T-Mobile & Vonage Users

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 18

Hello,

I have T-Mobile Cellphones and Vonage. I want to forward my calls to my T-Mobile via regular call forwarding or SimulRing, but when I do, the caller id adds an extra "01" in front of the number and chops off the last 2 digits of the number on the phone display. The number is also shows the chopped off number on the billing statement online.

Are there any T-Mobile and Vonage users that use SimulRing with the caller ID working properly on their T-Mobile phones? (Would anyone be interested in testing to see if it works?) (I have 4 T-Mobile lines on 2 separate account and each displays the Caller ID the same incorrect way. i.e. 0121055512 vice 2105551234)

Please let me know if this feature is working for any T-Mobile users, maybe you could add my cell to your Vonage acount to test it out or I could add your T-Mobile cell to my Vonage SimulRing to test out.

Thanks

Posts: 414 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 10:28 pm Post subject:

Not sure why you didn't just add a reply to your already existing thread about this, but ok. I have some more info for you on this now. I would bet that your Vonage number is owned(leased by Vonage from) level 3 communications. Level 3, on inbound calls from PSTN(standard land lines) prefaces the number with a +(no idea why). Vonage will show this correctly, as will most other carriers as they know of this issue(It's not only level 3 that does this, they are just the only Vonage carrier that does, afaik) and have their systems set up to drop leading +'s. On a simulring your cell phone will get a call with the caller ID exactly as Vonage sees it, with the + and all. It seems t-mobile doesn't quite know what to do when it sees that + and gives you the erratic results you have reported in this and your last thread. Seems more like an issue on the t-mobile end then on the Vonage end to me, but thats just my opinion. If every other carrier is "smart" enough to drop that +, then why shouldn't t-mobile be able to? Unfortunately, I don't see Vonage, Level 3 or T-Mobile making system wide changes to fix this issue for you. Sad

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 18

FYI, when I dial a "+" on my cellphone, T-mobile sees that as a "011" for international access.

If the last 2 digits of the number didn't get chopped off, I could deal with it. My phones are capable of displaying additional digits. (Phone book and redial don't work with this problem.)

Why do I seem to be the only person that has this problem? It is difficult for me to believe that there are not other T-Mobile and Vonage customers that aren't experiencing the same annoying and dysfunctional caller id problem.

But, until I can determine that it is not something specific to my Vonage or T-Mobile account, I don't know which way to proceed.

Posts: 414 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject:

solarwarp wrote:

But, until I can determine that it is not something specific to my Vonage or T-Mobile account, I don't know which way to proceed.

In your last thread you said you forwarded it to a non-T-Mobile line and the caller ID on simulring was correct. With this information and the info I posted above I believe one can make a pretty conclusive determination that it is T-Mobile not correctly interpreting the leading + in the caller ID field. I guess there is a slight chance that is is your cell phone changing it but with your varying results it would point to an overall T-Mobile issue. At the very least it rules Vonage out as the cause of the issue, as they are doing exactly what they are supposed to, passing the CID info along untouched. As an aside, I HAVE seen this issue before, that is why I had the info that I posted above. I am not however a T-Mobile customer to be able to test it myself, but you can be assured it is not specific to your Vonage account or to Vonage for that matter.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 18

Thanks for the info.

According to AreaCodeDownload.com, the number is owned by Grande Communicaitons.

Wouldn't it stand to reason that if this number were to call my cellphone directly it would have the same error on my cellphone display? Also other callers from this same phone exchange call me without the error as well.

(I only get the caller display error when the calls are forwarded, simulring or failover when they come from Vonage.) That's my dilemna.

But, I guess it doesn't matter if even if we identify the offending vendor if no one would have an interest in resolving the problem.

I don't really care what the phone number is, I only intend on using Vonage for their SimulRing service; if another number provider in another area code could be selected and not produce the same results, I would be happy.

If I get no where with resolving this, the answer for me would be to cancel Vonage and find a vendor that has the capability to simultaneously forward to multiple phones with a functional caller ID that works with T-Mobile.

Posts: 414 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:52 pm Post subject:

solarwarp wrote:

Thanks for the info.

According to AreaCodeDownload.com, the number is owned by Grande Communicaitons.

Grande Communications is not a Vonage carrier. We are talking about the ownership of your Vonage number here. That site you linked is not correct by the way for any of my numbers. Go here and follow the prompts along, it will tell you the exact carrier of your number.

solarwarp wrote:

Wouldn't it stand to reason that if this number were to call my cellphone directly it would have the same error on my cellphone display? Also other callers from this same phone exchange call me without the error as well.

No. Level 3 is the owner of your VONAGE number(Vonage does not own numbers, they simply lease/purchase them from CLEC's who still provide the backend for the number). They add the leading + to INBOUND caller ID. So if the number calls you directly, even if they are a Level 3 number, the caller ID format would be decided by the INBOUND carrier. The only way you would see this issue is if the call has first passed from a non-level 3 number to a level 3 number, then is finally forwarded out of the level 3 number with the caller ID kept intact.

solarwarp wrote:

If I get no where with resolving this, the answer for me would be to cancel Vonage and find a vendor that has the capability to simultaneously forward to multiple phones with a functional caller ID that works with T-Mobile.

Keep in mind that Level 3 is a huge CLEC who provides numbers to a multitude of VoIP and other carriers. If they are the regional CLEC of choice in your area than any VoIP carrier has the possibility of providing you with a Level 3 owned number, and a recurrence of this same issue depending on how they pass along CID info. The only sure way to get away from Level 3 would be to go to a landline carrier with their own PSTN infrastructure.

Hope that clears up some of the confusion in your above post.

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 18

Hello and thanks for the info.

If Level 3 is such a big player in this then it makes it even more necessary for me to find another T-Mobile user or a number from another CLEC to see if I can get Vonage to work the way I need it to. (The area code makes no difference to us, we just want a workable SimulRing service with correct called id with our T-Mobile phones.)

The link you provided was a Sprint/Nextel link that I couldn't figure out. But I did some searching on my own and somewhere found another website that said the Grande Communications owns the Exchange, but Level 3 leases my number range from them. (But then a thunderstorm knocked at the power went out last night and I lost the reference.)

Are any of your numbers non-Level 3?

BTW, another Vonage user contacted me and is having the same issues with caller id and his QWest landline adding the 01.

Posts: 414 · Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:44 pm Post subject:

For the sprint/nextel link you can see your carrier if you do the following. Enter your zip code and your Vonage telephone number and click continue. Check the box next to your number and click continue. The next page will show you your number with the current carrier listed to the right of it.

And yes, my Vonage number are XO Communications. Shoot me a PM and I will see if I can set up a call forward for you to test tomorrow.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 05, 2007 Posts: 10

I have my Vonage set to simul ring to my t mobile phone and it works perfectly including the caller id feature. The ONLY problem is that I cannot call in for voice mails to my vonage mail box from my cell because my t mobile phone puts right to voice mail (for the cell).

Posts: 18 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 18

GATCOTX wrote:

I have my Vonage set to simul ring to my t mobile phone and it works perfectly including the caller id feature. The ONLY problem is that I cannot call in for voice mails to my vonage mail box from my cell because my t mobile phone puts right to voice mail (for the cell).

Thanks, I think that there might be hope for me after-all.

Apparantly, the caller id issue may have to do with what carrier Vonage is using for your phone number. Go here and follow the prompts along, it will tell you the exact carrier of your number.

If it's other than Level 3 then that confirms xcrunxc's theory.

As for the voicemail, I think that if SimulRing is on, then Vonage voicemail gets set off by default.