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More basic questions...
August 23, 2010
12:28 pm
SOmark
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Still haven't made or received a call yet, so I'm basically sticking to my original plan with a cellphone.
I'd like to know if you are charged anything if you make a call but get:
a) just ringing
b) busy signal
c) answering machine

Also if someone calls me and I don't answer (or much more likely)
my phone is turned off, will I be charged anything?

TIA

August 23, 2010
1:01 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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As far as I know, you get charged as soon as you press the send key. Airtime is airtime, whether the call is answered or not, or if it goes to an an answering machine.

If someone calls you, and your phone is turned off, then of course it won't ring, then you will not be charged. You are only charged when you answer.

August 23, 2010
1:41 pm
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iamdrumming said:

As far as I know, you get charged as soon as you press the send key. Airtime is airtime, whether the call is answered or not, or if it goes to an an answering machine.

If someone calls you, and your phone is turned off, then of course it won't ring, then you will not be charged. You are only charged when you answer.


Thanks I appreciate it. I was under the assumption that only if the other party answers your outgoing call, will you be charged (either personally or by answering machine).
But I see now that as soon as you hit the Call button and the number is dialled you are charged. So I take it you are also charged for a busy signal?

August 23, 2010
1:47 pm
aussielife
Toronto
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iamdrumming said:

As far as I know, you get charged as soon as you press the send key.


More precisely, according to Terms and Conditions, all outgoing calls which have at least 6 seconds of Chargeable Time, including ring time, shall incur a minimum of one minute of airtime charge.

I tested this couple of times by pressing the send key, and then, after a second or two (when you hear the first ring), pressing the end key. I was not charged in those cases.

August 23, 2010
1:49 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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Not sure, but I would think that you are charged when you press the send button, regardless if the call is answered or not. I would confirm with SpeakOut customer service though just to confirm, since their word is the final word..

August 24, 2010
10:04 am
Anne
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SOmark said:

Still haven't made or received a call yet, so I'm basically sticking to my original plan with a cellphone.
I'd like to know if you are charged anything if you make a call but get:
a) just ringing
b) busy signal
c) answering machine

Also if someone calls me and I don't answer (or much more likely)
my phone is turned off, will I be charged anything?

TIA


My experience with the above questions:
a) No, I've never been charged
b) No, I've never been charged
c) Yes (but if I've hung up within 1st second of a voicemail greeting sometimes it doesn't get charged)

No charge if you don't answer your phone or your phone is turned off.

August 25, 2010
4:08 pm
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Anne said:

My experience with the above questions:
a) No, I've never been charged
b) No, I've never been charged
c) Yes (but if I've hung up within 1st second of a voicemail greeting sometimes it doesn't get charged)

No charge if you don't answer your phone or your phone is turned off.


Ahhhh.. I see. Very interesting. This is more like what I would have expected.
Thanks very much Anne.

August 25, 2010
4:10 pm
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I have another basic question.

When you call someone who has a Speakout account and their phone is turned off, will they get a notification that they missed a call when they turn their phone on?

TIA

August 25, 2010
5:22 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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No. They will only get a notification if there is a voicemail left.

August 25, 2010
5:41 pm
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iamdrumming said:

No. They will only get a notification if there is a voicemail left.


Thanks Iam.
Is this standard for all phone services or just the way SO operates?
I ask because my new phone has various indicators for calls.
One is for missed calls. I assume a missed call is a call for which you either didn't hear the phone ring/ringer was off, or you had your phone turned off?

August 25, 2010
6:46 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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I would think it's for all phone services. If a phone is off, it has no way to even know that it is being called, so no log of the call is recorded.

August 26, 2010
12:33 pm
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iamdrumming said:

I would think it's for all phone services. If a phone is off, it has no way to even know that it is being called, so no log of the call is recorded.


Yes, I too was thinking along these lines. But then I thought about the times when I tried to send myself some test text messages (with my phone turned off).
Hours later when I turned the phone on, the text messages turned up on the phone.

So there is a mechanism whereby the cell tower is holding the text messages.
If it can hold text messages for hours, why can't it hold the caller's number and time of call, for a missed call?

August 26, 2010
12:47 pm
iamdrumming
Niagara Falls
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It's pretty much the same thing when someone leaves you either a text, or a voicemail. The text or voicemail is held in the system, and you are notified when you turn on the phone.
As to why the system can't hold someone's number and time they called, you should direct that question to SpeakOut customer service, or Rogers customer service (or technical support). Rogers is the network SpeakOut uses.

