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Incoming calls go straight to voicemail

I've been having problems receiving calls on my iPhone 3G. Nine out of 10 times, incoming calls go to voicemail even though the phone is on. It happens whether it is active or in sleep mode. Making outgoing calls is no problem. I get a very strong signal where I test it - at full bar.

I did some googling around and noticed that a lot of people had the same problem with the 1st-gen iPhones with EDGE, but 3G should be able to handle data and phone simultaneously. Besides, I have Wi-Fi enabled here so that should not even be an issue.

Has anyone had the same problem? This is very annoying. 😟

Thanks,
Dai

MacBook (Black 2.16 GHz Core 2 Duo), Mac OS X (10.4.11), iPhone 3G (16GB white)

Posted on Jul 20, 2008 8:06 PM

Reply
50 replies

Jul 20, 2008 8:20 PM in response to daihard

daihard wrote:
I've been having problems receiving calls on my iPhone 3G. Nine out of 10 times, incoming calls go to voicemail even though the phone is on.

Has anyone had the same problem? This is very annoying. 😟

Thanks,
Dai


That's supposed to be a joy only us edge original iPers usually get to enjoy.
My question to you is; Are you sure you are on 3G network and it's not resorting to Edge b/c the 3G is weak?

If on Edge it will go to VM when actively using the browser. But it shouldn't when you've got it sleeping as you posted (unless it's running in the background.) Hold down the Home button for a good 10 seconds to make sure all background processes quit.

If you are indeed on 3G it should not be going to VM under any circumstance unless you got it in Airplane mode.

Jul 21, 2008 12:23 PM in response to daihard

It may just be an AT&T thing. I get a lot of calls that go straight to voicemail, but I doubt that it's 9 out of 10. It may have just been a bad day for AT&T.

I've had this same issue with my old Sony Erikkson, Blackberry Curve, 2G iPhone, and the original phone I got with the plan. It's easy to have no dropped calls when half the calls never go through in the first place.

Aug 1, 2008 10:41 AM in response to clinty41

I completly agree...i have never had this problme before upgrading to 2.0 All day i surf the net, look at youtube..all kinds of things and i still received phone calls while doing so...now everytime i look up, i have a voicemail, from a person i wasnt even aware had called. It really concerns me because what if they choose not to leave a voicemail? I wont know who called....very frustrating....please release a fix for this.

Aug 1, 2008 2:18 PM in response to CutiePie02

The key word is actively - when actively accessing the internet when connected via EDGE - downloading a website, downloading or sending email, or when downloading a youtube video.

This is an EDGE limitation - when actively accessing the internet via EDGE when a call is received, the call will go straight to voicemail. You can't access the internet via EDGE during a call either.

If it never happened to you before with a first generation iPhone, you were lucky or calls were received immediately after or before actively accessing the internet via EDGE. Had you received a call when doing so, it would have gone straight to voicemail.

Aug 7, 2008 11:20 PM in response to daihard

I am having this problem on Rogers Wireless in Canada.

It seems it's limited to calls coming from competitive networks. E.g. Telus or SaskTel.

I am in 5 bar reception on 3G - and out of nowhere I get a text message notifying me of a new voicemail and my VVM lights up.

I've talked to Rogers about this multiple times, but all they've been doing is a resend to switch. They assure me that I'm "using a stale signal. Our test calls are going through". I do get some calls - but calls specifically from competetive networks are going directly to voice mail.

3G iPhone in Canada.
Serial Range 88827Y0 **
Model: MB632C
Modem firmware 01.48.02

Running 2.0.1 (did not resolve issue)

Aug 8, 2008 11:35 AM in response to jlindenbaum

I'm having this too!! (Canada, Rogers)
I just had a rogers network technician COME TO MY HOUSE to check my phone. He called Rogers main office in Ontario and they did some tracing and they figured out that everything is fine. Incoming call comes in, network pages my phone, my phone does not ring. He put my SIM in his Samsung 3G phone and it works fine. He decided it was in fact a phone hardware issue. Rogers FLAT OUT REFUSES to give me a new phone! ***?

Aug 8, 2008 9:27 PM in response to daihard

I was listening to my music using the standard iPhone ear buds and an incoming call rang and went to voice mail immediately. I pressed the clicker on the microphone on the cord but it made no difference and I could not answer my call.

I opened the phone function, pressed the contact call button, the party answered and I finished my communication. The person said the phone rang like six times before switching to voice mail. I swear I heard only two maybe three. Apparently the phone rang several times before the music was faded out. I began questioning whether I knew how to use the iPhone but the manual says to click once to answer a call.

Aug 13, 2008 8:07 AM in response to barkingmad

I have the same problem. I have a first gen iPhone, but I'm not buying this thing about using Edge. I think it is a 2.0 problem. I used to get calls even when I was surfing the net (I remember because sometimes it was annoying that the call overrode the internet connection). Now there are many times when calls go straight to voicemail even though I am not using the phone for anything.

I did some tests by calling from a landline and my guess is the iPhone loses sight of the network but doesn't realise it. After I made a call (and refreshed the connection?) I was able to receive calls again.

With this and the unresponsive/slow interface I am really not happy with 2.0

Incoming calls go straight to voicemail

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