Posted by Ant on July 21st, 2009 12 Comments

AT&T iPhone customers can experience a problem when looking to use the device's Merge Calls functionality. The reason behind the matter will likely ruffle a couple of feathers, though the solution is fairly straightforward.

After purchasing my iPhone 3GS a month ago, I was as being a little kid on Christmas which has a fancy new toy. I had to try everything out at least and sloppily drool over all the cool things it would do. Then I hit a roadblock: the iPhone's conference calling feature (also called 3-way calling) did not work! No matter how often I tried, merging the calls had not been happening. I decided to hold back a week or two to ascertain if the problem might work itself out - perhaps it had been just a glitch associated with the activation of my new account, No such luck.

About a week ago I decided to call AT&T customer care to see just what the deal was. Apple prominently advertises 3-way conference calling as being a feature from the iPhone, so there had to be something wrong that has been causing this issue to occur. I emailed AT&T and received a prompt response 4 hours later. It turns out conference calling just isn't enabled on iPhone accounts automagically! Here are snippets from AT&T's response:

Thank you for taking the time for it to e-mail AT&T regarding not being able to use 3 way/conference calling on your iPhone because AT&T doesn't automatically enable this particular service and you would like a reverse phone lookup added to the telephone number removed. My name is name removed, and I am very happy to help you with your inquiry.

I apologize the 3-way/conferencing calling feature just isn't automatically provisioned on your 3GS iPhone. I have added the skills effective removed date. Please power your phone off for one minute then power your phone back on. Attempt to come up with a conference call in your iPhone.

Sure enough, I restarted my iPhone and was successfully hosting a 3-way conference call within seconds using the Merge Calls function. I was incredibly impressed by how quickly AT&T customer satisfaction handled my inquiry, but baffled why it would have to be done in the ultimate place. Why are they not enabling conference calling automatically on all iPhone accounts, Wouldn't it be simpler to activate the feature from the start automatically rather than field large volumes of customer care requests, Whatever the reason, at the very least there is a known solution for fixing iPhones which don't merge calls.

If you're interested in contacting AT&T customer support about this issue yourself, listed here are the simple steps I latched onto get it addressed within hours - and without talking to a single person on the device.

Log into your AT&T myWireless online account If you aren't already registered, now might be some time to undertake it. It's free and gives you convenient usage of all of your account information.

Once you're logged in, go through the Contact Us link towards the top in the page (beside where it says Logged in as: Your Name”.

On another page, go through the E-mail Us link underneath the Customer Service heading.

Enter your contact information now if it is not already filled in, and then click Next.

Choose Phone” since the Email Subject, I have a question about a feature” as Sub-topic 1, and then click Next.

Fill inside rest of the form and ensure to say that you're using an iPhone and you want 3-way conference calling enabled in your AT&T account. You might also desire to mention that the telephone itself is working fine, in the event they get confused and think there is a defective unit.

Send off your request and AT&T will usually respond within a day (possibly longer through the weekend). As mentioned earlier in this article, I received my response in just 4 hours as well as the matter was covered with no further involvement in my part. Maybe if enough people bug AT&T about activating 3-way conference calling they will get the hint and commence enabling the service when iPhone accounts are first opened.

Feel liberal to share your experiences with AT&T support within the comments below! It will be interesting to learn if they make activating conference calling equally as easy for everyone else.

Rchrd529

Rchrd529,

No, AT&T won't charge extra in your monthly bill once you contact these phones enable this particular service. It is worth mentioning, however, that each person in the conference call is counted being a separate call. So if you've got a 3-way call going (yourself, Person A, and Person B) you will end up racking up minutes for both Person A and Person B. That means a 20 minute conference call will consume 40 minutes of the plan. This makes sense, but I figured it will be good to explain in the event there was any confusion.

Kevin E.McKenna

Why isn't one screaming high holly hell regarding the Voice Mail issues,

I experienced over 100 + calls since 6/29 and never 1 voice mail,,,,,

If you receive VM's they are available in groups from days gone by…. something badly broken with AT&T beyond 3 way calling.

Amanda, Tech Support

To remove:

Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings.

Your phone will turn off/on. This should resolve your issue.

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