I then have to physically pick up the phone. Very odd and annoying when it happens, but it doesn't happen a lot, and I'm on the phone quite a bit.
That has happened to me too, although very rarely.

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MaxBuck said:
The Bluetooth system in the CTS is less user-friendly than any other I've tried.

Honestly, if I'd known it worked as it does I might not have purchased the car. I use auto Bluetooth a lot, and this flavor is very tedious.
My Acura (previous car) actually had two buttons. One for Handsfree calling and another for the other voice commands (NAV and HVAC). Since the Caddy only has one button, I could see it needing the "Handsfree" command so that it knows you want to make phone calls.
 
#10 ·
Hello Charming Kitten,

Welcome to the forum! I hope you are enjoying your 13' CTS so far. I see other forum members have engaged with your post and have offered insight to your Bluetooth concerns. If you still have additional questions, don't hesitate to contact us. We can be reached via private message or by Email at socialmedia@gm.com.

Sincerely,

Laura M.
Cadillac Customer Care
 
#11 ·
I have a Galaxy S3. I "double click" on the hard button at the bottom of the phone to activate the phones voice recognition and after a prompt I just say call (anyone in my phones contact list) and it does. Works great. It even mutes the radio and/or lowers the A/C blower just like the cars phone. All of the hard buttons in the steering work as well. I can even send text messages like this as well.
 
#13 ·
C "T" ess said:
When you select a call to dial through the button on the steering wheel, the system will announce the paired phones. To make a call through On* you have to push the blue telephone icon on our rearview mirror. That way the call goes directly through On* and not your cell phone.
I have found that if a phone is not present when you initiate the call it will default to On*.
 
#14 ·
The first time I hit the phone button accidentally on the steering wheel while going 75mph on the interstate, the on star announcement made me jump and the car touched the road shoulder. Those buttons, and the ones on remotes, need to be recessed so they are harder to accidentally press. I laugh every time I go in the garage after stooping to weed the garden, and I find the wagon hatch open because the remote in my pocket is so easily tripped. Other times I have set off the car alarm reaching down to start the lawn mower.:histeric:
 
#15 ·
What sort of phone do you have? On my blackberry, I simply say "hands free," then "voice." After that, it accesses the phone's directory and starts asking me annoying questions like "what would you like to do?" to which the answer is "call Joe Shmoe." After a long question and answer session with the phone about which Joe Schmoe I'd like to call, at which number, and whether I'd like to call Mr. Schmoe now (as opposed to later?), I get through to Joe. But most of that is the blackberry, and I assume that more advanced phones are less annoying. The trick to get to the phone's directory, though, seems to be that you say "voice" at the critical time...
.
 
#16 ·
Now with a little more experience, I am liking the Cadillac approach more. Phone numbers don't transfer to the car, but my phone's voice recognition is good enough that I can do a name-ID by "handsfree">"bluetooth">"voice." My phone's voice recognition is better than any car I've tried this in. Only problem is if the phone has more than one option and it wants me to pick one; then the handsfree concept seems to go out the window.
 
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