# Cell phone problem: one contact rings when profile is set to silent **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813 "2013-10-21T13:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/1 "2013-10-21T13:39:51Z")
I had a BlackBerry Style 9670 for about five years and liked it. Decided to upgrade, but not ready for the Q/Z10 yet, so I got the Bold 9930 last week. I had the problem I’m going to describe on the 9670 and was hoping a new phone would cure it. No such luck. When I set the phone to silent or vibrate, ONE of my contacts-- let’s call him “Bob”-- still rings through. Other callers do not. When other callers call, the phone either vibrates or just shows the call on the screen, as per the ACTIVE PROFILE _(like it 'posed to)_. But when Bob calls, even if the phone is set to silent or vibrate, HIS calls ring. It’s very aggravating. \*(I had my phone on silent during the Yom Kippur service, and suddenly his ring tone blasted from my purse: the James Bond theme :eek: ). \* So I got my new phone and Bob was over yesterday, and we performed some experiments. I set it to vibrate and asked him to call me; it rang (Bond theme). I set it to silent; ditto. When I set it to “all alerts off,” it DID NOT ring, but his call did show up on the screen, which makes me wonder what is the difference between “all alerts off” and “silent”? I’ve deleted him from my contacts list and re-entered him. I’ve changed the ringtone. I’ve carefully examined all the choices in the options panel WRT profiles and WRT to his contact settings in particular. There is a setting called “always ring,” but I have him set (as I do everyone) to “Active Profile,” which I interpret to mean, follow the directives of whichever profile is set to be active (i.e., normal, vibrate, silent, etc.) It only happens with Bob. He thought it might be because he has an iPhone, but I have other iPhone contacts and this doesn’t happen with them. I don’t know if this is a BlackBerry problem or a Sprint problem. Also, it seems to me that this didn’t always happen. This is my third BB since I’ve known him, and I don’t recall it happening on my Pearl at all or on the 9670 for the first couple of years. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/2 "2013-10-21T19:02:40Z")
Could Bob’s number be in another contact somewhere? If possible try deleting Bob’s contact and see what happens when he calls. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/3 "2013-10-21T20:29:57Z")
Good suggestion. Thanks for the post. I was getting lonely… ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/4 "2013-10-21T22:03:20Z")
Well, this is weird. I just read this in an online BlackBerry manual: > [@](#): > > You can create contact alerts that allow you to customize ring tones and alerts for calls and messages from specific contacts or groups of contacts. When you receive a call or message from the contact, your BlackBerry smartphone uses the assigned ring tone or alert, even if you select the Silent profile or Vibrate Only profile. If you do not want to be notified with the assigned ring tone or alert, you can select the All Alerts Off profile. I do not think it was always this way… I remember at one time in the past that if I set the phone to vibrate or silent NO rings came through, even uniquely assigned ringtones. So from this it seems that my phone is behaving normally. That when I have a specific ringtone assigned to a contact (in Bob’s case, the James Bond theme), it will always ring, unless I set the phone to “all alerts off.” Not what I expected. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/5 "2013-10-21T22:09:40Z")
Added: I only have custom ringtones for three contacts, so that’s why it seemed to me that only Bob’s was misbehaving. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/6 "2013-10-21T23:26:22Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Could Bob’s number be in another contact somewhere? If possible try deleting Bob’s contact and see what happens when he calls. First of all I though this was a zombie thread due to the blackberry reference 😃 But this is the most likely scenario. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-problem-one-contact-rings-when-profile-is-set-to-silent/671813/7 "2013-10-22T00:16:55Z")
No, this is the answer: > [@](#): > > “You can create contact alerts that allow you to customize ring tones and alerts for calls and messages from specific contacts or groups of contacts. When you receive a call or message from the contact, your BlackBerry smartphone uses the assigned ring tone or alert, even if you select the Silent profile or Vibrate Only profile. If you do not want to be notified with the assigned ring tone or alert, you can select the All Alerts Off profile.”