"Cancelled" your phone call

August 31, 2009 7:48 AM

If someone calls my mobile, and instead of pressing a button to answer it I press the one that mutes/silence/stop their call (such as if it's vibrating or ringing, and I can't or don't want to answer it)... do they know that I've deliberately muted/silenced their call or will it keep on ringing along merrily for them until voicemail voice kicks in?
posted by Jimmie to Technology (13 answers total)

I have a feeling it may vary by phone and carrier, but my phone has two options: to silence the call, and to ignore it. Choosing the 'silence' option quiets the ringing itself but the call is still displayed as incoming and it will silently ring until voicemail kicks in; choosing the 'ignore' option dismisses the call and it is sent to my voicemail immediately. Talking to friends, this second option is noticeable, as it will only ring on their end two or three times before the voicemail options start.
posted by alynnk at 7:56 AM on August 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

Depends on the phone. On the iPhone, hitting the power button once silences the ringtone (and the call goes to voicemail eventually.) Double-pressing the power button sends the call to voicemail immediately.
posted by buxtonbluecat at 8:02 AM on August 31, 2009 [1 favorite]

It varies by phone. On my old Samsung phone, pressing one of the volume buttons while it was ringing would silence the ringer but the call would keep "ringing" silently until the normal time at which voicemail would kick in. Pressing the "end call" button would reject the call and send it immediately to voicemail.

On the iPhone, pressing either of the volume buttons or the sleep/wake button will silence the ringer but let it keep ringing. Pressing the sleep/wake button twice in quick succession will reject the call and send it immediately to voicemail.
posted by Nothlit at 8:03 AM on August 31, 2009

My LG Voyager works the same way as the iPhone. Hit end once to silence the phone, but it'll keep ringing on the other end (and I could still answer if I changed my mind). Hitting it twice sends the call to voice mail.
posted by BiffSlamkovich at 8:23 AM on August 31, 2009

Assuming you are actually dismissing the call they will notice by virtue of the fact that voicemail kicks in after only a few rings - if your phone was switched off it would kick in immediately and not ring and if you just ignore it it takes longer to go to voicemail...
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:26 AM on August 31, 2009

My Ericsson gets silenced by this, but it still rings the full four times before going to voice mail from the point of view of the caller. If the phone is off, it does not ring at all on the caller's line but goes straight to voice mail.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:47 AM on August 31, 2009

My friend's phone would actually list a call as "rejected" if I didn't take the call. It varies by model and carrier.
posted by spaltavian at 9:07 AM on August 31, 2009

Depends on the phone, but -- for instance -- when I call my friend Steve and get shuttled to voicemail after two rings, I know that he has hit a button on his phone to ignore that call, as I know (from previous calls to Steve) that it should take four-five rings to enter voicemail if the phone is left alone.
posted by cabezadevaca at 9:13 AM on August 31, 2009

Why do you think this is best solved by asking a bunch of strangers instead of testing it with your own phone? The best answer here is: Test it yourself.
posted by jdroth at 10:09 AM on August 31, 2009

From my experience it does vary by phone and how you silence/end the incoming call. That said, it also varies on circumstance. Sometimes calls only ring once or twice for the caller or ring more than they normally should. There's a lot that goes into it, and anyone who makes assumptions based on the number of rings is really emphasizing the first part of the word.
posted by ydant at 10:15 AM on August 31, 2009

Response by poster: Thank you at the end it's concluded there is no straight answer, as it is impossible to test as it varies depending on what phone model the caller has to begin with.
posted by Jimmie at 3:43 AM on September 1, 2009

not the caller, the callee(?), the one receiving the call. What people are saying is that you should call your own phone, and find out!
posted by defcom1 at 3:54 AM on September 1, 2009

Samsung on Verizon here. Caller is sent straight to voicemail. I know my husband is avoiding my calls when it rings once or twice and then goes to voicemail. If it doesn't ring at all, it's turned off.
posted by desjardins at 10:06 AM on September 1, 2009