How to know what you're forwarded to?

[ottawa]

A friend forwarded their PM phone to another Canadian # before they went on vacation back in January. Tested it and it worked. Now when someone calls them, they just get a recorded message:

"1B1 The client you're trying to reach is not available at this moment. Please try again later. 1B1"

Is it possible this is a PM message? In that case, there's nothing they can do until they get home and turn off forwarding (they're scheduled to change to the $34 Canada-US plan, perhaps they can turn it off from the US at that point? Not sure how that aligns with their travel plans).

If it's not a PM message, then something's wrong with the # to which they forwarded. But they don't remember the target # (!) and I can't find a way to see what it is, so I can't help them troubleshoot. Would an Agent likely be able to help identify the target? Don't want to bother them if there's no chance they can tell.

Thanks.

[ottawa]

A last one for the road...

It appears putting the phone into Airplane Mode will also make calls go to voicemail instead of the 1B1 message (recall that voicemail was cancelled while in the US). This is more convenient than powering off, when an incoming text is expected (typically for 2FA). But it's still a total PITA that the choice is either receive texts or have voicemail active, and that both can't happen at the same time.

Moral of the story: make sure any call forwarding is disabled before getting on a US tower (so well before the border). And that you can't have calls forwarded while in the US (which was the original goal, they were forwarding to a Canadian voip.ms # which was then going to be forwarded to a US mobile #, or answered with softphone).

Thanks again everyone.

[ottawa]

One more time...

After additional testing, it appears the SIM doesn't have to be removed, just the phone powered off. Which is a much safer routine especially when out.

Phone off = voicemail, Phone on = 1B1 message, and of course I'm wondering if this would have worked without turning off the CF.  But at least calls go to vmail.

Thanks again.

[ottawa · Accepted solution]

Okay solved (or at least identified), thanks to posts and to a user who DMed me. They did the #21# and it claimed to work even in US (I guess it's a system command). But calling still led to the 1B1 error quoted in OP.

At suggestion of the DMer, removed the SIM and called the number again, hoping it would then recognize there was no call forward. This time it rang 5 times and went to vmail, as expected (presumably this might have worked even if forwarding still on?). But after replacing the SIM card, got the 1B1 error again. So the best compromise is to keep the SIM out so calls go to vmail, and put the SIM in when incoming texts expected (typically 2FA alerts). This is a pain but it's the best solution I see at this point.

The DMer suggested it's a known issue that being seen by a US tower will kill any call forward, has anyone else seen that? If I'd known it was an issue, I'd have told them not to call forward (the texts for 2FA are more important than having calls forwarded).

Of course with the new $34 Canada-US plan, this may be a non-issue in future (for anyone on Canada-US anyway).

Thanks again, and interested to know if Call Forward will always fail so ungracefully if your SIM is seen by a US tower.

[✅ ....... Luddite]

[ottawa]

I got them to do #21# and it says it worked (phone is in US) but when I call them I still get the 1B1 message. Is that likely coming from PM, or from the forwarded number (if unforwarding failed) or elsewhere?

Thanks.

[fixin]

@ottawa - This article might help: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/call-forwarding

You can disable call forwarding, maybe in the USA even without a roaming add-on, but not anywhere outside Canada & the USA.