help for a newbie - straight to voicemail?

Hi,

Before I go any further, I should point out I am a complete newcomer to the blackberry, my friend gave me a blackberry bold that she no longer uses and I am trying to learn it as I go. Please be gentle with me, and explain anything in terms, thanks!!

When the phone was given to me it was unlocked. Today I went and bought a pre-paid sim card with $25 on it, and have set up the account. When attempting to test it by calling it from my landline, it immediately goes straight to voicemail without ringing at all. The calls are NOT being forwarded, I am not sure what I need to change about the phone to be able to accept calls? I have no desire to use voicemail at all to be honest, I need this for my kids to get a hold of me so it's kinda important it rings if someone calls me!!

If anyone can suggest what I can do, please do - and remember, laymans terms, please!

P.S. If I need to reset the entire blackberry, I am happy to do this (provided it won't affect my new sim card) since I have not put any contacts in yet, plus there is an awful lot of stuff on there that I don't think I'll use such as 4shared, caputirenux etc - I don't even know what these things are and sure I won't miss them..!!!

Thanks in advance.

Welcome abord, not sure which BlackBerry you have but first off I would check in - otions - netwwork and connection - mobile network - and make sure your mobile network is ON

i would recommend a wipe, through options>security>security wipe. check all the options, and enter "blackberry" then wait for it to wipe, make sure to take your media card out or it will wipe that too. then set yourself up and try again.

Main reason is just so it resets any settings that the previous owner had on the device.

Welcome to BlackBerry, and the forums on CrackBerry. You came to the right place...and everyone here is usually pretty good at answering questions for new people and veterans alike. I'd also go with what cevag said, and I'd go a little further. First, on the screen, do you see any symbols which look like you have a connection? Can you call OUT from the BlackBerry, just not receive calls? Finally, if you don't mind me asking, which carrier are you trying to use the phone with?

Could be a few things, try these:

Options > Networks & Connections > Mobile Network - check Data Services is ON

OR

Options > Call Management > Call Forwarding - Set 'Forward Calls' either to OFF or Customise

OR

Call the company you bought the SIM from and get it activated, this can take 24 hours

Let us know how you get on :)

How to Set Voicemail Rings | eHow.com

try this

So, I'm just gonna guess that the OP solved his/her problem and didn't update the forum thread. I'd like to think cevag or Bmercer gave the answer that did it. (Nothing against you jordandub, or bokyo102, or even myself, but the OP hasn't responded since the first two I mentioned, so I sorta figured they provided the answer)...See y'all in another thread! :)