Should I be getting charged for unanswered calls to mobiles?

[#1]

I've just called my Orange mobile from my home phone and let it ring for 10 seconds without answering. Obviously it may take a few days for the call to register on my bill (if charged).
My stepson also called his GiffGaff mobile at around Christmas which has never appeared on any bill.

[#2]

Does your Orange phone switch to voicemail if not answered? That can cause all sorts of complications as the switch takes a finite time during which the caller may hang up but is connected.

[#3]

I can confirm (again) I haven't been charged for an unanswered call to my new orange mobile phone (0789 number)

[#4]

Thanks DomS, good to know.

[#5]

Hello again. Sorry I keep disappearing from my own thread. If I explain here and now that it's coz of CFS then I won't feel the need to explain myself again and thereby bore everyone - AGAIN!. I just didn't want to appear rude.
Anyway, back to the point:
So, the other day I dug out an old Vodaphone PAYG mobile and I topped it up £5. I then used it to call my friend's mobile number (i.e. the Orange number I've been getting charged to call via my land-line even when the calls didn't connect) and then I hung up in the usual way, after letting it ring only twice. I just had time to check the balance on my phone - which was unchanged - before my friend called back, as per our arrangement. I then told my friend to ignore all further incoming calls from this particular number. The upshot was - no matter how many times I called my friend, even when I let the phone ring up to 5 times before hanging up, no money was ever deducted from my pay-as-you-go balance for those unconnected calls. Now, I'm not sure, but I guess there'd have to be a different system for handling mobile to mobile calls - I mean, it wouldn't be via BT, presumably. But still there must be SOME way of charging for unconnected mobile to mobile calls if it's company policy to do so. Which brings me to my next intriguing gem of information, folks: My friend has now spoken to an Orange operator about this and they insisted the company do not charge for unconnected calls to Orange numbers. Okay, it's not like having it in writing on official headed notepaper - but this nevertheless adds yet another puzzling facet to what is, for me at least, an already WAY overly puzzling thing altogether!
Ben T, what do you make of it all now? - does the above new info make more or less sense of the matter for you? 
       

[#6]

Looks like what was I worried might happen has in fact happened  -  i.e by disappearing off my own thread for a few days or so (due to ongoing illness) I probably made it seem like I just lost interest or like the issue somehow got resolved somewhere else. It's understandable, of course, but still frustrating as in reality I've had zero joy re getting to the bottom of this thing ANYWHERE. Anyway, I'll take this time now to go back through earlier Qs/comments posted here which I never got round to before (not coz I couldn't be bothered but just coz I need to pace activity) and maybe someone will check back here in the meantime....
HP Sauce: Yes, I agree, it certainly looks like a complaint for/against the TNO.. But I think it would have more clout if PN made it on my behalf - especially since I think it's unlikely I'm the only customer who's been affected in this way. However I do realise the matter needs a bit more investigating before that could or should happen. 
Re possibility that the auto-answering system kicked in before the hangup click-off  - No, that one's been eliminated from our inquiries, I'm afraid!
Frauleinkunst:  You should maybe try complaining direct to Giff Gaff since you're a customer of theirs and your case actually looks pretty straightforward (or more so than mine, at least!) so shouldn't be too hard to prove. You're right - it's unfair.
Dom S:  Your post - re calling your own Orange mobile, hanging up, not getting charged - is the one that's flummoxing me the most and I don't mind admitting it! Your Orange number has a different start to my mate's number, though I've no idea if that's a significant factor. I only hope PN haven't taken your post as good enough counter-evidence to dismiss my own findings - which did occur exactly as I've described and are equally valid...honest!!! Oh well, we'll see
PWatson:  I'd defo want you on my side in a fight, mate!
77+:  Yes, the witnessed/filmed call is a good idea. You can be our lawyer if me & PWatson ever get nicked for fighting.
Not sure if that's everyone. But, anyway, clearly I'm getting too tired to make much sense.
TTFN
M xx

[#7]

I did start to reply to your message yesterday (we haven't forgotten you) but the whisky clouded my grammatical abilities and common sense kicked in.
Keep going, keep investigating and hopefully it will get resolved somehow !

[#8]

Quote from: mizzletopff

Looks like what was I worried might happen has in fact happened  -  i.e by disappearing off my own thread for a few days or so (due to ongoing illness) I probably made it seem like I just lost interest or like the issue somehow got resolved somewhere else.

@mizzletopff,
Don't worry at all about 'disappearing' for a few days, even if you're gone for a bit longer we'll be here and respond to your progress as, and when, it happens.
Many are probably interested in the outcome / explanation for this particular issue as it may have affected others without their knowledge.
Please do let us know of any tests / evidence you get, we'll wait as patiently as required.

[#9]

Quote from: mizzletopff

...Dom S:  Your post - re calling your own Orange mobile, hanging up, not getting charged - is the one that's flummoxing me the most and I don't mind admitting it! Your Orange number has a different start to my mate's number, though I've no idea if that's a significant factor...

Just one throught that springs to mind on that is if the calls are handled differently if a number has been ported from one provider to another.  I may have mis-remembered this since it has been quite some time since I heard it, but aren't mobile number blocks allocated to a particular provider, then if a number is ported to another provider then it is the first providers duty to forward on the lookup to the new provider.  Could it be something about how this is handled by either Orange or the original network that the number was allocated to?
I may be talking a load of rubbish, but it may be another thing to check into?
Phil

[#10]

@mizzletopff
We hadn't forgotten about you, but staff generally don't post over the weekend. Could you please provide me the date / times of affected calls and I will raise to BT for you.

[#11]

Just to add to what I was saying I've just tried this lookup tool and can see my number is from O2 (well Telefonica), and my wifes is Vodafone, though both are currently being served by O2.  Mine always has been (new number 15 years or so ago with them) and my wife used to be with Vodafone but moved to O2 a number of years ago.
Phil

[#12]

@pjmarsh
Those sort of lookup tools just use number ranges and don't 'understand' what happens when a number is ported from one network to another.

[#13]

Hi Ben
That was part of my point!  Am I remembering correctly (which I may not be!) that the original mobile operator (ie the one listed on that lookup) would have a hand in the process of connecting a call even if the number was ported to another supplier?
Thanks
Phil

[#14]

No, i don't think so. You may be referring to problems that have been posted on the forums about connecting calls to ported numbers - this typically happens when the network losing the number doesn't update their internal routing so it tries to route the call on it's own network... but with nowhere to put the call to. As such, any calls made from that same network won't connect but external ones connect just fine.

[#15]

No problem Ben.  What I was thinking of was something I was told or read somewhere (probably totally not connected to Plusnet) about how number porting on the mobile networks work.  It was quite a number of years ago, so quite likely I've mis-remembered it.
Thanks
Phil