Categories: Miscellaneous

Can’t Call Out With The iPhone? How To Fix To The Call Failed Problem with iPhone

I found out that my new iPhone has terrible reception, even in places with supposedly good coverage. It turns out that it’s because of certain settings that I didn’t configure properly. After I changed them, all was good again!

So if your iPhone is like mine and you see “Call Ended” and then “Call Failed” immediately after trying to dial out from your iPhone, even though there’s a good signal (i.e. you can see signal bars, so you are connected to your carrier). Then relax, because there probably is no problem with the phone — you PROBABLY just need to do these 2 steps:

1) Go to Settings > General > Date and Time. Switch off “Set Automatically” and manually select your hometown (the default is Cupertino). If you dont change it, you will not be able to make outgoing calls. But the wierd part is, you will still be able to receive incoming calls. Once done, manually set the date and time, and restart your iPhone. If you want, you can reset the 2 settings to “Set Automatically” again.

2) Next, go to Settings > Phone > Show My Caller ID > Switch this to “ON”. Usually with these steps, things should be okay already. If not, you have to turn off “Call Forwarding” and “Call Waiting” as well.

Hope that helps!

Update: For iPhone 3.0 and later, after unlocking you might get no service (in an area you know has good service). In these cases, try turning 3G off, or Push Notifications off.

Alvin Poh

I've over 17 years of entrepreneurship experience, having built a tech company to be the top in the country, which was subsequently acquired for an 8-figure sum. As CEO, I led the company through robust growth to 150 employees across 4 countries. After the acquisition, I embraced minimalism, sold off my personal possessions, and started living around the world. Read more about my story here.

View Comments

  • Cool...! I was about to visit SingTel to fix this issue for me..spent almost 30 mins over the phone with tech support but no use. So, decided to check the google university and found your note....thanks a ton!

  • Hi, was just wondering why i can't upload music videos dragged from Limewire-Itunes-to my iphone... It's so frustrating. Was checking out other answers from other blogs, still in didnt work. Any suggestions? thanks . Would appreciate it.

    Thank you too re: info of that "e" on the left hand corner of the unit.. Was wondering what it was. :)

    J

  • I'm not sure about Limewire-Itunes, but I managed to get videos on to my phone. they had to be in mp4 though..are your videos in mp4?

  • I cannot update on my iPhone. When I leave the settings then the Location field returns to default. I can, however, set the date and caller's ID. Just the location wouldn't persist.
    Do you have any idea what needs to be done?

  • Hey Zdary, I'm not sure why that's the case because I've never experienced that before. Sorry to hear that!

  • Hi! I have simular fault on my iphone 3g, i have good reciption but cant recive or make calls, text message works well though.. I tried your solution but it did not work, somebody got a suggestion?

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