I always have my phone on divert to voicemail if I don't answer it.
A few months ago it started doing it after about 5 seconds which is not time enough for me to even pick up the phone.
In idle moments I've been searching for the setting to change it ring for longer before diverting to voicemail.
It drives me nuts and then I forget for a bit and then it drives me nuts again.
Desperation today and still couldn't find anyway to change the setting...... so I resorted to Googling the problem.
Doh!! You have to ask your service provider to change it.
That's really really stupid.
Hm. Go figure, eh?
..........yes........and what's even more stupid, my service provider has changed it to 30 seconds and I've reset the phone by forcing it off the network so it had to get re-registered........ and it still only rings for about 2 seconds.
<sigh: modern technology: >
For a list of the ways technology has failed to improve the human existance, please press 3...
I have a code that works with my provider (T-Mobile) but it only works up to a point. They obviously don't want the network usage while the phone is ringing. ::)
Mine randomly sends calls to voicemail *without* allowing any rings at all. I know what you're thinking: she can get around this by checking vm on a regular basis. Ha! That seems logical, but...
Phone will not reveal unto me the presence of any voice messages *until* a call rings through that I do not pick up and the caller opts to leave a vm.
I really *liked* my old phone! ::)
It's clear it's not *the phone*. It's the networks. It's very naughty. It's a degredation of service. We should rebel.
Quote from: Griffin NoName on March 16, 2008, 02:12:45 PM
..........yes........and what's even more stupid, my service provider has changed it to 30 seconds and I've reset the phone by forcing it off the network so it had to get re-registered........ and it still only rings for about 2 seconds.
<sigh: modern technology: >
It may be your phone's profile-- that is the "style" you've set for the default rings. You could try switching to a different profile in your phone.
Another "fix" is to remove the battery
without turning the phone off first-- this does a different "reset" than a simple power-off-on does.
It may also be that the rep who said he/she set it to 30 sec did not, in fact, do so-- the system may have rejected his/her attempts at setting that-- I saw that behavior by the system all the time. It sometimes took 2, 3 or even 5 tries before the longer ring-time would "take".
Obviously, I'm advocating a 2nd call to your provider (I know, I know-- it's a pain) to confirm the length-of-ring.
(and yes, I used to work as a CS for Cingular. 2 years on the 'phones.... )
Thanks B. I'll try all that. Yes, I did change ring style to soft from loud so that's the first thing to check.... (I have tried different rings but not setting the "style" back.... it would fit with timing of when this all started.....doh!)
I'll keep you posted !!!!!!
edit - incidentally the current service provider setting was 15 secs (ie not the 2-3 secs it actually rings so even if he didn't change it, that's a bit odd. the reset I did was to go off network no service, and then back re-registering... but if it's like IT taking out the battery makes perfect sense LOL!!!)
Blast..... ring style set back as it was.... tune set back as it was... everything set back as it was.... and battery out/no service reset done.... and still 3 second ringing only. And I know it is set to at least 15 seconds - well according to the guy last night.
More telpehone queing for help.
The facts thread needs someone to post the average number of hours spent in a lifetime queing for telephone support for modern equipement (all types).
.........and the average cost of phoning ones own mobile, to see if it wroks, per lifetime.
EDIT
=======================
Handy codes here::: http://www.mobileshop.org/usertech/gsmcodes.htm
And if not clear enough how to do that::: discussion here:: http://www.wirelessforums.org/uk-telecom-mobile/vodafone-answerphone-timeout-8393.html
But, I've sent the codes and so far no joy, even though it supposedly works.
I am still only getting 5 sec rings tho I sent code for 20 second ringing.
<sigh>
If only Douglas had been a bit more prescient and snarky, Griffin, he would have left the poor old telephone sanitation engineers alone and marooned the telephone misprogrammers instead!
BTW: I know *my* ringing issues are phone-related because it's the same carrier service as before, just a replacement unit.
