iPhone Won't Ring, Delayed Voicemail Indication

I would call customer service and ask if the esn# was changed when they swapped the phone. The Apple geniuses never bothered to do that when I swapped my phone out.

I don't know why, but the eisn helps with Email and premature sending of calls to voice mail.

I have spent over 6 hours on the phone to both Apple and AT&T about this problem. I got my iPhone 3G 4 weeks ago and have been having this problem since day one. I have spent hours trying to resolve this. I have replaced the SIM card, updated the software to 2.1, reset the phone and this weekend completely replaced the phone. Changing the phone does not fix this; I still have the same problem.
It does not matter if the phone is in standby mode or unlocked, the caller will hear the phone ring 4 times and then be diverted to voicemail but the phone itself never rings. I got AT&T to change the time it takes the phone to divert to voicemail from 20 seconds to 30 seconds but this made no difference. It still goes to voicemail after 4 rings if the phone itself does not ring.
If the phone rings and I do not answer it, the phone will be diverted to voicemail after 7 rings instead of the original 5, so changing the delay to 30 seconds only works if the phone actually rings.
I am still dealing with Apple and AT&T on this. I will update if I have any news.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to let you know that I managed to fix this "no ring" problem (fingers crossed. . . . it has worked perfectly for about a month now), so hopefully I can help some of you, too. As I mentioned in my initial post, my 1G iPhone worked great from the time that I first got it until I updated to v2.0. As soon as I updated, this "no ring" and "no voicemail notification" problem began. I Restored the phone in iTunes a countless number of times, and installed the new updates as soon as they became available, hoping they would somehow fix the problem (but never did). I figured that "Restoring" the phone would do exactly that-- Restore it to it's original settings, thus curing any potential glitches even if I did the "Restore from the backup of ________" to get all my contacts, calendars, apps, photos, etc. back afterwards. After speaking with the Apple Store geniuses a few times and hearing the typical responses like "switch the SIM card", "replace the phone", "it's AT&T's problem, not a hardware/software problem", I decided to start completely from scratch by Restoring the phone, then choosing "Set up as a new iPhone" after the the phone restores and restarts in iTunes. It worked!!! Apparently whatever glitch I had that prevented my phone from ringing kept getting passed along with my "Backups" whenever I restored the phone. I wouldn't think that some software glitch or corrupt file would affect the phone's basic "phone" functions like "ring when someone calls you", but apparently it does. Has everyone tried Restoring your phone and setting it up as a NEW phone rather than restoring it from a backup? Seems like that might explain why some of you have even swapped phones and the problem remains (if you pass the data from your old phone to your new one). It's not fun, but get everything off of your phone that you don't want to lose (pictures that you haven't synced, etc), make sure all your contacts and calendar items are current in "Address Book" and "iCal" (or whatever you use), and then "Restore" and "Set up a new iPhone". You'll be starting completely from scratch, so you'll have to set all your preferences, settings, set up your email accounts, do an initial sync to get your contacts, etc from iCal and Address Book, but it's all worth it if you are able to leave this ugly glitch behind in your abandoned "iPhone Backup" file!!!! If it works, it's so satisfying to go find that file in your Library and drag that sucker to the trash. . . . kind of like finally getting at that nasty splinter that's been bothering you for days. Good luck!!!

I'm having the same problem and it's definitely the iPhone and not AT&T. Here's a simple experiment to figure it out. When you put your phone next to your computer's speaker, you can hear a buzz on your speaker caused by the interference from your phone's cellular signal as it intermittently receives information (checking for email, voicemail, etc). Also, when you receive a call, you can hear the speaker start buzzing before the phone rings.

So, I placed my phone near my speaker. The phone was in standby mode because I had pressed the little black button on the top of the phone. There are lulls in the buzzing when it's not checking for data. During one of those lulls, I dialed my iPhone from my desk phone and heard the speaker buzz, but my iPhone did not ring. The buzzing continued on my speaker until the call went to voicemail. As soon as I heard the voicemail prompt for me to leave a message, the speaker buzzing stopped indicating that the iPhone was no longer receiving any cellular signal. I turned my phone on and left it on and immediately dialed my number from my deskphone. The phone rang. So, I believe that there is a problem with the stand-by mode on the iPhone.

I further believe it is a software/phone problem and not an AT&T problem. When I first bought my phone, it never had this problem. It ran just fine. Somewhere along the line after the last set of "patches" from Apple, the ringer stopped working. Further, since Matt M. is able to get his phone to answer by starting a song and then pausing it, and allowing it to go into standby mode, further illustrates that this is a software problem.

So, AT&T is not at fault, and the phone itself works, there's something wrong with the most recent version of the iPhone software.

