• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Brackets in Google contacts phone numbers

robnoble

Newbie
May 7, 2010
13
5
I added a contact on my PC (http://www.google.com/contacts) which then got sync'd to my phone. I pasted the phone number in from a website, which began something like this: "+44 (0)207..."

When I dialed the number on the phone, a recorded message told me that Voicemail settings had been changed, and to hang up and dial again in five minutes. Huh?

Immediately, an SMS message arrived from ">pers", saying "Network message - please delete", followed by a load of random gibberish.

Looking in the Call History, it appears that the phone ignores the brackets, and dials, "+44 0207..." which is incorrect. It ought to know that numbers in brackets after the country code are only used when dialling locally without the country code.

Calling that incorrect number (I don't know if it's the specific number I called, or just that prefix) somehow connected to some aspect of the (T-mobile UK) voicemail system. I wonder what setting I've changed?

Googling suggests that the SMS from ">pers" is some sort of phone-configuration message that is normally supposed to be intercepted by the phone.

Anyway, bottom line is this - if you add contacts to your Google account on your PC (which is sometimes very convenient, and a great feature of the Google system), be careful to remove any unnecessary area prefixes.

Rob.
 

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones