Is an Unreachable Number Considered a Completed Call Aftering Being Dialed?

[computergeek541]

Hi everyone, 

I know that I don't usually ask questiosn, but I have one. 

If you place an outgoing call and you get a message such as "The person you are trying to reach is unavailable", does that call count as being completed by Telus/Public Mobile? 

My understanding has been that such as message is heard by the outgoing caller when an ougoing call is made and the receiving person doesn't answer the calll (for whatever reason) but doesn't have voicemail. 

I have actually seen this go both ways, although I would think that this should count the same as receiving a busy signal or call that was never finished/connected. 

I have confirmed that this is happening when trying to call a Telstra customer.  This person doesn't have voicemail (so, it's not being forwarded there), and the receiver all doesn't have any type of third party voicemail or software app answering. This is flat-out an unanswered call, yet Public Mobile is counting these calls that aren't completed as used long distance minutes. I suspect this has something to do with the codes being sent back by the other carrier and the billing involved between Telstra and Telus, but I don't believe these should be recorded as connected phone calls.

@sheytoon :  Can you weigh in on this?

@Catherine_T  Is this by design that minutes are used for unanswered calls? And if not, is Public Mobile aware that this is happening?

[Nezgar]

So here's the thing.... In some of the ways I've setup voip.ms to take calls, and "simring" multiple numbers, or hunt multiple numbers, or play a message "please wait while I locate the person you are calling..." - the call is technically CONNECTED to play that message to the caller, and then your LD and minutes would begin to be consumed...

I'm curious on the call in question if you pay attention to your phone, it should keep showing "calling" and not start showing the call connected timer until that 'connected' sound plays.... Some calls use "early media" to play announcements without triggering the connection, ie test calling this one: 306-337-0005 - it plays a message "At the customers request, this line has been configured for outgoing calls only" - and does not consider the call 'connected' before terminating.

There is reference on some of the documentation I've read researching SIP/VoIP routing that some international carriers to not support "early media" properly, and the calls show as "connected" as soon as the remote party line starts to ring... But there's not much the local carrier can do about that... Now where did I see that....

Wonder where I read that now...

[sheytoon]

@computergeek541 it's not my area of expertise, but my guess is that it depends who is playing that recorded message.

If it's coming from Telus, I wouldn't expect to be billed. If Telstra, then maybe it's more acceptable to be billed as Telus delivered the call correctly.

Can you tell from the accent of the person on the recording?

[BasesLoadedWalk]

I see you have tried to call someone in Australia. I have a sister who lives there, and the call from Canada/Public Mobile gets routed through many networks to get there. I have on occasion been charged a minute when the call is unable to be completed. It's perhaps that Public Mobile's network sees the call as being connected when it's transferred to Telstra's network, and whatever happens to the call once in Telstra's hands is out of Public Mobile's hands, and registers as a completed call. If however the call never enters the receiving caller's network, I believe then that Public Mobile would see that as an uncompleted call.

[AE_Collector]

The entire phone network design including landline side (but not necessarily including the cell side) works on the principle that there is no answer supervision on an unanswered call so no billing. Calls answered with recordings at the Telco (not home answering machines) also do not return answer supervision. Even though the cell network starts timers when you hit “send” it doesn’t count for anything if the call is unanswered.

But telephone switching looked like this when I worked on it. This isn't me, a fellow employee vacuuming up water after a small flood in the Mutual #5 Crossbar exchange in Downtown Vancouver.

AE_Collector

[HALIMACS]

Hi @computergeek541 

I can confirm that when I had pre- paid service with a competitor, any uncompleted calls such as those did not count against limited minutes. 

[NDesai]

I made a first International call yesterday. The first 2 tries were not successful, did not ring at all. May be an issue on their end. Third time, it did the same, but the person answered directly.  I only see 1 entry in my account usage history that deducted right amount of mins. No entries for unsuccessful calls.  

[LurganIeUk]

I don’t see it.....but it should be covered here. 

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/pdfs/Public_Mobile_Terms_of_Service.pdf

[computergeek541]

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@LurganIeUk wrote:

I would think not. The computer would be told, I think, to track to time from start of call from your SIM until your SIM disconnects? Does not matter if answered?

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That happens to be the very reason I am asking. Long distance minutes are being used for calls that are never completed. They're gettting marked as completed/connected/terminated when there's simply no answer.  Traditionally, phone companies don't charge for calls that don't get answered (or go to voicemail).

[LurganIeUk]

I would think not. The computer would be told, I think, to track to time from start of call from your SIM until your SIM disconnects? Does not matter if answered?

[computergeek541]

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@LurganIeUk wrote:

Does the count not include ring time? That is what I have seen here. 

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Yes, but has not always just only been for completed phone calls?

[LurganIeUk]

Does the count not include ring time? That is what I have seen here.