A phone you can't answer

[Pale Rider]

My employer has recently issued us wage slaves with new phones which you can't answer.

The device in question is a Vodafone Smart Ultra 7.

The problem is when it rings, you have to enter the keyboard lock password before you can answer the call.

It's impossible, even for the more dexterous younger members of our 'team', to input the eight character mixed password before the phone clicks over to voicemail.

Every other mobile I've had allows you to answer a call when the keypad is locked simply by touching the green button.

We've been told the fix, such as it is, is to set a 'trusted location' on the lock which means the phone will not be locked when it's in that location.

I've no idea if all Ultra7s are like this, or if it's just my company issue, but a phone you can't answer is a new high in gadget frustration.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/review/budget-smartphones/vodafone-smart-ultra-7-review-3643704/

 

[EnPassant]

Can't answer a call that is about to make you the owner of some problem? Sounds (pun unintentional) good to me.

 

[PeteXXX]

Yet another First World problem...
Enjoy the freedom from work phone calls for as long as you can

 

[slowmotion]

I've found that leaving my mobile in a kitchen drawer at home for weeks on end has contributed to a general sense of well-being. Almost on a par with not buying newspapers.

 

[Drago]

Sounds like your employer researched these phones thoroughly before purchase. Not.

 

[Drago]

Type in...

##002#

 

[EnPassant]

Sounds like your employer researched these phones thoroughly before purchase. Not.

Which, at the risk of repetition, is a bad thing how?

 

[marzjennings]

Can you set up auto-forwarding and forward all your calls to a phone that works?

 

[Pale Rider]

Sounds like your employer researched these phones thoroughly before purchase. Not.

I wondered about that, although they might be locked down in some ways to our spec.

For example, disabling the keypad lock altogether is not an option which I suspect it would be if you bought one from a shop.

 

[Pale Rider]

Type in...

##002#

Will it get me the sack?

 

[EnPassant]

Can you set up auto-forwarding and forward all your calls to a phone that works?

Or possibly the Guatemalan embassy. At this point I think I'm probably not being helpful.
Semi-seriously, how is your employer supplied phones failings, your problem?

 

[Pale Rider]

Or possibly the Guatemalan embassy. At this point I think I'm probably not being helpful.
Semi-seriously, how is your employer supplied phones failings, your problem?

I grasp the possible benefits, but realistically to carry out my duties to an acceptable standard (to me) I do need to handle incoming calls promptly.

Having to call everyone back is a waste of my time and a bit frustrating, but no more than that, which is why I used 'frustration' in the OP.

 

[EnPassant]

Absolutely.
However your employer assumes it's your fault if you don't respond promptly? Given that it's their failure to ensure that you have the requisite means to do so?
Welcome to the second decade of the 21st century, employee peeps.

 

[tyred]

Can't you extend the ring time before it goes to voicemail? Or disable voicemail.

As an aside, Voicemail is (in IMO) an interest study in how we've become more impatient as a society. I spent 12+ years programming office telephone systems and have often pondered how older systems installed in the 80s and 90s often had the timers for controlling how long a phone rang before going to VM or being forwarded somewhere else set to perhaps 20 - 30 seconds (as was generally recommended at that time if you read old installation guides) whereas today it might be 5 - 9 seconds as people won't wait any longer before hanging up. It was quite a common reported "fault" on older systems for people to complain their VM wasn't working but when I checked it out, it was working as intended, just set to ring for a long time first and usually ending up having to change the timers to suit impatient people. I suppose this is because people are expected to have their phone in their pocket and to answer immediately now instead of having to run back to the desk.

 

[Pale Rider]

I would rather it harvested messages.

It might be possible to change the ring time, but I don't find the phone's operation at all intuitive.

That might be the technophobe in me, but I managed much better with the previous HTC.

When the answering problem became apparent, I didn't raise it with anyone because I assumed I'd made a balls of setting up the phone.

But it has since emerged they are all like it.

On the plus side, the battery life is better than the HTC, and so is the wi-fi hotspot which I use for an hour or two every day.