Incoming calls go straight to voicemail

I consistently have this issue; I'd say at least 50% of calls go directly to my voicemail. Some alert me immediately, while others don't show up for hours after the person's left the voicemail.

Some people say that it's because of EDGE, but I've had it happen when my phone's sleeping, not gathering data, not websurfing, nothing. So I don't buy that theory at all.

It seems to happen much more often when the incoming call is from someone using Vonage or another VoIP system, but I can't prove that's the case. Calls from celphones seem to always connect.

My clients are complaining. It's essential that I be able to consistently receive calls on my celphone.

I've been having this problem too, and I just tested it again at my work desk and it happened again, although I suspect that it's happening when the iPhone's in Sleep mode.

I carried my iPhone around all day a couple Saturdays ago, and I missed all 4 of the incoming calls.

I had my phone sitting in front of me on my coffee table at home, waiting on a call--phone didn't ring or buzz or wake up, but I did get a "missed call" notification each time.

Just had it sitting on my desk at work, in Sleep mode. Called it from my desk phone and nothing. But while my desk phone was ringing, I took the iPhone out of Sleep mode and it started buzzing/ringing! Called it again while it was awake and the iPhone started to ring.

So, what, am I supposed to not put the stupid thing to sleep?!? I thought it may have been a problem at home with my WiFi somehow trumping the cellular signal, but I guess not (thankfully!)

Still, I estimate that I have missed about 75% of my calls since getting this 3G iPhone two weeks ago!

[edit:] This has been happening with both the 2.0 (first two incidents) and 2.0.1 (today's, at my desk) firmware.

Message was edited by: Capt. Tightpants

the restore worked for me. My phone has been working fine in UK, Spain and Gibraltar during the last week.

I got off the phone with Rogers iPhone Tech Support earlier and one thing the rep said was required is that I use the SIM card that was included in the iPhone package--not the 4-5 year old one that I have been using up to this point. He said there was "newer tech" in the SIM cards that are part of the "Rogers Vision line of phones" and are necessary for the iPhone to work properly (possibly also because of the 3G network? Who knows...)

In any event, since my iPhone-packaged SIM card is at home, I'll try activating that one tonight and we'll see if it helps. I was again testing my phone this morning (calling it from desk landline and work BB) and it looks like it just doesn't ring when the phone screen is locked and has been sleeping for even 1 minute...

Hello


The problem is not with the iPhone or the SIM card.

AT&T (or your mobile operator) needs to setup the proper gateways and program the number into their systems. You will need to speak to "Technical Support" to get this fixed. Customer Service will not be able to help!

Please tell the Customer Service agent that you need Technical Support (also known as Teir 2 Support) and have them transfer you.

Capt. Tightpants

I can confirm this. Many moons ago I was a sales associate for Rogers and for your 3G to function properly you need a socalled 4000-series SIM card.

On your iPhone check Settings -> General -> About and read what it says uner ICCID (your SIM serial #) if you're running with an ICCID of 8930 2720 4000 xxx xxxx you're fine. Should that 4000 in your case be an older SIM revision like the 3040 series you need to get a 4000 SIM Series to have the device function to your full 3G expectations.

Again, the ICCID series #'s I'm quoting are for Rogers Only. Each carrier has different ICCID ranges being used for 3G devices.

Thanks for your help jlinderbaum. I went through the steps of activating my new SIM card last night with Rogers, and I've just confirmed from your info that it's a 4000-series SIM.

Unfortunately, it hasn't solved the problem--if the phone screen is locked for more than 1 minute, calls don't go through, but when I wake the phone, there are all the "missed call" notifcations.

So I did a full restore of the phone--still have the problem. Tried to turn the auto-lock to "Never" (and stick with locking the screen manually via the sleep/wake button)--still have the problem. (I was also rebooting the phone after every attempt at solving this, 'cause, you know, that -always- has to be done, right? :P BTW, I have an IT background so I'm not a total moron here 🙂

This morning, I called Rogers back, and had the unpleasant experience of speaking to a less-than-helpful iPhone Tech rep. She actually tried to tell me--quite adamantly--that pressing the screen lock (sleep/wake) button (upper right top of the iPhone) once would render my iPhone incapable of recieving phone calls ("That's the way it's made, Sir..."). I told her that was ridiculous--turning off the screen is necessary to prevent accidental touching of the screen while carrying the phone; it doesn't turn off the freaking cellular antenna! She couldn't answer my question, "So what am I supposed to do if I'm carrying the phone in my pocket--not take calls?!?"

I finally got her to talk to someone who knew what they were talking about...and after a few more minutes on hold, she came back and told me I had to do a Restore. Told her I did that last night, multiple times, and she finally said that she'd need to get a "team manager" to authorize a hardware swap...but that I'd have to call back in "three hours" because the only manager (singular) around (at 9am) is "doing interviews". [Insert exasperated reference to celestial being here]

Stay tuned folks!

Same problem here, proving Apple's international status. I am in France on Orange and it has been happening while the phone is in my pocket (it never rings, I just later see that somebody called) or while reading a book on the phone. People using different carriers might be part of the problem but I am not sure yet.

I agree, not all Rogers reps are the best out there. :P Even while I was working there I'd have to call in to authorize changes from the socalled Distribution Information Centre - and you'd have amazing reps that can answer everything and others that tell you bulls**t like "the customer can't return their hardware after the handset has been used for more than 30 minutes" - "Oh, ok - wait whaaa?".