Try letting the phone go into standby mode on its own. Simply pressing the black button does not have the same effect. My phone will fail to ring if it's been idle for a little while. If I turn it on and then put it into standby mode, it will ring. If I let it sit, it will not ring.

So, when the genius at the mac store is checking it, it's going to work because it doesn't fail under their test conditions; they have to wait for the phone to go idle. Wait about 5 minutes or so.

Just tried the restore and set up as "new phone" and so far so good - thanks for putting an end to the genius bar & at&t visits/calls!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! Option #2 is what worked for me!!! Thank goodness! I started having this problem after the last update and couldn't figure out why! Don't know how this little button got switched, but am glad I found your answer to the problem! Thanks, again!

Hi Brett:

I have the exact same problems that you and others on this thread have encountered. I would like to take the route that you have suggested. However, I have a number of applications that I downloaded when they were free which are now are no longer free. Do you (or others) know if I reinstalled them after I have fully reset my iPhone, will I be charged for those applications.

Thanks,
Simon

I tried this and that is exactly what was wrong with my ringer. That tiny little button on the top left of my phone was in silent mode. Thanks so much, the last thing I wanted to do today was go to the iphone store and replace my phone.

That's what it was for me. My ringer is working fine now. Amazing that the iphone tech did not even mention this button. I was on the phone with him for almost an hour. Thanks

I have had this problem now for a few months and it's infuriating, particularly as I'm on-call quite frequently and need to be able to get calls. Just to clarify, I'm in the UK (on O2) so it is definitely not an AT&T problem. I've also had a new iPhone and a new SIM and the problem continues so I'm hoping that the suggestion of restoring as a new phone works. It certainly would make sense because it's about the only thing left that is a commmon factor. I have plenty of friends with iPhones and their's are fine. I'll post back in the next few days once I've tried to it let you know how it went.

Simon - I don't know for sure, but if you do a sync to your computer before you do the "restore" (which you'll want to do anyway since you'll be deleting everything from your iPhone), I believe that iTunes will hold on to any applications that you have bought so you can reinstall them after you do your "set up as new phone". Just in case, when you begin the "restore" process, you can tell it to backup your data and settings. The only difference is that after the "restore" is complete, you will tell it to "set up as new phone" rather than "restore from Backup of (your name/date)". If you are unable to install the apps that you had previously downloaded for free, you can always restore again, but this time tell it to restore from the backup that you made (this, however, will put you back where you are now, non-ringing issues and all, but at least you'll still have your apps until you figure out how to transfer them).

Byrdyb - Glad it has been working for you. . . . It's been over three months since I've had a "non-ring issue" . . . . (Sounds like an AA meeting).

Jon - Good luck! Hopefully this will fix your problem too. Just remember to get everything that you want to keep onto your computer first since you'll have to transfer it all manually after the restore!

This info may help your problem:

I had the same issue with my 3G iPhone, and chatted with an AT&T rep. She had me power cycle the phone off for a few minutes, and she sent updates to my phone (Presumably while it was on, but needing a power off to actually install.) Here's the rep's explanation:

REP: So you are able to make and receive calls?

ME: at this time it seems so. did you change anything?

REP: We resent updates to updates to the iphone (last one received was 07/11/2008)also I corrected the routing into the iphone. I will send you some helpful information.

ME: Our system sends out updates to our customers phones every 4 to 5 days. In order for the phones to receive those updates they need to be powered off for 2 minutes then powered back on every 3 to 4 days. These updates is what keeps our customers phones working at 100 per cent.

REP: The system showed the iphone received the updates on the phone. Please remember to power cycle the iphone or any other AT&T cell phones periodically to get the updates.

-DM

Hi all,

I've had the same problem with my phone. It rings if it's active/awake, but not if it's been on standby for over 5 minutes. At this point any incoming call just goes straight to voicemail - no lights, no vibrate, nothing. Also just received a text sent to me 4 hours ago. Just tried restoring factory settings and setting it up as a new phone and it still doesn't work properly. Will try getting them to change sim card next. Love the phone but it's been a huge hassle. One in four calls drops out despite good network coverage. The phone wouldn't register the 3G network or wi-fi for the first 3 days, then froze completely yesterday so have had to reboot it 3 times so far, plus this complete restore.

Any more ideas out there? This has been the most informative and helpful thread I've found so far.

Thanks!

Just wanted to confirm Martin5's post. My voicemail has been misfiring for a few days. Phoned ATT support and they just had me power off the phone and restart. As soon as the phone came back up I received a couple of voicemails that I was waiting on.

I generally only restart my phone when I see other odd behavior (typically related to email). Tech guy stated that (i)phones should be restarted at least once a week to pick up their regular network updates. I think this is bogus and shouldn't require a restart but it works so I guess I'll make it part of my routine.....