Cellular Oddities

I have been experiencing many oddities lately:

I have upgraded my Moto C331t to a SE T62u. Because I haven't switched
my phonebook over yet, I still carry both phones. Occasionally, the
Moto will ring. It's been officially disconnected for over a week, so I
don't understand why it will do that. I cannot answer it when it does ring.

Although I am through Cingular, my contacts (and I when testing the
complaints I've been having) have been getting the following messages:

"Message B-I-S 22. Welcome to Cellular One. The number you have called
is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this number in
error, please check the number and dial again."

"Message B-I-S 20. Welcome to Cellular One. The subscriber you called
is unavailable, or has traveled outside the coverage area. Please try
your call again later."

"Message B-I-S 32. Welcome to Cellular One. We're sorry, your call
cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the number and dial again."

"Hello. And thank you for calling Cellular One Customer Service. I can
help you with your request or I'll make sure that you speak to the right
Cellular One representative."

"Welcome to Cellular One. You are now within the 16 state home calling
area."

"Hello, this is Sarah, your Cellular One Virtual Service Representative."

"Please say or enter your 10 digit Cellular One phone number, one didgit
at a time."

---

I've gotten these messages when I've called my own mobile number to
retreive voicemail, and also from friends' local mobile phones. I was
receiving incoming calls today, so everyone was asking my why my phone
was disconnected, or why they were getting odd recordings. It was only
after receiving several phone calls all starting with the question, "Why
do I get ......... when I call you?" Most thought I just didn't pay by
bill, as it seems the disconnected one was the most frequent. It was
only when an old roommate called me and told be that he kept getting
"Hello. And thank you for calling Cellular One Customer Service. I can
help you with your request or I'll make sure that you speak to the right
Cellular One representative." That's when I investigated and got all
those error messages. Some from my phone, some from others.

It seems to me that Cingular's system is doing what it's supposed to be
doing, forwarding my calls to Western Wireless's Cellular One system,
but Cellular One can't seem to forward them to my phone properly. It
seems to be back to normal. Western Wireless is overlaying GSM on top
of its already AMPS-TDMA-CDMA network (it does not sell TDMA or GSM
services to its own subscribers, but is building/operating those
portions of the network exclusively for roaming purposes). I'm
wondering if it is having some trouble with operating since the T62u has
GSM and it is currently installing not only the GSM network, but also
E911 and number portability features. Usually, around midnight each
night, my T62u will pick up a GSM signal, which dissipates by around 1
am. During this time, my phone does not seem to ring, nor does it go to
voicemail, and when I try to make an outgoing call, it takes an
unusually long time to connect, and when it does, it is in TDMA or AMPS
mode. All other times outgoing calls complete successfully in TDMA or
AMPS mode.

I called Cingular and told them about my problems (even though they
can't do anything about it, since it's not their system, it's Western
Wireless's). The rep confirmed that because I am roaming, Cingular can
only notify the roaming network of the trouble that I am having. There
were about three days in total that I could receive any calls (I just
thought people weren't calling me back...) My voicemail indicator and
text messaging abilities are no longer present. Outgoing calls seem not
to be affected, except when GSM signal is received.

Any comments? I've heard that a lot of people are having trouble with
mobile phones right now.

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› See More: Cellular Oddities

About Dakota <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I have been experiencing many oddities lately:
>
> I have upgraded my Moto C331t to a SE T62u. Because I haven't switched
> my phonebook over yet, I still carry both phones. Occasionally, the
> Moto will ring. It's been officially disconnected for over a week, so I
> don't understand why it will do that.

It's always worked that way. The only theory I have is that phones
respond to any ring signal sent to their number, and authentication
doesn't happen until you press a key to answer.

If you program any non-activated TDMA Cingular phone to your number,
it'll ring with yours.

> I cannot answer it when it does ring.

Right, when you answer, the system realizes the "wrong" phone is
there.

> Although I am through Cingular, my contacts (and I when testing the
> complaints I've been having) have been getting the following messages:

<Snip variety of roaming problem messages>

Stupid question, but have you made/received any calls IN Cingular
territory? Or has it all been roaming?

IIRC, back when I was a Cingular dealer, a customer HAD to make/take
at least one call at "home" before roaming would work properly.
Supposedly this was an anti-fraud issue. I may have changed in the 3
or so years I've been out of the biz, but if you've never actually
used the phone on it's home system ID, this might be part of the
problem.

