If I press IGNORE, it doesn't send the 2nd caller to voicemail (VM) as stated in Apple's out-of-date support doc, but instead it beeps AGAIN interrupting my phone call, and sometimes even a THIRD BEEP before it finally goes to voicemail. This is also annoying for my caller as they have to wait 6 or 7 rings before VM picks up.
If I accept the 2nd call, it puts the first on hold, and I am able to SWAP calls / switch back and forth, or even MERGE calls. However, I am UNABLE TO END only one of the calls, regardless of whether or not I merge them. If I press END, it disconnects all calls. There is no option to END only one of the calls.
If I am simultaneously on with 2 callers (merged or separately) and one of them hangs up, my line remains tied up and my on-screen menu continues to display options for simultaneous-dual-calls.
For example: I'm on the phone with Jack, and I put him on hold to quickly take a call from Jill; after she hangs up and I switch back to Jack, anyone who tries to call me receives a busy signal. In addition, my on-screen menu continues to display options to merge the two calls, or swap back to Jill (who's no longer there and if I do, I get dead air silence). As I stated at this point I cannot "END" only the call with Jill (or I risk disconnecting Jack as well) and here's the strangest part: Most of the time in this kind of scenario, when I switch back to Jack I'll just leave the "2nd" line tied up after the call is completed... and when I do finally wrap up the call with Jack and hang up (thereby disconnecting both lines) - the SECOND ("dead") LINE CALLS ME BACK! The phone rings with an UNKNOWN number, and when I answer it's just the dead air silence calling. If I let it go to voicemail it leaves me a 3+ minute voicemail message of nothing but white noise. [OK OK audio-sci geeks, I know dead air, white noise, and silence are different sounds but youknowwhati'msayin here.]
I called Apple Support and they said for CDMA (Verizon) phones they can't troubleshoot call waiting issues. Just spoke with a tech at Verizon Support, but unbelievably he told me the following:
1. This is not unusual.
2. These are fairly common issue complaints.
3. This is not something that can be fixed, but is programmatic to their network.
Apparently this is not only just how it is, but it's actually working as it's supposed to! The rep said he will file a complaint with the internal IT group at Verizon who deals with the coding of the voicemail and the way it works with the phones, but could not transfer me.
He speculated that the next (4G) iPhone will have working call waiting features, as Verizon's forthcoming LTE (all 4G) network treats voicemail and call waiting completely differently than CDMA.
Sigh.
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