Conference Calls

marvw

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I can't seem to add an incoming call and make a conference call. I know I can add an an outgoing call, but not an incoming one. The icon that says "manage calls" just switches from one to the other. Is there a way to add an incoming call?
 

pb8185

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Maybe there's an app for it but the built in function just holds your current call when you make the new one.
 

minmongoblin

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MNT, he's asking for how to make a conference call out of an INCOMING call
 

raven1911

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Not sure that is an option for INCOMING calls. Maybe have the person that is calling you merge all the calls together on their phone since they are calling you, or just call each person and merge them on yours. How many calls can you merge together anyway?
 

MNTNBKR

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Ah, my mistake... I must have read the post too fast adn not gotten all the pertinent info. I would still think the option would exist to merge an incoming call with an existing caller...but I could be wrong.
 
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marvw

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Seems like this is a software issue that needs to be taken care of. I've have many phones over the years and this is the first one where I couldn't add an incoming call to an existing converstion. I have been able to easily add an outgoing call to a conference.

Thanks for the replies.
 

mbooty

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Conference calling and manage calls is broken

You should definitely be able to merge an incoming call with a current call. iPhone does it. BlackBerry does it. It's obviously technically possible.

I have a similar problem with the whole call waiting and call manage functionality. This is a major issue in my opinion. I will try to outline two subsets of the major issue: first subset being how incoming calls are handled, second subset being how the manage calls button works.

When on call A, and call B comes in, there are three possible things to do: 1. ignore call B, 2. answer call B and leave call A active on the other line, or 3. hang up on call A and take call B. I owned a BlackBerry before my Droid, and when a second call came in, those three options were presented on a menu. On the Droid, you only have options 1 and 2. Which is a real problem.

For example: If I am leaving a message for person A, into their voicemail, and then person B calls, if I accept person B, then the call into the voicemail of person A is still active, just dumping silence into the message I was leaving. Or -- and this happens a lot -- if I am checking my messages, and while doing that get an incoming call, there is no way to hang up and leave my own voice mail and take the new call. The call into my voice mail is still active, and messages keep playing, and later when I call to check messages, it will be as if I listened to what was being played back.

The solution it seems Moto proposes is to use "manage calls" to go back and hang up on person A after taking the call from person B. Doesn't that seem really silly? "Hi Steve, hang on while I go hang up on Bob, who I was talking to when you called." What if I don't want Steve and Bob to know who I am talking to, or what if it's a really important call with Steve and I can't afford to put him on hold to go back and hang up the first call from Bob?

Furthermore, the manage calls button is entirely devoid of any user feedback letting me know that a call swap has happened or letting me know which call is now active. Nothing on the screen changes, the call timer does not change, the caller ID does not change, there is no audible feedback or visual feedback. And, as has been pointed out on this thread, if one of the calls drops on its own, the manage calls button still stays there. I think this is a major issue. Because that is the *only* indication I have of whether that second person is still on the line. And, even worse, if you hit the manage calls button and there is not in fact another call to jump to, then it hangs up on the call you're on.

I get a lot of overlapping calls in a day, and with my Droid I am now paranoid about hanging up on people or making them deal with the inconvenience while I fumble through a workaround on my phone. Second, I would rate any issue that affects the core functionality of the phone and making and receiving calls as pretty serious. This is after all, a phone, with a lot of internet and graphical features, and not a tablet computer that happens to have some phone features built in. It's a phone first and phone functions should get core attention.

The BlackBerry and the iPhone have elegant solutions to this problem, and the problem set is easily defined. Just seems like something that got totally overlooked.
 

dan5jr

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You should definitely be able to merge an incoming call with a current call. iPhone does it. BlackBerry does it. It's obviously technically possible.

I have a similar problem with the whole call waiting and call manage functionality. This is a major issue in my opinion. I will try to outline two subsets of the major issue: first subset being how incoming calls are handled, second subset being how the manage calls button works.

When on call A, and call B comes in, there are three possible things to do: 1. ignore call B, 2. answer call B and leave call A active on the other line, or 3. hang up on call A and take call B. I owned a BlackBerry before my Droid, and when a second call came in, those three options were presented on a menu. On the Droid, you only have options 1 and 2. Which is a real problem.

