Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

iPhone will not ring, calls go direct to voicemail

Since the iPhone 2.1 upgrade, half of the calls to my iPhone do not cause the phone to ring at all. Instead, I get a notification later that there is a voicemail (if a voicemail was left).

The ringer is switched on and the phone does ring sometimes... but only sometimes.

I am sitting here at my desk at work and have full strength on AT&T, so I'm not even moving around, yet the phone doesn't ring half the time.

Rebooting didn't help.

I'm also having intermittent problems where SMS messages are taking hours to arrive at my phone, although this problem seems to have gotten better in the past few days.

I'm wondering if this is some kind of AT&T problem...

iPhone, Other OS

Posted on Sep 26, 2008 9:33 AM

Reply
Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Sep 26, 2008 11:58 AM

I'm having the same problem. This didn't happen before the 2.1 update, so it seems like a bug.
89 replies

Sep 26, 2008 12:04 PM in response to Archie Cobbs

I just did a couple of tests with my wife's iPhone and mine together during lunch today. Both phones are "original" iPhones running version 2.1, and both had plenty of AT&T signal strength.

Test 1: A calls B -> one ring, then straight to voicemail.

Test 2: A calls B -> no rings, then straight to voicemail.

Test 3: B calls A -> no rings, then I end up in some random voicemail menu where it starts telling me "The blahblah delete feature has been added to your voicemail. BlahBlah...".

At this point I was getting more and more incredulous and agitated and my wife gently reminded me that we were supposed to be enjoying our lunch together instead of debugging AT&T's stupid phone network.

I will continue further testing later...

Sep 26, 2008 12:26 PM in response to Archie Cobbs

Myself and the other gentleman at work here are both using 2.1 on original iphones as well. Mine is the 4gig model and his is the 8gig.

Incoming Calls - Directly to voicemail
Outgoing Calls - Silent (never actually says connected on the screen)

This kinda goofed me up today as I was waing on a call from my doctor and he could only leave me a voice message (which I got hours later). Both myself and the other guy here are losing a lot of productivity time from it as well.

Sep 26, 2008 2:33 PM in response to Archie Cobbs

I would have to say I believe it would have something to do with AT&T. However, there are a few troubleshooting tips to try for the iPhone first. Try to power off/on the phone, then try a reset, hold Home and power off/on button until you see the Apple logo and release. Before you try a restore, you might want to take out the SIM card and re-seat it. You can also call AT&T CS and have them check your account. Something could have happened there (a bug) and they can correct it at their end. If you are close to an AT&T Corporate store that handles the iPhone, you may want to go in and get a new SIM. This can cause problems and I have seen replacing it work. Hope this helps you.

Sep 29, 2008 9:43 AM in response to itsmejennie

On my iPhone, Bluetooth is not enabled and hasn't been for a long time.

Since last post I've had the following additional problems:

- I was unable to send an SMS message. I tried four times (three times yesterday, once today) and it never went through.
- My wife sent me an SMS message. I received it THREE times. She only sent it once.
- My iPhone has reported "visual voicemail is unavailable". Then it came back.

All of these problems occurred in locations (home or work) where I have never previously had problems until this past week or two.

Sep 29, 2008 9:50 AM in response to Archie Cobbs

Been having this same problem for a couple weeks now. I'm not sure when it starts as usually I have no idea something is wrong. I'll get an email from someone saying "I just tried calling you... and went to voicemail", or I'll wake up in the morning and see that I missed 3 phone calls from the night before. Service seems to magically start working as mysteriously as it stopped. I just tried restarting my iPhone, it started working fine. Then about 10min later it stopped working. A reboot of the phone seems to work.. temporarily. I would think this has something to do with the 2.1 update. I don't believe I've ever had a problem like this before. I've had my iPhone for a year now.

Sep 29, 2008 9:57 AM in response to Archie Cobbs

I would say that if you have tried the normal troubleshooting steps for the phone and a restore, which is the last step, has not corrected things, I would make an appoitment at the Genius Bar to have them check the phone. If the phone gets replaced and still exhibits this problem, then I would contact AT&T about getting a new SIM card. The SIM controls your connection to the provider's network, but a hardware/software problem with the phone could explain a disconnect between the phone and the provider. If a restore from backup doesn't work, remember to try a restore as a new phone. If that does't work, that is the last step before going to Apple. You can make an appointment at the local Apple store on line at http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar

Hope that helps.

Oct 29, 2008 7:47 AM in response to Archie Cobbs

I have been having this issue with my wife iPhone on our family plan. I called AT&T and they said everything is fine on their side. 50% of the time when I call her or anyone else call her the call go to voice mail after 2 rings from the caller side (the iPhone actually never rings). On the other hand, when I call her other AT&T number, which is always forwarded to her iPhone number, the iPhone rings normally without issues. I even tried using the iPhone SIM with another AT&T and GSM phones and got exactly the same result.
It seems there is something wrong with AT&T SIM card or service not the iPhone itself. It cannot be coverage since I tried the above at the same time and location again and again and my iPhone is working without problems. It must be something with their setting since there were problems with voice mail when we first got the iPhone. If anyone got their iPhone to work correctly after replacing the SIM card let me know. I don't want to drive an hour to AT&T store without confirmation first.

Nov 3, 2008 11:28 AM in response to Archie Cobbs

I started getting no rings with incoming calls today. Checked to be sure I had not silenced the phone. Noticed under settings - sounds that my ring was not as loud as normal. Read that turning off & resetting the iPhone might help. I did the following

Turning iPhone on and off. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button on top of iPhone for a few seconds until a red slider appears, and then slide the slider. Then press and hold the
Sleep/Wake button until the Apple logo appears.

Resetting iPhone. Press and hold the Sleep/Wake button and the Home button at the same time for at least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.

This fixed my iPhone. The ring tone is now at its normal volume, also.

iPhone will not ring, calls go direct to voicemail

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.