It's no body's business - if I'm on the other line or not when they call me!???

[SH31]

What is the purpose of this forced feature? There is no way to turn it off so essentially Verizon is not committed to protecting their customers privacy. Plus it's awkward for the caller as they know you are on the other line and don't want to be rude and interrupt your conversation by letting the phone ring so they just hang up!

Since I use my phone for work my customers know that I know they are calling but not switching over to get their call - Rude! Why do they need to know that I'm on the phone? Obviously there is no proper way to explain to a customer that one customers needs are more of a priority than theirs at the moment when they are calling me. Awkward!

I'm due for an upgrade and my contract is up because of the annoying forced feature, I may have to switch to AT&T. That would be a shame since I've been with Verzion for over 10 years.

Does anyone else experience this?

[rcschnoor]

What forced feature?

How is someone supposed to know if you are on another call. When I am on a call and receive another call, there is nothing to notify the caller I am on another call. It just rings until it is picked up by voicemail. That would not lead me to believe that I was on another call.

[SH31]

Actually, there is an audible double ring that the caller hears when calling you while you are on the other line. That is the issue. The fact you can't turn this off or opt out of this function is why it is a forced feature. Give it try.

[Jax_Omen]

Call customer service (1 800 922 0204 or *611 from your handset) and ask them to disable the "Call Waiting Distinct Ringback tone".

about an 80% chance the rep will either have no idea what you're talking about, or won't have access to the switch (the place they need to make the change), but they should be able to transfer you to tech support if they don't know what you're talking about, and tech support *will* know.

Either way, once the feature is disabled, all callers will hear the same ringing sound, regardless of whether you are in a call or not.

[SH31]

I have tried this in the past and will try again. Thank you the helpful guidance. Much appreciated.

[rcschnoor]

I did try it before I made my 1st response. There was nothing except the same ringing when I make any phone call until it was picked up by voicemail.

[commonsense101]

Why do phones have power buttons? Why do pants have buttons? Why do doors have door knobs?

[Dorkmaster]

I am going to say that if I had a customer that expected me to drop my current phone call to take theirs, I would probably not want them as a customer. Customers who have that kind of inflated self worth are usually more trouble then they are worth (LOL) As for the current call, I don't think they hear that double call waiting tone.

[SuzyQ]

SH3 wrote:

Actually, there is an audible double ring that the caller hears when calling you while you are on the other line. That is the issue.

As far as I know, this tone only occurs with other Verizon cell phones... if I try to call my daughter's cell (also Verizon) and she is on the phone already, I get the ring followed by a tone... so I know she is on the phone and I can leave a message or just hang up and call later.

If I call my sister (AT&T cell) - I get a normal ring whether she is on the phone or not.

So the extra tone only occurs if you are calling another Verizon cell phone and that phone is in use on a call.  Or if another Verizon cell is trying to call yours and you are on the phone.

As far as turning it off, Jax_Omen gave good advice.

[DAVVAL68]

It's called no answer transfer feature, call in to *611 to turn it off