# Cell phone: buzzed for vmail, not for call - WTF??

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-buzzed-for-vmail-not-for-call-wtf/377796>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 25, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-buzzed-for-vmail-not-for-call-wtf/377796 "2006-10-25T02:52:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-buzzed-for-vmail-not-for-call-wtf/377796/1 "2006-10-25T02:52:26Z")

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The title pretty much says it - I am here at a convention outside my normal coverage area - and I get a buzz. I got a voice mail - but Hey - wha’ happened? My phone must’ve been rung 4 or so times that I didn’t hear - it didn’t happen! - but when the person left a voice mail - I did get a buzz telling me I got a voice mail.

How come a voice mail buzz can reach me but the normal rings didn’t come through?

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**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-buzzed-for-vmail-not-for-call-wtf/377796/2 "2006-10-25T03:07:19Z")

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[QUOTE=WordMan]  
The title pretty much says it - I am here at a convention outside my normal coverage area - and I get a buzz. I got a voice mail - but Hey - wha’ happened? My phone must’ve been rung 4 or so times that I didn’t hear - it didn’t happen! - but when the person left a voice mail - I did get a buzz telling me I got a voice mail.

How come a voice mail buzz can reach me but the normal rings didn’t come through?  
[/QUOTE]

Happens to me all the time. You didn’t have a signal at the time the call was made, so it went into VM. As soon as a signal was available, the VM pops up. It generally happens where the signal is weak, but not non-existant.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-buzzed-for-vmail-not-for-call-wtf/377796/3 "2006-10-25T03:55:44Z")

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Agree. Nowadays with digital phones you can have too weak a signal to make a call but enough bandwidth to receive a VM alarm. I have had the same thing happen with the ability to send and receive text messages but not place a call.

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**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-buzzed-for-vmail-not-for-call-wtf/377796/4 "2006-10-25T09:28:20Z")

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Verizon lets me send v-mails directly to other v-mail boxes from mine, no actual phone call required!

CMC fnord!