Calling Germany -Don't understand signal

I am calling from the US to a cell phone in Germany and get a busy signal or a voice message in German saying that the "Person I've called is Temporarily Unavailable". Is the phone turned off or is the line busy? Does the person I've called know that I've tried to call?
Any help appreciated!

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Sounds like the their phone may be off or they are out of their calling area and are roaming.

Depending on their cell provider and the type of cell plan they may or may not have voicemail. So no telling if they will know that you tried to call.

Have you tried sending the person a text message?

I know that here in the US, depending on where I am in the country, and which companies towers I might be roaming on, I may not get a txt message or voicemail indicator until I'm back on a non-roaming tower.

Went on a camping trip for about 4 days, had cell service, but didn't get any voicemails or text messages notices, until I was off the roaming towers.

Thanks for your help. If the phone is off, wouldn't voicemail pick up if he is in his calling area?

do you know for sure if he has voicemail on his account?

maybe this person has blocked you? and are you translating that message...or is it really in English?

Hi,
The message is in both German and English. Also, it's possible that this person has blocked me (this is a personal issue and I'm trying to get information on this forum without getting into the details...). Would I get this busy signal if I was blocked?

Originally Posted by OBXVZW21

do you know for sure if he has voicemail on his account?

I have no idea. Voicemail has never picked up so I assume not.

Originally Posted by jneff05

Hi,
The message is in both German and English. Also, it's possible that this person has blocked me (this is a personal issue and I'm trying to get information on this forum without getting into the details...). Would I get this busy signal if I was blocked?

what city is this, and what provider?

I have a good blood brother in Munich., Uncle in Munich, and others in a few other places., I can call and find out. But I just wante dto make sure it was a user's phone is unavail message vs. this number is not active sorta message.

Aufidazein!

Originally Posted by jneff05

Hi,
The message is in both German and English. Also, it's possible that this person has blocked me (this is a personal issue and I'm trying to get information on this forum without getting into the details...). Would I get this busy signal if I was blocked?

If you have been able to contact this person before from the number you are calling from, and now can't, it's very possible that they have your number blocked. Only thing to do, is to try calling from another number.

If it were me, I'd get one of those international calling cards and use that to make the call,that way it won't make any difference what number you are calling from, but if there is a problem between you and this other person... well you know more about that than we could.

well...geez...in case you didn't know...there's a bunch of online VOIP programs that allow you to make FREE YES FREE calls., to a whole bunch of different countries.

I call Germany quite a bit for free.

www.voipbuster.com
www.netappel.fr
www.internetcalls.com

among a very few. Mind you quality has begun to suck ass as of late. I guess MORE and MORE people have come across these programs, and they just haven't upgraded their servers to handle the increased demand ahh long gone are the days when only us geeks knew how to call internationally for pennies, or even free

how can you even block an international call???

bubble.tea,

Very good idea, would not have thought of that myself. But then I rarely make overseas calls that aren't paid for by work.

Originally Posted by BlkBear1

bubble.tea,

Very good idea, would not have thought of that myself. But then I rarely make overseas calls that aren't paid for by work.

muhahahahah

This friend of mine has an old cell phone and I have no idea of the provider. He is not savvy in anything technical, has no computer, would not understand a text message, etc. I have called his cell with success for the past year. He has been complaining about his battery getting weak and not wanting to get a new phone.
So, not wanting to get into personal details, does he break up with me by blocking my calls? Is this the busy signal?
I have a phone card, on this card I get the recoreded message in German and English. Not with the card, I get the busy signal. He is near Ansbach. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by jneff05

This friend of mine has an old cell phone and I have no idea of the provider. He is not savvy in anything technical, has no computer, would not understand a text message, etc. I have called his cell with success for the past year. He has been complaining about his battery getting weak and not wanting to get a new phone.
So, not wanting to get into personal details, does he break up with me by blocking my calls? Is this the busy signal?
I have a phone card, on this card I get the recoreded message in German and English. Not with the card, I get the busy signal. He is near Ansbach. Any ideas?

Humm seeing as how you say this person is not tech savvy, it's doubtful that he's put your number on block.

Hopefully during this time you have his snail mail address, so you can write a letter (yes a letter). Even someone that is not tech savvy, can handle a typed or hand written letter. True they are not instant, and they may take a week or more to get there and even longer for them to respond if they are not the type to write back, but right now, if you don't have any other numbers to get ahold of him, you are pretty much out of options.

Google language translators. Choose one. Opt for English to German. You key in English, hit translate..viola, text in German. Cut and paste to notepad or just print the page to refer to when you text. If you are using sms keep it short, only allowed 160 characters and that includes spaces. If you encounter a vowel with an umlaut, key an e after that vowel. Example: oel (oil) the o would have two dots above it, but to text it from an English key setup, instead of ol, key oel. Got it?