Cell Phone (science?) help please...

[Brewbirds]

We have been having a problem with our cell phone service and since the customer support folks are in India have not gotten answers from the provider; and nor have others all over the country with the same issue.

Our incoming calls are not wringing and send the caller straight to voice-mail. Also they are not showing up as missed calls.

We and others with this problem have had calls show up in voice days after the call was placed.

This is happening to both phones and while we use a cheap, pay per minute plan, others with 4G and contracts etc. are having the same experience.

Call support the first time and they sent us to the brick and mortar for new SIM cards and an update which didn't help. Followed with online/chat support that jumped us through hoops and "refreshed the network" also no help.

Others with this issue, who are freaking out because it is their business lifeline, have gotten same script ala "we have escalated your case to engineering" which means they got blown off.

We have a Realtor trying reach us to schedule showings and she can't get through to us. We can't just go to a new service because we have mucho $$$ in minutes on the phones.

Anybody know what might be happening/have the same problem/have suggestions???

Oh and we a re with T-Mobile but I don't know if it is just them with the problem.

and

[Kealia]

It's not just T-Mobile. I have friends on Verizon who had voicemails delivered to them 4 days late about 2 weeks ago.

I think it happened to me as well (I am on T-Mobile), but I blew it off since I get more texts/IMs than I do actual voicecalls.
So sorry, no real help here but you are not alone I can tell you that.

[RickBeer]

Texts usually go through better than calls...

[LouieMacGoo]

Unfortunately I can't help you with you cell phone service but I can suggest a alternate phone line that your real estate agent and other can use until you phone issues are resolved. This option is free and as long as you have a computer you should be able to make and receive call on the new number. Check out Google Voice. You will need to have a gmail account to use it but it's quick and easy to set up.

Good Luck!

[Brewbirds]

Texts usually go through better than calls...

I didn't notice if the customers who utilize text had specifically complained so I may go back and check; it seemed most of us were losing actual phone calls though.

I won't start the rant about the FCC etc. allowing us to keep paying these people money for a vital service and then callously snubbing us with a denial of service once they have our money.

...OH I think I just started the rant.

Seriously though my Realtor is kind of upset because we have to be home to here from BUT we are supposed to be AWAY during a showing.

@Kealia if you notice the issue now via calls I'd be interested to see what kind of feed back you get from folks who are trying to call you...just 'cause I don't know what to do at this point and you are also T-Mobile.

[RickBeer]

GoogleVoice is a viable option, but...

Yes, you can set it up to get calls on your computer, or you can forward the calls to your cell (but if the issue is with your cell service that may not help). Of course the computer needs to be on and with you and you need an internet connection.

But... GV is a free service. There is NO customer service. Zippo.

I cancelled my landline nearly 3 years ago and moved my home number to GV, then got an OBi110 to hook the home phones to GV via the internet. Worked pretty good most of the time. Then had to change the way it worked because OBi was exploiting an opportunity that GV noticed, and it worked ok for 6 months, but the past 2 have been rocky.

The good feature is that GV transcribes voicemail to email and you get a near immediate email that you missed a call. The transcription is poor, BUT you note you got a call and can play the voicemail from the email.

[mashani]

I have VOIP phone service in my house and I just got 4 "missed" voice messages this morning after the cable company did a maintenance update last night.

This makes me wonder if they are all using some shared tech that just got a patch that's being rolled out.

[DaYooper]

Thats happened to me from time to time so just consider it a glitch in their system. But, never on a regular basis. In fact, it happened the other day in sort of the same situation as was waiting on the mortgage company for approvals and took 24 hours to show up.

Perhaps you can go out and get a cheap, disposable phone with minimal minutes on it just for the realtor. Or, could you ask the realtor to text you instead assuming that is working more reliably? Or perhaps set up a free email account just for this, have the realtor text that, and set your email program to "BONG" when a new message comes in?

[Brewbirds]

This makes me wonder if they are all using some shared tech that just got a patch that's being rolled out.

Yeah that is what I was thinking as well...The We Have To Route All Your Calls Through The NSA but they screwed up the software patch. You'll get all your calls whenever we get around to releasing them back to you...Oh and if you don't like it you can complain to the Government.

[braukasper]

look at the problems ET had calling home!!!

[M42]

I had this problem a lot when I had Verizon. Also had old voice mails that had been erased months earlier pop up as new ones. It's definitely a problem with the carrier's software. Since it's a carrier issue the only thing you can do is switch carriers or buy a burner phone that works on a different network and have your regular number forwarded to it. Somebody suggested Google Voice and that may work for you. I tried it and found that there was a horrible echo I couldn't get rid of plus a delay.

[Brewbirds]

I had this problem a lot when I had Verizon. Also had old voice mails that had been erased months earlier pop up as new ones. It's definitely a problem with the carrier's software. Since it's a carrier issue the only thing you can do is switch carriers or buy a burner phone that works on a different network and have your regular number forwarded to it. Somebody suggested Google Voice and that may work for you. I tried it and found that there was a horrible echo I couldn't get rid of plus a delay.

Interesting that this is across more than one carrier and, as you state, appears to be a software issue.

All joking in my earlier post aside I do wonder how the same symptoms would show up unless they are all using one specific software in which case why would they not insist the glitch get fixed.

As many people who rely on phones for work you'd thinking they would be losing enough customers to want to do something about it.

Oh and the phones we have ARE the burner type; our problem is we have bukoo dollars worth of minutes loaded onto them.

[Kealia]

Hmmm, burner cell phones, selling the house, homebrews.........just what the heck is going on over there?

[Brewbirds]

Hmmm, burner cell phones, selling the house, homebrews.........just what the heck is going on over there?

I live with a defunct economist. He's so smart he wants to turn his PC into the home phone AGAIN (remember Magic Jack or Vonage)???

"He ain't heavy...music music...he's my brother"

[duff]

Out of curiosity does it just not ring when you are at home or does it not ring anywhere?