Quote from: pieces o nine on March 17, 2008, 01:14:16 AM
If only Douglas had been a bit more prescient and snarky, Griffin, he would have left the poor old telephone sanitation engineers alone and marooned the telephone misprogrammers instead!
BTW: I know *my* ringing issues are phone-related because it's the same carrier service as before, just a replacement unit.
Indeed!!
But on the small print... never assume anything.... could be the same time you received the replacement unit the service provider did the deed.... nothing is merely coincidental in Griffin-Land :mrgreen:
I've just cancelled everything (busy, no answer, out of reach - they are all different) by sending codes - successfully - then reset everything by sending new codes including the desired magic 20 rings request including coming off the service and reregistering at every stage... and it still rings........... for 11 seconds !! an improvement on 5 I suppose but still not enough to get to the room nextdoor when I'm busy in the other room.
I think the service providers have got wise to all the advice on teh intraweb to send codes.....
They don't want their networks clogged while we dash from room to room or fumble in our massive handbags......... it's just a PLOT.
:update:
SUCCESS :hot-here: :clink:
Apparently........they changed me to a new voicemail. Those codes I gave the link are now out of date. I have no idea who this applies to as they are generic codes not provider specific.
It was probably the change to new voicemail that b****d it up in the first place.
By the way, the new voicemail means service provider can no longer change the ring length.
You HAVE to use the new codes.
Just punch in the code and press send (as if making a call).
===============================================================
Anyway, the new codes have an 11 in them; same as old codes but with this extra 11. Very stupid.
Code to change number of rings for the new voicemail is:
**61*V*11*N#
Substitute your voicemail number for V
Substitue number of seconds you want it to ring (in multiple of 5's) for N
Hence my code is:
**61*121*11*30# where 121 is voicemail and 30 is 30 seconds ringing before divert to voicemail. (max is provider specific)
IT WORKS !!!
Now I get the whole of the tune I put in as well, which sounds lovely too. ;)
============================================================
There are probably people stressing about this all over the Global World........... INSANITY
Yay! Youth and technology cannot overcome age and tenacity!
Cool beans!
I may have to check with my provider (now is AT&T.... again) and see if they have any codes, or do they still require a hit-or-miss call to a person who may or may not be successful... ::)
The codes make so much more sense.
Of course, Grandpa won't be able to use'em (his VCR is still blinking 12:00) but the default length ought to work for him anyway-- he's retired, and doesn't have anything better to do than answer the phone anyway... ::)
The codes are the same across all providers as I understand it. Like they seem to be "standard" "global" codes. Maybe not Japan.
Except now there's New Voicemail with extra bits in the codes........
I'm afraid age and tenacity does not include bothering to find out why New Voicemail has extra bits in the codes.
Bob,
We HATESES the AT&T.
I want Cingulair back.
AT&T said they DID NOT cut a single tower when they took over. Hmmm? Before, I could drive here to Brenham or Bryan, and talk the whole way. from the day they took over--nope!
It's a little better now, though. They took down a tower near the south end of the lake--no houses, not a lot 'visible' out there. Except the drilling rig with 95 plus people ALL using that tower's communications capability. No landlines out there. Oh, and the 20 or so homes that are semi-subterranean, with grass roofs. No, they didn't even check the usage records for the towers, just the geography--and no topography. That AT&T tower over the BIG hill was supposed to cover that area...yeah, right.
AT&T sucks.
Oh, and 1/3 of ALL my calls go directly to VM, and it doesn't notify, and it only tells you about it half the time after that. You go to check the one VM you think is there, and there may be three...
I'm almost desperate enough to get a land-line again.
That's not a service. That's a disservice.
I keep tellin' 'em that...
On the plus side, the AT&T customer service people are now so sure that I'm a scary Evil Beeyoch that I can probably get them to Fix It quickly, whatever It is.
