Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Carrier Verizon mystery: why do so many calls go direct to voicemail?

J

jkauff

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 4, 2012
99
2
I've confirmed with other Verizon users that this is a common problem. I'll have the phone right next to me, but often an incoming call won't ring at all and takes the caller directly to voicemail.

Anyone else had this problem, and more importantly, found a solution?
 
It can happen due to the phone not having service at the time of the call. It has happened a few times on my AT&T phone when I visit a friend who has a basement with almost no service.
 
I recall my wife mentioning that if you don't include the 1 along with the area code and phone number, it will go straight to voice mail. tbh, I never tried this, but that could be a plausible explanation.
 
The poor reception idea is a definite possibility. My office is in the basement, although the phone is sitting six feet away from floor-to-ceiling windows.

I'm on iOS7, so I've got circles instead of bars, and I typically have three circles at my desk. I'll try moving the phone closer to the windows to see if that helps.
 
I7guy said:
This sometimes happens to me when I'm in an area of poor reception; ie zero bars. Other than that the handset rings.
Click to expand...

I concur. My apartment has horrible reception and once in a while calls go straight to voicemail. It's the only place it happens.
 
jkauff said:
The poor reception idea is a definite possibility. My office is in the basement, although the phone is sitting six feet away from floor-to-ceiling windows.

I'm on iOS7, so I've got circles instead of bars, and I typically have three circles at my desk. I'll try moving the phone closer to the windows to see if that helps.
Click to expand...

The network in your area is congested and probably over capacity.

In an over-capacity area, even phones with good signal won't ring, and the calls will go to voicemail. It could be that a lot of people still make voice calls in your area, too many to be supported by the backhaul, or two many to be supported by the available spectrum. OR, In your area, Verizon slashed voice capacity to the bone in favor of data, and they cut back too far.

The problem MIGHT get helped out when VoLTE gets turned on, assuming current iPhones can support it.
 
jkauff said:
The poor reception idea is a definite possibility. My office is in the basement, although the phone is sitting six feet away from floor-to-ceiling windows.

I'm on iOS7, so I've got circles instead of bars, and I typically have three circles at my desk. I'll try moving the phone closer to the windows to see if that helps.
Click to expand...

The circles or bars still might be misleading as the reception might be such the phone can't lock onto the signal. Especially given you are in the basement even though there are windows. The key would be if you drop calls outside.
 
I've got a VZW dumb phone and two iPhone 5 handsets - a few weeks ago, one iP5 and the dumb phone were experiencing calls going straight to voicemail, I was on the road from Seattle to Skamokawa to Portland. The same day, a friend with a VZW Galaxy S3 and my VZW LTE iPad 3 in the Puget Sound area had data and voice outages, and another friend in Skamokawa had her dumb phones go out. All within a few hours of one another. :mad:

Three suggestions that worked for all of us:
1. For the dumb phones, *228 + Send, Option 2.
2. For the iPhone 5 as a temporary fix, *73 to disable call forwarding.
3. For iP5, S3, and iPad 3, the Reset Network Settings option worked perfectly.

My second iP5 (work phone) just crapped out about 2 months ago one day like this, and a new SIM did the trick. Cheers.
 
The last 3 times I've seen this issue, the solution was the same: end user had enabled the Do Not Disturb feature.

Just swipe up to get to the Control Center, then click on the Moon icon to toggle it off.
 
campyguy said:
Three suggestions that worked for all of us:
1. For the dumb phones, *228 + Send, Option 2.
2. For the iPhone 5 as a temporary fix, *73 to disable call forwarding.
3. For iP5, S3, and iPad 3, the Reset Network Settings option worked perfectly.

My second iP5 (work phone) just crapped out about 2 months ago one day like this, and a new SIM did the trick. Cheers.
Click to expand...

the three options, plus the new SIM, are are combination of placebo, snake oil, and a *slight* bit of actions that sometimes improve things, but not the way you think.

Of course it doesn't HURT to do any of these things, so if you really want to do them, go right ahead. But at best, they're having about the same effect as you putting the phone in Airplane mode for a few seconds and then turning Airplane mode off.

What do all these things have in common? All of these actions - 1,2,3, getting a new SIM, and airplane mode on/off - force your device to re-register with the network, and puts you back on the top of the pile in the Home Location Register.
 
jkauff said:
I've confirmed with other Verizon users that this is a common problem. I'll have the phone right next to me, but often an incoming call won't ring at all and takes the caller directly to voicemail.

Anyone else had this problem, and more importantly, found a solution?
Click to expand...

I have had this issue at home, and bad too. I thought it was the phone for the longest time since no one else was having issue, but it later turned out to be a bad LTE cell site. Eventually, VZW put a newer one closer to my house (with 80Mbps down and 30Mbps Up speeds on LTE :D ) and the issue fixed its self.

What I did was call Verizon and have them set up a support ticket to check the local cell sites, although nothing was ever done.

The best solution would be to get the Network Extender. There have been mixed reports of people being able to get one for free, but the best VZW could do for me was $80 with my discount, plus it was refurbished. I said it was unacceptable. I already pay my bill, why should I have to pay to fix their issues, I thought thats what I was paying for on a monthly basis.

Their only other offer was to let all four line go without any ETFs. Paying customer, always on time, a customer for over 20 years and 4 smartphone lines active (all under contract at the time, remaining time varying from 11 months-22 months) and I could go scott-free. I'm still with them, however it has been noted on my account that I can leave at any time with no ETFs.

All that over $80. Damn Verizon. What's even worse is AT&T gives their M-Cells away if you have a problem at your house. Come to think of it, AT&T is putting a cell site directly behind my house. Maybe I should try them. Hmm...
 
Ascribing to the philosophy that not every square inch of terra-firma is covered by the cell waves for any carrier, my house was in a random area with spotty service. After Verizon added LTE it got better, however I decided to get a network extender at my own expense.

The n/e is an older n/e without 3g support, but it does the job. Call quality is good. I have been with Verizon many years and not been off contract now for 2 years all lines.
 
iamMacPerson said:
All that over $80. Damn Verizon. What's even worse is AT&T gives their M-Cells away if you have a problem at your house.
Click to expand...

Take my word for it they won't always do it. I was on the phone with them for an hour and a half, both the supervisor and rep totally agreed with me I should get one for free they had no way of being able to do it without being hung out to dry.
 
In addition to congestion I know Verizon has been moving thing around lately on the EVDO side of things for LTE. I don't know if 1x for the voice side of things is getting some tweaks also but i'd expect with the come of voLTE it should help congestion quite a bit.
 
All calls goes straight to voicemail on first call only.

pmwc11559 said:
The last 3 times I've seen this issue, the solution was the same: end user had enabled the Do Not Disturb feature.

Just swipe up to get to the Control Center, then click on the Moon icon to toggle it off.
Click to expand...

Well this fixed my issue. Thanks!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back