dee-dee-dee

March 6, 2009 10:44 AM

Phone mystery: "The number you have reached is temporarily disconnected" -- except it's not!

This is very strange. I'm trying to call someone's cell phone, and no matter whether I try calling from my iPhone or my landline (which are handled by different carriers), I get a message saying "We're sorry, the number you have reached is temporarily disconnected." The same thing happens to the other person when they try to call me on my mobile line or my landline. This is someone I am in constant contact with for work and talk to all the time, and it's frustrating to us both that this is happening. I can call everyone else fine on my phone; the other person can call everyone else fine on theirs. It started happening yesterday. What is the deal? And how can it be fixed?

posted by mothershock to technology (6 comments total)

silly question: have either of you contacted your providers of various services?
posted by sio42 at 10:47 AM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

YouMail?
posted by Houstonian at 11:36 AM on March 6

Definitely a case of bad provisioning on the cell phone account. I had a friend in MN who would get the same result calling my AT&T mobile phone in CA, both from her Sprint wireless phone and from landline. We banged on customer service from both ends (they each blamed the other company and refused to talk to each other). The 'aha' moment occurred when she could successfully call from a friend's AT&T mobile phone.

I had to go up the support chain a couple of levels, but AT&T finally fixed it. Your friend with the cell phone will need to be persistent!
posted by DandyRandy at 12:16 PM on March 6

Out of curiosity, is T-Mobile involved in your story? I have been having the same problem as you, also starting yesterday. In my case I'm trying to use a T-Mobile cell phone in LA to call a Boston land line.
posted by em at 4:08 PM on March 6

Delete her info from your phone (after writing down the number). E-mail them and have them delete your contact info from their phone. You should now be able to contact each other. I've had similar problems and I don't know why it works, but it has. YMMV. FYI I have a 1st gen. iPhone on AT&T.

PS. some providers suggest you turn off your phone once every 24 hours...that could work too.
posted by bach at 8:42 PM on March 6

her=them. I was just assuming.
posted by bach at 8:43 PM on March 6