> I've gotten these messages when I've called my own mobile number to
> retreive voicemail, and also from friends' local mobile phones. I was
> receiving incoming calls today, so everyone was asking my why my phone
> was disconnected, or why they were getting odd recordings. It was only
> after receiving several phone calls all starting with the question, "Why
> do I get ......... when I call you?" Most thought I just didn't pay by
> bill, as it seems the disconnected one was the most frequent. It was
> only when an old roommate called me and told be that he kept getting
> "Hello. And thank you for calling Cellular One Customer Service. I can
> help you with your request or I'll make sure that you speak to the right
> Cellular One representative." That's when I investigated and got all
> those error messages. Some from my phone, some from others.

Weird- obviously something in the roaming network is a problem.
Generally a completely unrecognized phone would be routed to a "make a
roam call via credit card" network.

These kinds of problems suck! Both cell cos will blame the other, and
neither one will work hard towards a resolution- the roaming co. won't
because you aren't their customer, and Cingular won't because they
can't fix the problem if it's not Cingular's problem, and if it IS
Cingular's problem, you'll never convince THEM it is!

>>I have been experiencing many oddities lately:
>>
>>I have upgraded my Moto C331t to a SE T62u. Because I haven't switched
>>my phonebook over yet, I still carry both phones. Occasionally, the
>>Moto will ring. It's been officially disconnected for over a week, so I
>>don't understand why it will do that.
>
>
> It's always worked that way. The only theory I have is that phones
> respond to any ring signal sent to their number, and authentication
> doesn't happen until you press a key to answer.
>
> If you program any non-activated TDMA Cingular phone to your number,
> it'll ring with yours.
>
>
>>I cannot answer it when it does ring.
>
>
> Right, when you answer, the system realizes the "wrong" phone is
> there.
>
>
>>Although I am through Cingular, my contacts (and I when testing the
>>complaints I've been having) have been getting the following messages:
>
>
> <Snip variety of roaming problem messages>
>
> Stupid question, but have you made/received any calls IN Cingular
> territory? Or has it all been roaming?

The phone was previously activated on Cingular in Florida. I have not
been in Cingular territory since I had it activated with my phone
number. The first three attempts to send an OTA update to the 6340i
failed, but the first attempt to send an OTA update to my T62u was
successful. However, after putting that SIM back into the 6340i, the
Cingular and Cingular Extend banners were correct, so I'm assuming that
some information is stored on the SIM.

> IIRC, back when I was a Cingular dealer, a customer HAD to make/take
> at least one call at "home" before roaming would work properly.
> Supposedly this was an anti-fraud issue. I may have changed in the 3
> or so years I've been out of the biz, but if you've never actually
> used the phone on it's home system ID, this might be part of the
> problem.
>
>
>>I've gotten these messages when I've called my own mobile number to
>>retreive voicemail, and also from friends' local mobile phones. I was
>>receiving incoming calls today, so everyone was asking my why my phone
>>was disconnected, or why they were getting odd recordings. It was only
>>after receiving several phone calls all starting with the question, "Why
>>do I get ......... when I call you?" Most thought I just didn't pay by
>>bill, as it seems the disconnected one was the most frequent. It was
>>only when an old roommate called me and told be that he kept getting
>>"Hello. And thank you for calling Cellular One Customer Service. I can
>>help you with your request or I'll make sure that you speak to the right
>>Cellular One representative." That's when I investigated and got all
>>those error messages. Some from my phone, some from others.
>
>
> Weird- obviously something in the roaming network is a problem.
> Generally a completely unrecognized phone would be routed to a "make a
> roam call via credit card" network.
>
> These kinds of problems suck! Both cell cos will blame the other, and
> neither one will work hard towards a resolution- the roaming co. won't
> because you aren't their customer, and Cingular won't because they
> can't fix the problem if it's not Cingular's problem, and if it IS
> Cingular's problem, you'll never convince THEM it is!

I don't think it was Cingular's fault. If my phones were off, the calls
would go into voicemail, which would make sense as Cingular couldn't
send the signal to a network it wasn't sure if I was on.


It's all back to normal now, but it still puzzles me as to why those
messages were there. The only explanation I can have is that Western
Wireless is currently in a large transition phase to build a roaming
network *and* all must meet FCC regulations.