Intermittently not receiving calls

[travistravis]

I don't know which forum this belongs to most, because I don't know if it's a network or phone or call issue. 

I recently found out that I've been missing calls, most recently from a mortgage broker I'd been emailing, only to be told he's tried to call multiple times over multiple days and it didn't work. 

I don't get any notification of this missed call. I'm on an iPhone 11 Pro, fully updated, with a pay monthly EE e-sim (the number was ported from Three years ago), and a physical sim card secondary (as a 'business' number on a different network). The esim is set to primary everything, and default everything. 

I've got full or sometimes nearly full bars when the calls were attempted, and have tried while connected to wifi and while not connected to wifi. When not connected to wifi, the phone indicates I'm connected via 4G. I can receive calls from my partner, who is also on EE with the same kind of phone, and also an eSim, and haven't experienced any points at which we know one has ever not worked. 

Things I've tried that don't seem to fix it (although I don't have easy access to know which phones can't get through, so it's hard to be 100% sure):
* restarting my phone
* airplane mode on/off
* wifi on off
* checked EE network status, says I'm fine, and I should have no issues.
* updating my phone
* verified no numbers being blocked (they weren't)
* verified do not disturb is off (it is)
* call forwarding is not active
* call waiting is active (this really shouldn't be the issue)
* "silence unknown callers" is off (so unknown callers can call)
* voice and data is set to 4G, VoLTE does not affect this (works both on and off)
* I do not have voicemail. (I specifically do not *want* voicemail, I just want to actually get the calls people try to make, either to answer or in my caller log.)

This seems to happen both when I have the setting for wifi calling on or off, and when "calls to other devices" is both on and off. 

I'm happy to try more suggestions, but can't easily try this sim in another phone (eSim), and really don't want to spend the half day putting my phone BACK to this state by trying a factory reset. I will if there's no other option, but will be extremely frustrated with EE if I do waste most of a day. I believe those are the only two options on my end that aren't yet done.

[bristolian · Accepted solution]

Hi @travistravis 

That's some pretty comprehensive troubleshooting, and you've certainly covered the obvious "first-line" checks. The inability to easily try a SIM swap is certainly one of the downsides of eSIM as far as troubleshooting is concerned.

From what I can establish of your post, is this only happening with calls from specific numbers?

I would recommend reporting this to EE C/S who may need to carry out further investigations, but the difficulty will be in eliminating whether this is a device or network issue. Call tracing is normally instigated from the originating end of the call.

[travistravis]

Yeah, this is what I'd thought as well. 

It seems to only be certain numbers, but since I have little to no reason to ever find out if I've missed a call, it could be as few as one number. 

I will go to EE customer service, I'm hesitant to try and get the person making the call to go through the steps of tracing his attempts, as it's for his work, and I'm the only one having issues. (He seems busy enough that losing one potential client who can't answer the phone isn't going to be a big enough deal to sit on hold with a phone company.)

I've ordered a landline phone for my house. Hopefully (in a weird way) it is also unable to call me, so I can troubleshoot more effectively. 

[Leanne_T]

Hi @travistravis

Thanks for coming to the community.

Let us know how you get on after speaking to our Tech Gurus on 150 and getting this looked into further.

Thanks 🙂

Leanne.

[0829]

I have same problem. Please advise how to settle.

[Katie_B]

Hello @0829. 

Welcome to the EE Community. 

Please could you confirm what phone you are using?

Does this happen in all areas?

Speak soon, 

Katie.

[Alexaval]

I have the same problem. I have only just been switched to EE from Plusnet and I have actually bought a brand new MotoG13 on Thursday Incase it was my handset. I'm job seeking in a redundancy situation at the moment so it's critical I receive calls.

I have now had three people messaging me to say that they have called (two were recruiters, goodness only knows if I have missed more) but it's not even going to voicemail. When I tried to record my new voicemail message I was cracking up when I played it back, but was able to record fine later, I also have to move around in the house sometimes when I am connected to an outbound call. This is a dreadful degradation from Plusnet which I have been happy with for years.

4G always shows a strong signal, I had never really had resin to monitor the bars before but they are now constantly around 2 not 5.

I tried 150 today, twice, and the automatic service said it would text me further instructions, it didn't.

Could someone please call me (hah!) but it is not at all funny . This is a dreadful experience for a new customer.

[Christopher_G]

Hi @Alexaval 

Welcome to the community

Have you checked the status of the network in your area? Pop your postcode into our network status checker and it will let you know if we're aware of any problems.

Do you know if the device that you're using is WiFi Calling compatible? If you check your settings, you may be able to turn it on. This will help you keep connected when you have WiFi available.

Chris

[Deecee25]

I've also had a similar problem since the end of last year where my mobile doesn't ring and the caller, after about 20 seconds of silence is told that the person is not available and to leave a message. 

I was with BT and reported this to them last month and they suggested that I move over to EE. This I did (and saved £10/month) but the problem continued. I put the SIM in my old phone and still had the same problem.

Reported to EE saying I'd tried two phones (Samsung S5 Neo and my current Galaxy A12). Was told they maybe too old but said they would try to download an update??? Whatever they did seemed to work as I made about 30 calls from my landline to the mobile and only one went to voicemail. However the problem has returned. The first call I make goes to voicemail but the second works. That has happened several times. Same thing happens when my sister calls.  She only rings if I don't answer the landline. 

I've just rung the mobile from the landline and 10 out of 20 calls went to voicemail after about 20 seconds.

If the problem is the phones, I'm reluctant to purchase a new one in case the same thing happens. Any ideas?