For example: If I am leaving a message for person A, into their voicemail, and then person B calls, if I accept person B, then the call into the voicemail of person A is still active, just dumping silence into the message I was leaving. Or -- and this happens a lot -- if I am checking my messages, and while doing that get an incoming call, there is no way to hang up and leave my own voice mail and take the new call. The call into my voice mail is still active, and messages keep playing, and later when I call to check messages, it will be as if I listened to what was being played back.

The solution it seems Moto proposes is to use "manage calls" to go back and hang up on person A after taking the call from person B. Doesn't that seem really silly? "Hi Steve, hang on while I go hang up on Bob, who I was talking to when you called." What if I don't want Steve and Bob to know who I am talking to, or what if it's a really important call with Steve and I can't afford to put him on hold to go back and hang up the first call from Bob?

Furthermore, the manage calls button is entirely devoid of any user feedback letting me know that a call swap has happened or letting me know which call is now active. Nothing on the screen changes, the call timer does not change, the caller ID does not change, there is no audible feedback or visual feedback. And, as has been pointed out on this thread, if one of the calls drops on its own, the manage calls button still stays there. I think this is a major issue. Because that is the *only* indication I have of whether that second person is still on the line. And, even worse, if you hit the manage calls button and there is not in fact another call to jump to, then it hangs up on the call you're on.

I get a lot of overlapping calls in a day, and with my Droid I am now paranoid about hanging up on people or making them deal with the inconvenience while I fumble through a workaround on my phone. Second, I would rate any issue that affects the core functionality of the phone and making and receiving calls as pretty serious. This is after all, a phone, with a lot of internet and graphical features, and not a tablet computer that happens to have some phone features built in. It's a phone first and phone functions should get core attention.

The BlackBerry and the iPhone have elegant solutions to this problem, and the problem set is easily defined. Just seems like something that got totally overlooked.

I completely agree with this. I used conference call for the first time today since I've had my droid and while it technically worked (I needed to call both the people I wanted to speak with), it did have issues. When the conference call neared the end, I pressed managed calls assuming it would give me options on what to do, as I wanted to stay on the line with one of the two people. Instead it just instantly hung up on the second person mid conversation and left me on the line with the first. When I press manage calls, I don't expect the phone to just instantly drop a caller.

Moto/Google definitely needs to clear up this issue as there are so many more advanced features the droid can accomplish, it is ridiculous that this seems to be completely overlooked. The "Manage Calls" button should do exactly that - Manage Calls. By simply bringing up a screen (while remaining on the phone with all callers) that shows who you are on the line with and presents options for each individual caller would easily solve this problem. Instead it seems to just be a convoluted and confusing system that was not given proper attention. Based on other posts I've read about this topic, it seems to be an all around problem and given all the constant updates to seemingly insignificant features to the android system, this feature definitely needs to be addressed.
 

dr0idg0d23

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This is an issue I have had wit android since I had my g1 last year. I keep hoping that the next version will address this issue. It is a problem that needs to be addressed but android thinks other issues take priority. I think it is time for this one to be solved. As much as I love android they do need to put a little more focus into the in call features of their OS
 

hallik

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I C this thread is hella old but I just swithced to VZ and I can't get an incoming call to join in conference. VZ WTH!!?? conference calling has been around since the 90's is this by design? FIX IT.
 

smokiedabong

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Wow, in one year nobody knew the answer?
Verizon, the greatest network this earth has ever seen isn't actually that great, the technology it's based on, CDMA is actually inferior to all the other networks out there. The only advantage is that they have a lot of towers and good coverage but other than that, GSM is capable of higher speeds than CDMA, CDMA can't use voice and data at the same time, needs more power so it drains the battery faster etc.
And regarding your issue, on CDMA you can’t merge calls if the second call is incoming, and you can’t switch between calls if the second call was outgoing, and if you end the second call or the merged call, both calls are terminated.This is a hardware limitation and can never be solved on the current system.
 

hallik

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I have the razor, I was under the assumption that the new tech allows for this. Am I wrong? Thanks 4 your quick reply. :)
 
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