After they denied that we lost signal between here and Brenham, I drove it, stopping every mile to call in (one poor soul gave me a direct to his desk number) and report. I warned him that for every stop I made and had NO SIGNAL, he'd get a double chewing out for lying to me about the towers taken off line.
3 calls/7 miles later, he admitted that nobody had accounted for the topography or the lake. (Sprint customers here actually get a lot of their coverage from bounce-back of signals off the lake. AT&T's towers are in the wrong place for it to work for them.)
I've told him I will do the same for the Bryan drive when I have an accomplice to help, since it's a 2 lane road. I think I made him cry. :ROFL:
Sometimes, evil can be used for good...
You could make him cry by sending in your bill for mapping their territory for them.
Quote from: Sibling Chatty on March 21, 2008, 02:50:34 AM
I'm almost desperate enough to get a land-line again.
If you have broadband you may wanna try something like Vonage or any other VOIP provider. It is significantly cheaper and works quite well (as long as your internet connection works well).
I hated Bell South/Cingular and dropped them for incompetence with my DSL service first, and cell phone later. T-Mobile is by no means perfect but they are not as abusive as BS/Cingular/ATT.
Quote from: Sibling Chatty on March 21, 2008, 02:50:34 AM
Bob,
We HATESES the AT&T.
I'll echo that sentiment, and in spades.
Way back when cell phones were new-ish (1999) I started out with AT&T, who didn't really own any towers-- they leased access from the likes of T-mobile and so forth.
Had good coverage, then.
Along comes Cingular a few years later, and buys the customers from AT&T (which is what basically happened). Oh, AT&T had actually built some towers of their own elsewhere, but 'round here, they mostly leased 'em from someone else's network.
Now, I'm a Cingular customer. Imagine that?
Later
still, I'm back to AT&T but
after they trimmed all the "extra" towers from their service.... supposedly this was a cost reduction thing? I dunno. What I do know is that I experience many of the same things you do: frequent direct-to-voicemail calls, frequent dropped calls (if they are lengthy).
In fact, I can count on a dropped call at or around 9pm daily. Doesn't matter the length, either-- at 9-ish, my call will
drop. Period. (If I'm at home.) I strongly suspect it has to do with a sudden increase in traffic-- but geesh. Shouldn't a person
already on the phone get priority?
Apparently not....
I may just have to start reporting my troubles. I know, when I worked for Cing, they had a special que just for dropped calls-- the regular reps were supposed to fill out a dropped-call ticket. (whether they did this or not? Unknown.... I suppose a 2nd call to confirm? No-- now that I recall, it'd just be a crap-shoot if the 2nd call rep filled one out or not.....gotta keep that Almighty Call Time Down-- No Matter What.....bleah....iswhyIdon'tworkforthemanymore... conflicting "goals")
But, the "official" policy at Cingular (now AT&T-- same bunch, different name*) is that you (as a customer) should report ALL dropped calls so the rep writes up a trouble ticket. You may wish to start doing this, Chatty. It's the ONLY way they have to learn there's problems.
__________________________
* somewhat amusing, the cycle of events. AT&T had a large pool of lease agreements with other cell carriers for their customer's usage. This was prior to Cingular buying them out. They owned a few towers of their own, mostly in the West. The rest were lease-exchange agreements. AT&T decides it needs to "trim the fat" and sells this customer-base and the owned towers to Cingular, for an undisclosed amount. Cingular is not a public company, but is wholly owned by several Baby Bells, back East, mainly Southwestern Bell, or SWBC. (and Cingular was built out of a collaboration of any number of small, regional cell companies, but that's another story.) Fast forward a coupl'a years, and AT&T, now with more cash after dumping it's profit-loosing branches, decides to re-purchase ownership of those Baby Bells. It does so, and as result, acquires ownership of the Assets of those companies-- including Cingular.
Now a savvy person would say that all this was the Long Term Plans of AT&T all along.
Except that US companies RARELY have Long Term Plans-- if it ain't about Next Quarter, They Ain't Interested.
You may decide this for yourself....