|
My Cell Phone Can't Receive Calls!
Or...Other People Can't Call My Cell Phone!
Here is a
problem that cell phone clients and wireless carrier customer service
reps both have a very hard time understanding.
So often, when someone hears that another person cannot call them, they
distort the issue and say "my cell phone cannot receive calls".
Let's make sure you understand: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A PHONE THAT
CANNOT RECEIVE CALLS FROM ANOTHER PHONE.
But…there
IS such a thing as a phone that cannot call another phone.
Think of
it this way: if you attempt to troubleshoot this issue from a "can't
receive calls" point of view, you will arrive at incorrect conclusions.
Saying “I
can’t receive calls…whah” is a passive problem. If you think like that,
you have traces of a victim- mindset, so you might want to watch some
more Dr Phil for that.
But having troubles MAKING CALLS is an ACTIVE problem, and THAT is where
you always want to initiate your troubleshooting investigation.
KEY POINT: The party that can't make the call is the party that
investigates the call.
Burn the above expression into your mind. 99% of the time, the initiation
point of the issue is also the origin of the issue. So if a landline
can't call a wireless phone, the owner of that landline phone must call
their carrier. If a different mobile phone can't call your mobile
phone, that acquaintance of yours needs to call their provider.
Because
this is such a simple idea, very few people seem to grasp the concept.
Keep in mind, it IS correct that every now and then the issue ends up
being on the receiving telco's end...and occasionally the issue is with
some 3rd party that is transporting the local or long
distance traffic, but the main way this will be verified is if the
originating carrier reproduces the call. Then they
will trace it to the problem area.
Possible Problem Areas:
1) The originating telco might be directing the call to the incorrect
switch, CLLI, point code, etc. They might also be prepending the
incorrect digits. They might not be doing a dip. Often you'll hear an
error message, so take note of which phone carrier is giving it.
2) Not enough trunks or T1s between the networks. In this instance, the
caller might notice an intermittent "fast-busy".
3) In many cases, if your phone number range is new, some telcos are too
dim-witted, incompetent, or slothful to load the range into their
translations tables. This is ridiculous, considering the carriers are
warned months before a new line range is due to be activated.
There are other causes for these issues, but the top method of getting
them resolved is to have the caller contact their provider.
TIP: when
the caller/originator contacts their customer service department, they
should only say "I can't call (blank) number". They should NOT say the
name of the telco that provides the number they’re attempting to call.
All too
often, the under-trained phone rep will say "Oh, you can't call (blank)
company? Ok, then, it has got to be their issue."
Who knows why, but when customer service reps hear the name of another
carrier, they get dumb in a flash and start pointing fingers away from
themselves…the clear source of the issue.
I hope those reps have a chance to read this commentary.
All in all, the person that can't make the call MUST compel their
provider to create a trouble ticket. If your family/friend/client can't
call YOU, but THEY don't think they should have to deal with the
problem, you're kind of stuck, aren't you?
You could
call your
own phone provider and scream like a idiot, and demand that they fix
it...but think of the predicament you just put that poor service rep in;
they now need to look up what provider your family/friend/client is on,
and possibly what long distance carrier they use, and then they'll need
to call around those other companies trying to find someone to fix a
problem that your family/friend/client should just do themselves. Now
there's TWO MIDDLE MEN (the service rep and yourself) stuck in the
middle of a problem that you should not be involved with.
Why not ask the cleaning lady to handle it?! She's just as pertinent to
the issue as everybody else in the middle!
In the end, you need to keep one thing in mind:
Whoever can't make the call, investigates the call.
|