Can't answer phone (only doing 1 or 2 rings)

[Chrysanth]

No problem with outgoing calls, or incoming or outgoing texts, or my husband's mobile.

I don't know how long ago this started (e.g. most of our personal contacts use our home phone, WhatsApp, etc).  I only discovered it recently, by missing a long series of attempted calls from the same reputable organisation I was in a dialogue with.

Same happens when my husband tries ringing my mobile from his across the table.  That way, we can hear that the ringing tone from his phone goes on for quite a while before my phone does its 1 or 2 rings.  Ringing my mobile from our home phone, in the latter I hear a few seconds of silence, followed by 3 rings before my mobile does its 2 rings.  (The home phone number is via a VOIP service).

Online articles etc always seem to be either about a phone not ringing at all, or one ringing for a decent time, but not for long enough in a particular circumstance.  But one thing that had helped some  people was increasing the number of rings before a call goes to voicemail, using a code.  I made a note of Three's code for that, but then decided to consult here before trying it.

Another thing that had helped someone was clearing some caches and data (which I like to do every so often anyway).  I did that (treating each app individually) but must have made some little mistake, as I'm now having to edit each contact and re-enter the phone number, in order to continue to ring it from there.  No great bother, but later while looking for some setting or other, I noticed a box containing only +353 in the SIM settings, and wondered if that has some connection with my Contacts error.  (I left the SIM settings alone until further advised).

Another suggestion was turning voicemail off, but doing that didn't seem to make any difference in this case, so I turned it back on.  I then saw something like 'Mini code in progress', then 'Call forwarding successfully erased'  I then remembered one occasion about a year ago.when it could well have been set up temporally, then forgotten about.  But I still don't know how my phone's rings could have got shortened in the first place.

Phone is Motorola Edge 20 Lite, (Android 13, Three PAYG sim).

[Three_Niall]

Hey @Chrysanth thanks for posting here, with the above ring time query this is something that you can edit on the device by doing the following:

Open the Phone app.
 

Type the following code: **61*101**XX#

Replace XX with the number of seconds you want the phone to ring 

Example to ring for 30 seconds: **61*101**30# (30 seconds is normally the maximum)
 

Press the Call button.
 

A message should appear confirming that call forwarding registration was successful. 

[Chrysanth]

Sorry Niall - I hadn't realised how long my query had got!  (I've now edited it to try and make it a bit clearer).

Thank you for clarifying the ring time setting code, but I already had it written down, before noticing  the SIM settings thing, and wondering if that might be more important to clarify first.

[Chrysanth]

From a general web search, it does look as if SIM card settings ought to show the user's phone number.  (And that the user can update that if it's showing the wrong number for some reason).

Another thing to check was the phone number shown in Settings, About Phone, Phone number.  In my phone, that says 'Unknown'.  How should I proceed?  (Or is it a matter for Three?)

[Three_Niall]

Thanks @Chrysanth with the +353 that you are mentioning, I wouldn't be able to advise you on this without knowing what the actual field is or where the setting is located however for the ring time I'd recommend checking if your phone will allow you to set the ring time for longer by changing the 30 to 45 or 60 to test if will allow you to extend this for you. 

[Three_Niall]

@Chrysanth in the SIM card settings you can enter in your mobile number, sometimes this can happen if you do a reset of the settings however going forward the steps I would recommend taking is trying the above or trying to see if you can extend the call time longer.

[Chrysanth]

Thanks Niall - I'll try entering my phone number in the SIM settings, then.  (The field is labelIed :Number, and has +353 already in it).  I have been wondering how anything can tell that it's a real phone number if it's nowhere to be found in my phone (though maybe there are additional ways).

Re increasing the number of rings, 30 will probably do for me.  (I thought it was the maximum?)

[Three_Niall]

@Chrysanth I can understand what you mean however to put this simply the number would be attached to the SIM card where the number would be attached and connects to the network. Sometimes if you changed your number on the phone, reset the setting or bought the phone from someone other than the network the number may not automatically appear in that area then it may not appear in that settings but that wouldn't effect your number as its still attached to the sim.

[Chrysanth]

Thank you for your explanation.  (I got my first mobile later than most people, and by the time I'd got past a  false start with one with no signal, the media was assuming everyone already knew that kind of thing!).

It's just possible this incoming call problem was happening from the start, and I've gathered that SIM-only deals are one of the things that can cause a complication for some people.  It's the reason why My3 is still showing my first smartphone (bought from Three 11 years ago), which nobody can update to my current one.  (But I don't think that can cause any problems, and guess the  problem-free outgoing calls mean not much could have got muddled when registering my current one with Three).

Unfortunately, I'm still not having much luck with the incoming ones.  I  couldn't see anywhere to check whether call forwarding was enabled, searched the Three community for that and found a discussion where the code *#21# was given for managing call forwarding.  I dialled that, and a Three message popped up, titled Call Forwarding, with a list of 8 types of forwarding including voice, all of them saying "Not forwarded".

When I tried to extend the number of rings, trying to send the code caused the Three message "Call forwarding; Connection problem or invalid MMI code".  So another mystery (to me!).

The same happens whether I try for 30, 45 or 60 seconds.

I found a 3  community question from 2022 about not being able to extend the ring time.  The code ##21# was given in order to reset the voicemail, before trying the code **61*(phone number).  I've no idea if that would be relevant in my case, or even safe to try, especially as something was also done in the background (but the services are now looking even more intertwined!).

[Three_Niall]

@Chrysanth I can understand your concerns however the calls query that you have wouldn't be affected by whether you are on SIM Only, Prepay or Bill Pay etc. 

As for the Smartphone appearing on My3, the only phones that would appear on your account would be phones bought directly from Three through your account. If you buy the phone through a third party this wouldn't be able to be updated on the account but you are right as this wouldn't cause any problems. 

The code  ##21# would normally be used for activating and deactivating your voicemail which wouldn't be related to this query however it is safe to try so and see if this helps. If this doesn't work, it's happening with all numbers, and you have had your SIM card for a long period of time it might be worth considering getting a new SIM to see if this helps.