Samsung Galaxy S5 not ringing on occasion - any fixes?

[Gee5celler]

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 two months ago (through Verizon), and soon noticed it was not ringing on occasion (most of the time it rings, sometimes it does not). When it did not ring, it also did not show a missed call. The only way I knew I had missed the call is when someone left a voice message. I spoke to all three levels of Verizon tech support - they made sure my calls weren't being blocked, replaced my SIM card, did a hard reset, and finally replaced my phone. The new one (also an S5) is having the same exact problem. Does anyone know how to fix the problem?

 

[slb21]

I ended up with the same problem when I ported my number to Verizon, from Sprint. No fixes, although I have far fewer problems with the S5 than I did with the HTC Rezound.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[AZgl1500]

I have had that problem here at home a lot.

The phone does not ring, yet there is a voice mail.

What has happened is that the network did not "find your phone" within the specified amount of time to ring it. The network then switches the caller over to your voice mail so they can leave a message.

You can negate this effect by using the phone once in a while. I just press '1' to make it try to call my voice mail. What that does is to re-register the phone with the network so that it "knows where you are".

With my home location, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that I am using an in the home "Network Extender" mini cell site because of poor coverage in my home by Verizon.

When I get home, if I happen to think about it, I will call my voicemail and then the network knows I am using the Network Extender.... otherwise, it can't find me.

Funny thing about those missed calls. Text Messages ALWAYS WORK.

 

[JD76ers]

I am on Sprint and became aware of this issue last week. I have missed at least 3 calls in the last couple of days. Only way to tell is a VM notification appears. I will try the calling VM every once and a while, thanks for the tip, but this shouldn't be happening and is unacceptable.

 

[pchrist11]

I too have this problem on occasion. I normally just try to reboot my phone once a week, but I will have to try the "call voicemail" method to see if that helps. My post on this issue:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s5/389100-s5-not-ringing-sometimes.html

 

[Gee5celler]

I'll give the VM call a try. I spoke with Verizon and Samsung tech support yesterday - Samsung offered to have the repair center replace my phone's motherboard, but I don't see how this will help since I've already received a replacement phone and am having the same problem with the second phone.

 

[Gee5celler]

Thanks for the suggestion - will let you know if it works.

 

[Gee5celler]

Just tried calling my VM - waited about 45 min and tried calling my cell from my land line. Cell phone didn't ring (and ended up getting my VM after several rings from the land line). Oh, well. It was worth a try. Thanks anyway for the suggestion.

I have had that problem here at home a lot.

The phone does not ring, yet there is a voice mail.

What has happened is that the network did not "find your phone" within the specified amount of time to ring it. The network then switches the caller over to your voice mail so they can leave a message.

You can negate this effect by using the phone once in a while. I just press '1' to make it try to call my voice mail. What that does is to re-register the phone with the network so that it "knows where you are".

With my home location, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that I am using an in the home "Network Extender" mini cell site because of poor coverage in my home by Verizon.

When I get home, if I happen to think about it, I will call my voicemail and then the network knows I am using the Network Extender.... otherwise, it can't find me.

Funny thing about those missed calls. Text Messages ALWAYS WORK.

 

[projectx633]

I think you have a great point. We have had this no-ring/no-VM issue with my husband's Galaxy S5 Active on AT&T since we purchased it last August 2014. We have changed SIM cards, new phone, rebooted to no avail. We have been talking with tech support for the past 2 weeks and I keep telling them to google it and many people have this same issue on several phones and several carriers. Today, I tried this test...

1. Called my hubby's phone (had not been used today yet). It rang several times then went to VM. Did not leave message. Nothing on his phone.
2. Called again, straight to VM. Did not leave message. Nothing on his phone.
3. Called again, straight to VM. Left message. Nothing on his phone.
4. Called again, straight to VM. Nothing on his phone.
5. Texted. Waited but no ding on his phone.. I may not have waited long enuf.
6. Called again, VOILA!!! It rang on his phone!!!! Immediately thereafter, his phone dinged that the text from #5 was received...
7. Called again, rang on his phone.
8. Waited 1 hour. Phone rang just fine... Will now wait 2 hours and see if it goes into lala land again. Trying to find the amount of time before it goes into "Lala/sleep" mode again.

I have an older Moto X and do NOT have any of these problems. That's why I am stumped. Does the Galaxy use different technology?

It appears that the text message from me to him "woke his phone up". Btw, we changed his VM message to ask people to text him and that his phone is not always ringing thru. Hope this helps someone else... This has been sooo frustrating!!! Also, we are sitting in the same room, with WIFI on, doing these tests.

 

[tansep14]

Mine is doing the same. I can be right next to it and all of a sudden there is a voice message from a missed call. No ring sounds or vibration what so ever. I don't see a solution to this on this forum yet or have i missed it?

 

[ironass]

Mine is doing the same. I can be right next to it and all of a sudden there is a voice message from a missed call. No ring sounds or vibration what so ever. I don't see a solution to this on this forum yet or have i missed it?

Does this happen if you use a stock Samsung ringtone?

 

[BerryBubbles]

I struggled with the same issue. Phone sitting right next to me & Ding, Voice Mail. My S5 is on the T-Mobile network. I turned off the Wifi calling feature & the 'straight to voicemail' problem ended. It has never happened again.

 

[Fred Vinson]

Does this happen if you use a stock Samsung ringtone?

It does for me

 

[combat82]

Same problem. I will sometimes turn the phone on after its been off to charge only to see a voicemail but no missed call and if they don't leave a number to call back I'm stuck in the water.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[srfoot]

My S5 from verizon and being used on Tmobile will also not ring all of the time and go to voicemail.
I do not have wifi calling. Verizon not offering it on my phone and I updated it to marshmallow via Kies. I have not found a way to get wifi calling on my phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[infedel]

The S5, S6 &7 do not have the benefit of the same antenna system that the original Galaxy S series phones were built with and as far as I can tell there is nothing to fix it as the antenna is a board level repair and no better antenna is offered by Samsung to fix the situation. There once was a battery sold after market that claimed to have a built in antenna booster however it did not produce any better results.

 

[socksysocks]

I struggled with the same issue. Phone sitting right next to me & Ding, Voice Mail. My S5 is on the T-Mobile network. I turned off the Wifi calling feature & the 'straight to voicemail' problem ended. It has never happened again.

First, I want to say that there are tons of issues with this type of issue from GS5 and forward. I am still in the testing phase of a simple fix I found, will try to keep you posted. I have read TONS of sites and help guides and whatnot. I discovered a connection between the Network type and an issue with voice over LTE calls. This seems to be directly related to the ability to receive calls (as opposed to having them go to voicemail). Supposedly there will soon be VoLTE network type to resolve the issue, but until then, if you're operating on an older device (GS5 or GS5 Sport) this is what I did (and so far it's working):

Go to "Settings"
Go to "More networks"
Choose "Mobile networks"
Choose "Network mode"
NOTE WHAT IT IS ON CURRENTLY
Select "CDMA"
Phone will warn you that you must restart to apply settings.
Allow phone to restart.
Issue should be resolved.
If not (and you want to revert to prior settings), just follow the tips to go back and restore the previous settings and restart again.

This change has NOT negatively effected my data, app usage, or any other component I can discern. It has only positively effected my ability to receive voice calls, rather than having them go to VM. Post if it helps you too.