I do really hope that they authorize a handset replacement. I know my 30 day grace period is officially over - if this problem persists I'll have to send the phone in to Apple.

I do strongly feel this is a software issue in the 2.0.x line. Don't know if you follow gizmodo, but if what is said there is true and the 3G Chips from infineon have a faulty radio protocol stack, which could be fixed by an Apple Software update. *grain of salt* http://gizmodo.com/5036104/iphone-3gs-sluggish-3g-could-be-caused-by-lousy-chips et

Let's hope 2.1 fixes loads of stuff and gives my phone the stability of 1.1.4 back. I'm currently sitting in Downtown Saskatoon in my office with 2/5 Bars of 3G. My colleague has 7/7 bars on her N95. Grr...

To conclude my off-topic:

I've talked to Rogers twice now about this problem and a socalled "resend to switch" fixes my problem for about a week, then it its occurence starts sporadically from specific telus users - so it seems. The Rogers rep I talked to last time is of course blaming telus' CDMA network and higher rate of dropped calls, but couldn't complain how the user could still leave a voice mail on my phone if the call was "dropped".

When Rogers calls you back, try asking for a resend to switch to make sure you're not getting a "stale" signal on your phone.

I wound up calling Rogers back 2.5 hourslater (:P) and got a very helpful tech support rep. He was forced to make me go through a complete restore, without backup (I had to agree with him that I'd have to do this anyway if the phone was going back). He asked if I had downloaded the Facebook app from the iTunes store, as he had heard that that may have been causing problems, but he agreed that it shouldn't have any impact on receiving calls 🙂

He was a good guy and after about 45 min, he was authorized to swap my phone for me (he told me that his supervisors were trying to push for more tests, but after listening to everything I had already tried, dealing with this moron girl previously, doing the restore while I was on the phone with him, and again testing that I wasn't receiving calls when the unit was asleep for more than a minute, he pushed back for the replacement for me. I guess Apple is none too happy to have anything of theirs returned as defective...)

So I'm awaiting delivery of my replacement. Hope it doesn't develop cracks in the casing or have those 3G reception issues I've been reading about...

[edit] BTW, I found this on a guy's blog entry last Friday when I was searching for info on this problem (take with a grain of salt, but still...):
01 Aug
Posted by ted danson as Uncategorized

...

On a lesser, uglier note, the iPhone does not do things that even a $10 pay-as-you-go cellphone does. It feels indifferent on the subject of battery life, opting not to have any sometimes. Incoming and outgoing text messages are like paper airplanes; some fly straight and true, while others fall to the ground and fail to achieve flight. Perhaps most dramatically, the iPhone shuns incoming calls, refusing to ring when people call it, but happily notifying you immediately after that, drat your luck, you just missed a call.

This last point in particular is alarming. When you sit beside your cellphone and call it on a landline, and nothing happens, it is a strong indication that something is defective.

I have narrowed it down to two possible candidates: either the iPhone is defective, or I am. Still working on it.

UPDATE: Spoke to a guy I know in “the biz” of phones. He says the phone is defective, and that it’s a known issue. Apparently, 5% of Canadian iPhone stock has this problem of not answering calls in sleep mode, and that a replacement is the only solution. [end edit]

Message was edited by: Capt. Tightpants

For what it's worth this just started happening to me. Only happens when "in 3G." If I turn 3G off, so on EDGE no problem at all. Funny everything was working fine until this week, and seems to happen in certain locations: at home, but not at work... I'm guessing it's a network problem. Not a great solution, but if you want to get your calls try disabling 3G see if that helps.

John

I have the same problem with Rogers in Ontario Canada, called tech support, very helpful actually, phone works great in EDGE, not 3g. So they decided to send me a new phone and new sim, got the new phone, same problem. Phoned back, case is now escalated to their highest level of support. The representative said that almost 200 people are having the same problem, as well as several hundred in US with AT and T. I guess ill just have to be patient. Going to assume its a network issue

Same here. Didn't recognize the problem till I was on the side of Wilshire Blvd. waiting for a tow truck. I held my iPhone in my hand, volume turned all the way up, so as not to miss a call. The driver arrived and fixed my flat. Later I woke up the phone to see two missed calls! The auto club was trying to confirm my location. Thank goodness the driver found me anyway.

I used to say the least interesting part of the iPhone was the phone, but that's when I assumed that the phone worked like all the others. I'm not cutting it slack anymore.

For what it's worth, it seems that the replacement solved the problem--I now receive all my calls, even when the phone is in sleep mode. And they sent the replacement in only 2 business days (looks like stock isn't an issue anymore).

I am, however, noticing worse 3G service, especially with emails. It's almost like the problem transfered over to that aspect of the phone. But since I only poll every 15 minutes it's not that big of a deal. I've read on AppleInsider that there are rumours that the 2.0.1(?) firmware didn't really address the 3G connectivity issues, and that 2.1 is supposed to make everything shiny this month. We'll see...

You did your replacement directly through Rogers, not Apple, right? Right now Rogers is not acknowledging my problem.

If someone could possibly give me the ticket ID of this master ticket they opened with other 200 users affected, this could help my case and get my phone replaced. This is getting out of hand.