August 26, 2010
6:14 pm
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iamdrumming said:

...As to why the system can't hold someone's number and time they called, you should direct that question to SpeakOut customer service, or Rogers customer service (or technical support). Rogers is the network SpeakOut uses.


OK thanks very much IAD.
The only reason I asked was because of the 'missed call' feature that my phone can alert you to. I didn't know if this was when your phone was turned on and you didn't answer it, or when your phone was turned off (or possibly both).

August 28, 2010
4:04 am
reddleman
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My phone does the same thing. If someone calls when it's off, I'm not notified at all. As for why, I imagine it's an issue of volume. The more bits of data that the towers hold and keep trying to send until you turn your phone on, the more expensive it is for the company. And with millions of customers, those little bits could add up to a lot. Just a way for the company to make a little more money.

August 28, 2010
5:20 am
aussielife
Toronto
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When someone calls when my phone is off, the call goes directly to the voice mail.

August 28, 2010
12:57 pm
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aussielife said:

When someone calls when my phone is off, the call goes directly to the voice mail.


I see, and that's because you have a voice mail box set up.
I don't have one set up yet.
When you turn on your phone what do you see?
The caller's tel. number and time of call?

If I recall correctly, you are only charged for receiving a voice mail
if you listen to it with your cellphone right?
If you listen to it from a land line you aren't charged anything, correct?

August 28, 2010
1:06 pm
iamdrumming
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Again, the system does NOT record a call to your phone when your phone is turned off. There is no system I know of that does. You are never notified in any way that someone called you while your phone was off. You are only notified when someone left a voicemail.

Yes, accessing voicemail from a landline is free, because you are calling from a landline, not your SpeaKout phone, and not using airtime.

August 28, 2010
3:39 pm
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iamdrumming said:

Again, the system does NOT record a call to your phone when your phone is turned off. There is no system I know of that does. You are never notified in any way that someone called you while your phone was off. You are only notified when someone left a voicemail.

Yes, accessing voicemail from a landline is free, because you are calling from a landline, not your SpeaKout phone, and not using airtime.


Thanks IAD. I had shifted my previous post strictly to voice mail calls.
On voice mail calls. I called SO a couple of hours ago to find out what happens when messages are left.

The guy actually had to check because he wasn't sure.
But he came back and said when someone leaves a voicemail AND you listen to it on your cellphone, you can press '5' to see the caller ID and time of call.

He also said that the caller ID and time of call will be in your missed call list.
I'd like to focus on this missed call list.

I have a notification area on my phone for calls/missed/voice messages etc. plus many other notifications.

I did a test voice message and the only thing that showed up on my phone was a note that a voice mail was waiting, it said: "new voicemail, dial +1-647-278-9956"
Where would this 'missed call' note be with the Caller ID + time of call?

I couldn't find it anywhere.
TIA

August 28, 2010
9:24 pm
RonM
Victoria BC
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The missed call list on a cell phone shows calls that you missed when you left the phone on but did not answer it -- either by choice or because you were not close enough to the phone to hear it ring. That function is completely in the phone and the phone has to be powered up for it to work.

There is no magic technology that will save that information to a phone that is powered off.

Text messages get delivered when you power your phone back on because they are like an email -- they are held on a server until delivered. They are not a pure "email" by the strictest definition but that is the closest analogy I can think of.

Phone calls have to be real time to work -- otherwise they are just voice mail

Rogers offer a service called Call Manager to business accounts that includes a text message saying you received a call while you were away -- the example they use is if you are flying and have your phone powered off. It doesn't flag the "missed call" marker on the phone, it sends a text message to your phone when your phone next connects to the system (along with any text messages saying you have voice mail if there is VM.) Rogers charge for that service on Rogers phones, SO doesn't offer it. So while it is technologically possible, it isn't going to happen on a SO phone.

If you want to know if someone called you but don't want to actually hear the phone ringing, turn off the ringer and leave the phone on. Next time you look it will show the details of any calls you have received since the last time you checked your phone. If you are in a class and phones are not allowed, turn off the ringer and leave the phone in your locker -- you will see who called you while you were away.

The fact that the voice mail stores the information about the time date and caller ID of a caller is a function of the VM system and is completely independent of the phone you use to pick up the voice mail and/or of the handset associated with your phone number.

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