Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Having trouble placing or receiving calls or using your voicemail system on Ooma Telo VoIP Phones? Post your questions here.
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jrspe
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Joined:Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:47 am
Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by jrspe » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:37 pm

We have aTelo unit (ver.: 66439 with Premiere service) in our home which has worked very well over the past few years. We have used the MultiRing Call Forwarding to my cell phone with great success - especially when we are on the road. So, beginning last year I left it configured that way on a permanent basis. Very convenient.

However, in the last few months we have noticed a strange occurrence that has happened, maybe, 6 - 8 times. A call will come in via Ooma, ring the house phones - but only once, then immediately dumps the caller into my cell phone's VM. This never seemed to happen until earlier this year. I cannot determine any common reason why these calls were treated this way.

To try and work around this infrequent problem and to be sure all of our calls come thru instead of shunting them occassionally to my cell VM:

1) I changed my cell phone's time to ring before voicemail from the default 25 sec to 30 sec (Ooma is set to 4 rings/24 sec).
2) I disabled Anonymous Call Block.
3) I disabled the MultiRing feature (unless we are travelling).

But, because this problem occurs infrequently, I am not certain if my work around steps actually address the cause of the problem or not. That single ring before immediately switching to my cell VM plus the fact that our MultiRing setup works flawlessly most of the time makes me think that something else is amiss.

Question: Is there any known bug/future fix for this situation?

murphy
Posts:7554
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Location:Pennsylvania

Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by murphy » Fri Jun 14, 2013 1:05 pm

If your cell phone is turned off or has lost its signal and you do not have the multi-ring set to require the press of a 1 to answer the call on the cell phone the call will be answered by your cell phone voicemail. This will stop the ring in the house because as far as Ooma is concerned the call has been answered.
Customer since January 2009
Telo with 2 Handsets, a Linx, and a Safety Phone
Telo2 with 2 Handsets and a Linx

jrspe
Posts:12
Joined:Wed Apr 21, 2010 6:47 am

Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by jrspe » Fri Jun 14, 2013 2:17 pm

murphy wrote:If your cell phone is turned off or has lost its signal and you do not have the multi-ring set to require the press of a 1 to answer the call on the cell phone the call will be answered by your cell phone voicemail. This will stop the ring in the house because as far as Ooma is concerned the call has been answered.
Okay. I had to think this through a little bit plus study the FAQ re: the required key press which says:

What is the "Require key press before answering forwarded calls" option?

The "Require key press before answering forwarded calls" option give you an added level of flexibility when setting up your call forwarding configuration. When this option is enabled, you won't be connected to the caller until you answer the phone AND press "1" on your phone's key pad. If "1" is not pressed when the call is answered (for example, if your cell phone's voicemail picks up the call), the call will still roll to your Ooma voicemail. In other words, this option will force all forwarded phone calls that you don't answer to go to your Ooma's voicemail. It also ensures that your home phones to still ring if your cell phone has been turned off or is out of coverage.

I admit that I typically do not have the key press requirement on because it is a hassle and distracting when driving the car.

But what confuses me is why the house phones only ring ONCE and then the call dumps into the cell VM ... unless, the incoming call is somehow able to determine that the cell phone is off/dead battery/out of range/DIP* and then immediately switches the call to the cell phone VM. In other words, does the typical cell phone have what amounts to TWO different Time/Ring to VM settings? One is for standard operation where the cell phone is on (in my scenario above, it was set by default to 25 sec but since has been changed to 30 sec). And the second for an OFF or DEAD cell phone where, since there is no sense to continue to ring the off/dead cell phone, it just immediately dumps the call into the cell VM.

Question: What planet do Communications Engineers come from?

*DIP = Dead in Purse (a phone condition common to my wife)

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lbmofo
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Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by lbmofo » Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:30 pm

Your cell phone VM coming on equals someone answered the call so no need for Ooma device to ring anymore.

jrspe
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Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by jrspe » Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:23 pm

Okay. Just to finish off this thread, let me post the solution.

I spent a couple of days monkeying with my Ooma and cellphone setup. Called T-Mobile and had them increase the time to VM from 25 seconds to 30 just to be sure that it was greater than the 24 seconds set in Ooma. Still no joy. Calls to the home phone would ring once then dump the caller into my cell phone VM.

Finally, after a bunch of experimentation, I disconnected my cell phone from the Ooma Call Forwarding completely and discovered that a call to my cell phone would automatically dump into my cell phone's VM. IOW, the problem is NOT Ooma but some setting in my cell phone.

Studying all of the various settings in my cell phone revealed nothing amiss so I called T-Mobile's Technical Care and got a woman who knew her job well. She discovered that my account had somehow been switched over to "unconditional forwarding" and once that was turned off all was okay again. Multi-Ring now works as it used to.

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lbmofo
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Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by lbmofo » Mon Jun 17, 2013 4:49 pm

jrspe wrote:She discovered that my account had somehow been switched over to "unconditional forwarding" and once that was turned off all was okay again. Multi-Ring now works as it used to.
You didn't notice your cell phone never was able to receive calls even when called directly?

phoenixtommy
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Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by phoenixtommy » Tue Jun 18, 2013 10:05 am

This weekend, I had the same problem. The phone would ring once at home and go to my cell's voice mail with the multi-ring setting. I unplugged Ooma (no help) at suggestion of customer service. The first suggestion of all service calls. Anyway, six calls over two days rang once only.

I called customer service again and was on hold for five minutes while they diddled with some settings. That cured the problem. I still have no idea why I had a problem or what they did to fix it. But it now rings at home and on my cell phone as it did before.

I've had Ooma for 2 1/2 months, and this is the only problem (other than my settings screw-ups) that I've had. And as far as I'm concerned, other than cost savings, multi-ring to my cell phone is the most compelling reason to buy an Ooma.

jrspe
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Re: Calls Diverted Immediately to Cellphone VM

Post by jrspe » Fri Sep 06, 2013 5:09 pm

deleted

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