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SOLVED: Samsung Android Calls Going Straight to VoiceMail

Having your Samsung S6, s5, Note, Note II or other device send calls directly to voicemail can be caused by several things, most of which are easily resolved:

CALL REJECTION IS TURNED ON:

  1. Start your PHONE app
  2. Click MORE (or three dots icon) in the top right corner of the screen (or the OPTIONS/MENU button on older devices)
  3. Click SETTINGS
  4. Click AUTO REJECT LIST
  5. Remove any numbers in the list

BLUETOOTH IS CONFUSED:

If all of your inbound calls are going straight to voicemail, try turning OFF your Bluetooth connection.  Sometimes your phone may think it has a connection to a Bluetooth device (like your car or an earpiece) but that device is not talking to the phone.  In this situation, you will not hear the phone ring and think that the calls are going straight to voicemail.

  1. Swipe down from the top to bring up the status / notices screen
  2. Click on the BLUETOOTH icon to turn it off

CALL BARRING IS TURNED ON:

  1. Start your PHONE app
  2. Click MORE (or three dots icon) in the top right corner of the screen (or the OPTIONS/MENU button on older devices)
  3. Click SETTINGS
  4. Click MORE in the top right corner of the screen (or the OPTIONS/MENU button on older devices)
  5. Click CALL BARRING
    1. These settings let you block inbound or outbound calls in various situations like:
      1. ALL INCOMING CALLS
      2. ALL INCOMING CALLS WHEN ROAMING
      3. ALL INTERNATIONAL CALLS
      4. …
    2. If you click MORE in the top right corner of the screen (or the OPTIONS/MENU button on older devices) you can then set a password for these rules.  This is a great tool for parents that a travelling with kids who are too little or too stupid to understand the cost of international calls.

SIM CARD HAS SHIFTED:

  1. Swipe down from the top to bring up the status / notices screen
  2. At the bottom right confirm that your cellular provider name is shown on the bottom of the screen .
  3. If you see NO SERVICE it means there is something wrong with your account with your provider (Telus, AT&T, Orange…) or your SIM card
  4. If your account is fine, it likely means the SIM card has shifted and you should:
    1. Power down the phone
    2. Take the SIM card out
    3. Put the SIM card in
    4. Power up
    5. Swipe down from the top to bring up the status / notices screen
    6. Within one minute or so, your cell should show the name of your cellular provider at the bottom of the notices screen
  5. If this still shows no service, you might have a bad SIM and you should take it back to the store for them to check it

VOLUME IS TURNED DOWN:

If your volume is turned down, the calls may be coming in but you did not hear the ringing so you think they are being sent directly to voicemail.

  1. Start your PHONE app
  2. Click the VOLUME UP button (physical button on the side of your cell)

FORWARD TO VOICEMAIL IS ON:

  1. Start your PHONE app
  2. Click MORE (or three dots icon) in the top right corner of the screen (or the OPTIONS/MENU button on older devices)
  3. Click SETTINGS
  4. Click CALL FORWARDING
  5. Click VOICE CALL
  6. Click ALWAYS FORWARD and then DISABLE

VOICE OVER LTE IS ON:

  1. Start your PHONE app
  2. Click MORE (or three dots icon) in the top right corner of the screen (or the OPTIONS/MENU button on older devices)
  3. Click SETTINGS
  4. Find and disable VOICE OVER LTE
    1. only available on some models and firmware versions, so don’t look too hard
    2. This will be on ALL devices in the future
    3. LTE is a Data Only network and does not carry voice… but voice can be converted into digital data and sent over LTE.

ANTENNA IS BROKEN:

This is quite rare but possible.  If your cell have very intermittent connectivity the cold solder joint that connects the internal antenna (really just a small white clad  copper wire) may have come loose.  To test this turn OFF your WiFi to verify that you are ONLY receiving data from your cellular provider and try to send or receive calls, or surf the internet or send/receive emails… .

 

View Comments

    • There are always new reason for odd behaviour but so far these instructions have cleared 100% of the issues we have come across with our corporate customers.

  • It would be nice if the phone would simply not allow voicemail for any number that is not in the contact list. Or better yet since contacts are alpha numeric Phone manufacturer's should simply have an option for rejecting any call that comes in showing only numbers.

  • Thank you for this great information on instances of phones going straight to voice mail. We had similar incident to what you described in the Bluetooth connection problem above. When we get into our car the Bluetooth connects automatically and we forget the Bluetooth is on. We were waiting for an important call in the morning and our carport is next to our bedroom where the Samsung S9+ phone was. Of course the calls went to the car then to voicemail not leaving any notification on the phone that a phone call had come in because the Bluetooth was still on. Short term frustration but your information helped a lot. THANK YOU

  • Should all the above advice still apply if there is no pattern?
    I've had this problem with ALL my smart phones...from the S3 all the way up to my current S7. It's never the same number, there doesn't seem to be any pattern at all. A number that calls all the...like 5 times out a hundred, it goes right to voice mail. I don't use bluetooth, I have 1 game on my phone. I don't really download stuff, Because I work from home, I don't leave the house much, soooo....why would a number that called me 4 times on friday, go straight to voicemail today when absolutely nothing is different?
    Not always the same number either, not the same time of day, or day of the week....it seems to be very random and hella frustrating...especially when it's my boss calling wondering why yesterday I picked up and today I didn't.

    • I run dozens of Samsung cells and have not seen the problem you are describing so it seems likely to me to be one of two potential issues:
      1: a problem with your cell provider. The voicemail is actually managed by the provider and if they are randomly picking up and sending to voice mail, there is nothing you can do (other than complain)

      2: you have a setting that has been migrated from cell to cell over the years that is causing the issue

      I have a suggestion you are not going to like. You have likely migrated your Samsung cells from one cell to another (i.e. S3 to S5 to S7). I would wipe my cell back to factory without migrating the data. Then I would run it for a week and see if the problem goes away.

      I hope this helps.

  • Yes, Bill! That worked for me too: switching from LTE/3G/2G to just 3G/2G.
    I almost bought a new phone because of this.

    • If you are really stuck, you could consider wiping the receiving phone back to factory. You should not have to do this but if you are at an end, that will resolve it.

  • I had this problem for weeks and called Metro Customer Svc- while they were absolutely helpful and nice, they could not fix it. It was an app under "Personalization" that I stubled across. Go to Settings-Personalization-Blocking mode and everything will be checked - just turn it off and you're good. Hope this helps!

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Published by
Ian Matthews
Tags: directly to voicemailgalaxygallaxyS3s4S5S6s7samsungvoicemailwhat is autorejectwhat is call barring
9 years ago

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