Android Phone Randomly Goes Directly to Voicemail

[G26ster]

Who is your carrier? Sprint & T-Mobile and increasingly AT&T are not reliable in the DFW area... (work with about 9000 mobile devices on all carriers in the DFW area).

Metro PCS, who I believe rides the T-Mobile network. Never an issue in many, many years until a few months ago.

[Outnumbered]

Doesn't sound like exactly the problem, but it's worth a try: Dial *73 (for Verizon) or whatever your cell company uses to turn off all call forwarding. Google "turn off call forwarding" without the quotes and tmobile or at*t or whatever. I'd recommend doing it even if you don't think it applies. I used to work customer service and this would sometimes work even when the customer was certain it wouldn't.

[G26ster]

Doesn't sound like exactly the problem, but it's worth a try: Dial *73 (for Verizon) or whatever your cell company uses to turn off all call forwarding. Google "turn off call forwarding" without the quotes and tmobile or at*t or whatever. I'd recommend doing it even if you don't think it applies. I used to work customer service and this would sometimes work even when the customer was certain it wouldn't.

Wouldn't this prevent ALL calls from going to voicemail, even those where the phone rings and I'm unavailable to answer?

[GeekwithaGun]

Do you have any of the numbers blocked? I block telemarketers and when i get another call, it goes direct to voice mail. I also have reception issues in the building I work in, lots of steel and concrete. Sometimes I just miss the call when in my pocket, didn't hear or feel the vibration when it rang.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active

[G26ster]

Do you have any of the numbers blocked? I block telemarketers and when i get another call, it goes direct to voice mail. I also have reception issues in the building I work in, lots of steel and concrete. Sometimes I just miss the call when in my pocket, didn't hear or feel the vibration when it rang.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Active

Thanks. No, none of these numbers are blocked. Also, the reception almost always shows full strength in the areas I am missing calls. None of the calls are from telemarketers or on my blocked list. They are important calls from numbers I have received many calls from in the past. All missed calls neither rang or vibrated. In fact, the other day I was holding the device I'm my hand when a voicemail icon popped up, and sure enough there was a message left. The phone never rang or vibrated.

[Abraham]

Perhaps, you could see how far into a deep body of water you could throw it...?

Now where's my abacus...?

Ooops, I just recalled, I pitched it into a deep body of water, far techy for me...

Just being here is quite stressful on my Luddite self, so I wear my tinfoil hat (properly shaped by pressing into a colander) and my trusty blanket made of palm fronds.

All kidding aside, ditch your tech addiction or it'll get worse...or off to the rubber room it'll be, where you can join me....

[GeekwithaGun]

Perhaps, you could see how far into a deep body of water you could throw it...?

Now where's my abacus...?

Ooops, I just recalled, I pitched it into a deep body of water, far techy for me...

Just being here is quite stressful on my Luddite self, so I wear my tinfoil hat (properly shaped by pressing into a colander) and my trusty blanket made of palm fronds.

All kidding aside, ditch your tech addiction or it'll get worse...or off to the rubber room it'll be, where you can join me....

Believe me, I would love to do that at times, however when running two businesses and needing to be mobile, the phone, email, web, machine in my hand is well worth it.

[G26ster]

Perhaps, you could see how far into a deep body of water you could throw it...?

Now where's my abacus...?

Ooops, I just recalled, I pitched it into a deep body of water, far techy for me...

Just being here is quite stressful on my Luddite self, so I wear my tinfoil hat (properly shaped by pressing into a colander) and my trusty blanket made of palm fronds.

All kidding aside, ditch your tech addiction or it'll get worse...or off to the rubber room it'll be, where you can join me....

Sorry Abraham, but no addiction here. My wife keeps our land line busy 24/7 being retired with a huge family. So in order to get important info from doctors offices, etc. I have a cell. As for addictions, like yourself, I have no social media presence, do not tweet, IM, post on facebook, etc.
But speaking of tech addiction, perhaps you are posting from an ENIAC computer circa 1943?

[Abraham]

GeekwithaGun,

I hear that a lot...

How did the world exist before so-called 'smart phones'?

Answer: Just fine, but then people weren't tethered to their sp's...

I won't own a smart phone, tv, or alexis or it's facsimile.

Big brother is here and the populace, not the government, invited it into their lives...

No wonder I like knowing how Alaskan subsistence folks live...

I think most tethered to so-called smart phones rationalize why they 'must' have one...puh-leeze, you don't, you're hooked.

The programmers of these items even 'tell you' they program them to hook you, you still allow them to control your lives...suckers.

Tech addiction: It's what's for your brain....

[Abraham]

How many addicted to...fill in the blank truthfully admit they're addicted?

Darn few....

[Outnumbered]

Doesn't sound like exactly the problem, but it's worth a try: Dial *73 (for Verizon) or whatever your cell company uses to turn off all call forwarding. Google "turn off call forwarding" without the quotes and tmobile or at*t or whatever. I'd recommend doing it even if you don't think it applies. I used to work customer service and this would sometimes work even when the customer was certain it wouldn't.

Wouldn't this prevent ALL calls from going to voicemail, even those where the phone rings and I'm unavailable to answer?

Logically, yes. It would have been more accurate for me to say that this would sometimes work when the customer and I both thought it wouldn't. It was always one of the first things we were supposed to try and sometimes it worked when it didn't make sense. I am absolutely not a techie. My solution to most tech problems is to power cycle it and remove the battery.

[G26ster]

No wonder I like knowing how Alaskan subsistence folks live...

I think you'd be quite surprised about the reality of how the Alaska native population lives. They are subsistence hunters and fisherman to be sure, but you'd probably be horrified over how many modern conveniences they insist on and enjoy. Take Barrow Alaska, probably one of the remotest villages in the U.S. on the northern coast and bordering the Beaufort Sea. You'd be astonished by the number of sattelite dishes, TVs, motorized vehicles for every type of terrain, airplanes, and yes, smart phones. Even years ago when I was flying the Alaska bush for a living, the one thing you could count on was the native population having every modern convenience they could get their hands on.

But obviously you must be talking about the subsistence folks "as seen on TV." But that's puzzling because you said you don't own a TV. So I have to guess you are watching them on, dare I say, a "modern device" such as a computer or tablet. Now that would be no way for a real subsistence living person to act.

Actually Abraham I agree with you about the modern man's addiction, and consider this response just good light hearted fun. Hope you take it that way

[couzin]

Occasionally it happens because of reception. There are issues with some earlier Android devices like S4, 5, 7 that are this: the phone is supposed to switch from 4g to 3g, even down to 2g when signal for the faster data transfers is blocked or weak. Same issue for going from GSM back up to the higher data transfers. Android gets confused, stays on 4g or GSM and drops the incoming call into voicemail because it thinks the phone is out of range or off. Supposedly, if you frequent an area where LTE does not work well but GSM is fine, in Android settings under networks you can select either system to prevent the stumbled switching.

[G26ster]

Occasionally it happens because of reception. There are issues with some earlier Android devices like S4, 5, 7 that are this: the phone is supposed to switch from 4g to 3g, even down to 2g when signal for the faster data transfers is blocked or weak. Same issue for going from GSM back up to the higher data transfers. Android gets confused, stays on 4g or GSM and drops the incoming call into voicemail because it thinks the phone is out of range or off. Supposedly, if you frequent an area where LTE does not work well but GSM is fine, in Android settings under networks you can select either system to prevent the stumbled switching.

My settings are LTE/WCDMA/GSM selected. Other options are WCDMA/GSM or GSM Only.
BTW, I'm pretty much home bound lately, and my phone nearly always shows full bars.

[couzin]

Also spend most time at home. The signal here drifts because of where the towers are. When the signal drifts the same switching phenomenon will occur. Watch your phone to see if your bars drop off and/or if what was 5g or 4g, has become 3g. After that I got nothing for a fix