Calls going direct to voicemail

[519705wherenext]

My peeps are messaging me to tell me their calls are going straight to voicemail.  I just found a voicemail message, from the hospital trying to call me about a test.  Thankfully they left a voicemail and i was able to call them back .Wonder how many other important calls i may be missing. This does not involve a magic jack, none of my people use that service. I am not certain when this started, but i think after i returned from a trip just over a week ago

[FidoClaudia]

Hey @519705wherenext,

If you have an iPhone, I would suggest checking if the Do Not Disturb option is ON. The feature lets you allow calls from:

-everyone

-no one

-favorites

Depending on the setting, it could explain why calls are being transferred to voicemail.

Keep us posted!

[519705wherenext]

@FidoClaudia 

Nope, not an iPhone, maybe the next phone change I will try one.  I did find a solution, it’s not perfect as it is not a simple setting change, plus it costs me money, but a workable solution.  Back story, I am currently living just north of Timmins where signal is an issue, so this was not my only problem to solve.  I purchased a cell booster which helped, as did connecting to a non Fido tower thanks to the agreement Fido has with the other company.  Fido was not actually very helpful in this process but I worked my through it.  Along the way I had purchased the Fido home phone as a backup (partial solution) They are actually better at signal than cellphones so it helped keep me in communication when I was unable to use my cellphone.  Having solved my cell problems including data usage I thought my problems were over until contacts started making me aware of failed calls. As hopefully a final solution I purchased call forwarding for my cellphone and have it set up so that when my cellphone is unreachable the call will go to my Fido home phone.  Not the perfect solution but one that works.  I do get the odd delayed text and have to remember to check the voicemail on the home phone but for the most part my communications are now working.

[KAPABLE-K]

@519705wherenext It sounds like you are in an area that does not have enough Rogers towers thats why you are getting these issues.

If you are constantly using more than 50% of your usage on the extended network you will eventually get blocked. 

You can use this map here to see the location of the Rogers towers, another option is if you have a compatible Fido phone that has the WiFi calling feature you might want to enable that. 

[519705wherenext]

@KAPABLE-K 

Thank you, I do know where the towers are.  But that may be useful to someone else going through the process, so still good input.  Ultimately though, knowing where the towers are does not make them be where I want them to be.  I do know that if I stay in this area I will eventually be forced to move my business to the other company, that’s just the way it is.  In the meantime I just keep solving problems and trying to stay a Fido customer.  Oh, and wifi calling was a good suggestion that may work well for someone... but no Internet here.  The only option is called mobile internet, it is hugely expensive as in hundreds of dollars for data and minimal in speed.  I did actually try it and found it to be not sustainable.  People in cities expect that things should just work, and usually they do, the far north is a different reality, you gotta roll with it.

[KAPABLE-K]

Hello @519705wherenext ,

Is your phone on airplane mode by any chance? 

Can you make out going calls?

You can also try doing a network reset and see if it helps.

[519705wherenext]

@KAPABLE-K 

Such questions have to be asked, I suppose.  But no to airplane mode.  The network reset suggestion is a little more helpful.  I had already done that before coming on here but thank you for the suggestion.  It did not work. I am in northern Ontario. In a weak signal area using a cell booster, and yes I reset that too.  As good as it is, sometimes we are just outside the capabilities of current technology.  I have done much problem solving and had most of my com problems solved, I even had data working good enough to tether my notebook for short periods. With things otherwise working well contacts began making me aware that my calls were not going through, I came here hoping for a simple solution.  I only wish it could have been as simple as airplane mode.  It just shows there is a series of troubleshooting steps one must follow.  To others I say don’t give up, there are sometimes less obvious solutions.