3G iPhone - Calls going straight to answer phone

[pittster]

anybody else have this problem. in particular in the UK with O2?

I live in an area with intermittent 3G coverage so this may well be the problem. My phone seems to work fine, then sometimes it decides to just not accept incoming calls and directs them straight to answerphone.

I've switched answerphone on/off using the 1750/1760 dialling.
I've even restored twice, but it still seems to intermittently occur.

I've had the iPhone switched on sat on the desk with it showing a few bars of signal, and then phoned it using my landline, and it goes straight to answerphone.

am I alone with this problem

any ideas??

[pittster]

anyone??
or am I alone with this problem?

[sundogcreative]

Hi I have the same problem with my business iphone that I've had for a few weeks. I have had the sim changed and even had a new iphone sent but still the same problem. I work in a building with an O2 mast on the roof! One guy couldn't get through but then could when I had new iphone but now other people can't get through. Have you had any luck? O2 say they don't know what is wrong.

[jeffwingo]

I am no engineer, but having worked in the cell tower industry and having experienced the exact problem I have tried to understand the path a call must take and why it would do this. The voice mailbox on a cell phone does not reside on the phone itself. We forget that because we think it is like our answering machine at home. That is why you still get voicemail when you switch the phone off.
With that said, one explanation for receiving a voicemail without getting the call would be either poor signal quality which is not good enough to receive the phone call, but good enough to receive the voicemail prompt.
A second would be that the switch at the tower doesn't "see" your phone for some odd reason and thinks your phone is not available.
A third would be that at that particular moment the tower you are on is handling all the calls it can. There is a limit. The limit may be different for 3G connections vs other connections which would explain why it seems to happen to iphones more than someone else's phone.
Another thing that makes it more complex is that path that the call must go down to get from one phone to you particular tower. There is al sorts of routing and handoffs that must take place. It is quite amazing that we get any calls at all.

[sundogcreative]

Hi thanks, it is weird though I've worked at this address and had a phone for years on other networks but no problems like this. it must be a network problem though with O2 - the UK carrier.

if anyone else has any other ideas....

[sundogcreative]

Also the strange thing was that it was particular numbers that couldn't get thorugh - just two or 3 people who just couldn't connect! Is that their problem or mine? Since the phone was changed those people can get through but now others can't !

[stealthyjax]

I've always been a windows mobile pc xda/pda owner (due to working in a PC industry) and have had this same problem for some time - o2 blamed the pda blocking calls whilst busy doing other things such as checking emails and playing games at the same time.
My solution is to divert any unanswerable calls to my skypein number that distributes calls back to my home phone and pda. Hence, I frequently get calls come through via skype that failed at their first attempt to reach my pda despite me holding the pda in my hand and knowing it had signal all the time.

My partner has a new iphone 3G and in the past couple of days I have gone to answerhone several times when he has signal and is expecting a call... eventually it gets through after 2 or 3 attempts. I would not have thought the iphone would be as bad as my pda on call handling and am shocked that a beloved apple product does the same thing ...or perhaps its just o2????