Something unexpected killed my phone service
I’ve been a happy camper with Google Voice with Sprint integration back since it came out. Getting voicemails transcribed, emails when I’ve missed a call, texting from a computer, it’s been grand. Until yesterday.
I’d worked about 14 hours at the point I passed out yesterday. I awoke to a lot of emails letting my know my number was listing as disconnected. I attempted to call work, got a fast busy. Attempted to dial wife. Fast busy. Attempted to make a phone call via Google Voice from the computer, that rang my phone and seemed to work. Weird.
Went to the Sprint store, 4yo in tow.
Believe it or not I’m not about to rag on the Sprint store employees. The next couple of hours were spent with people alternately helping my 4yo to draw, spell, and beating their heads against their computers and trawling support forums trying to figure out why I couldn’t dial out or in.
I go through everything I can remember about the past two days on the phone. They have me remove a couple of pieces of software, no big, reset wireless connections – err… not going to help but no big… finally someone with a different level of access asks if I’ve forwarded the phone anywhere and I mention that no, just Google Voice integration. We decide to kill Google Voice to test the theory.
I log in, de-integrate my Google Voice number, suddenly the phone’s updating something, phone calls start working. Rrrrr? I go to re-integrate it and there’s no option to. *sigh* looks like that was removed back in Feb.
I decide to set up my voicemail before heading out and get that the number is busy. They try and troubleshoot that for a bit. After another 20 minutes checking all my call forwarding and integration issues the only person who’s capable of higher level stuff looks like she’s been on the floor for 14 hours, my 4yo’s starving, I decide it’s time to exit. I’ll deal with it later.
During this time we discovered something interesting – Calling Plus (wifi calling’s new name,) had been activated. This is not something I’d done as it very plainly says it will break Google Voice. It did. I hadn’t activated it. My kids haven’t had my phone. It’s just listed as active. Deactivating does nothing for voicemail, which I believe is somehow inherently messed up and pointing to goog.
My and the kiddo went next door to get her some chicken fried rice with ketchup and duck sauce.
After she was good, or as good as any human can be with chinese food covered in ketchup in their stomach, we wandered back over to the Sprint store. All the helpful people had gone and I asked the guy at the stand something relating to something I had read while at the restaurant.
He said “you know who you should talk to about that? Best Buy. They know all the inner workings of that phone.” I asked how that had anything to do with the Sprint service re-routing my voicemail and he said “oh, I guess it wouldn’t.” Errrr. yeah.
So now I am waiting for Sprint techs to respond via chat. I’ve worked with their frontline chat people today, refreshed profiles, re-done hands-free activation, called the number that verifies the service is active, but my voicemail is still kaput.
I’m not sure if a new version of Calling Plus got pushed, I somehow managed to activate it in my sleep, or what the deal is but man, it’s been a weird road.
