People who use Rakuten Mobile and iPhone have reported that they may not receive a call. What exactly is happening?
Rakuten Mobile officially supported the iPhone in April 2021. However, in recent months, it has been reported that incoming calls cannot be received on the iPhone and it does not remain in the incoming call history, especially after the specification change of the "Rakuten Link" application on iOS in July 2021. There is an indication of.
Rakuten Link is Rakuten's original communication app that complies with the standard "RCS" and integrates IP phones and messaging functions. If you use this app, you can make unlimited domestic calls from Rakuten, so it is basic to use Rakuten Link to make and receive calls. However, in July 2021, the behavior when receiving an incoming call on the iPhone changed as follows.
・ When the other party makes a call via Rakuten Link: Incoming call to the Rakuten Link app on iPhone (no change)
・ When the other party makes a call using a landline or mobile phone: Incoming call to the standard iPhone phone app (changed. Previously, the call was received to the Rakuten Link app)
The exact reason is not explained, but it seems that Apple does not allow mobile carriers to modify the iPhone's "phone" and "message" user experience, and Rakuten Mobile officially announced the iPhone. By responding, I get the impression that it has been adapted to "general" behavior.
The Rakuten Mobile Public Relations Department recognizes that "Since the specification change of Rakuten Link for iOS, we have received voices from some customers such as difficulty in connecting voice calls. Currently, the customer's radio wave environment, etc. We will respond while asking about the usage status of the service. "
Certainly, Rakuten Mobile is switching from KDDI roaming to its own line, and there are areas where there are concerns about radio waves. However, if radio waves are the cause, similar problems should occur frequently on Android. Since most of the reports are on the iPhone, it is possible that there is a cause other than radio waves.
The device that receives a call on Rakuten Mobile varies depending on the situation.
Since Rakuten Mobile does not disclose detailed information, I independently verified it with the Rakuten Mobile line that I personally contracted with and my terminal.
Actually, with the combination of iPhone 13 and Rakuten Mobile's SIM card (eSIM), we tested 100 times or more of incoming and outgoing calls under various conditions such as Wi-Fi and data communication on / off, presence of Rakuten Link application, etc., but all It worked normally.
On the other hand, it is possible to create a pseudo-situation that is close to the reported problem. Prepare an iPhone and Android device and set as follows.
(1) Insert the Rakuten Mobile SIM card into your iPhone
(2) Put the Rakutenk Link app on Android and log in.
What happens if you make a call from another carrier's mobile phone to Rakuten Mobile's phone number in this state? In this case, the call arrives at the Rakuten Link app on the Android device in (2), and there is no response on the iPhone side. This is probably because Rakuten Link has priority when receiving a call on Android.
Next, when I set the Android device in (2) to airplane mode, the incoming call came to the iPhone in (1). From this, it can be seen that Rakuten Mobile does not always receive a call to the terminal containing the SIM card, but makes a judgment depending on the status of the Rakuten Link app.
Also, it may take some time to determine the incoming device. In the previous example, it took about 10 to 15 seconds to receive an incoming call to the iPhone in (1). During this time, the calling party does not make a ringing tone and remains silent, so if you give up on the way, the incoming call history will not remain on the iPhone.
After that, when I logged in with the Rakuten Link app on the iPhone in (1) without changing the Android device in (2), the call came to the iPhone immediately.
In this verification, we are using two iPhones and Android, and the usage environment is different from those who only use iPhones. However, the author thinks that if there is something wrong with Rakuten's network in determining which device to receive a call from, a "cannot receive" situation can occur.
For example, the Rakuten Link app has the following caveats, and it seems that uninstalling the app without logging out can cause problems.
In any case, mobile phones are functioning as an important lifeline, and the fact that the phone cannot be connected is a serious problem that is different from the problem of not being able to use smartphone apps. I would like Rakuten Mobile to disclose detailed information.
Added on December 21:
Failure information has been officially released from Rakuten Mobile. "It has been confirmed that incoming calls fail when using the service mainly in the partner line area."
Added on December 28:
Rakuten Mobile announced that the software update work on Rakuten's network side has been completed.
(Updated on 12/28) About the event that the incoming call fails when using iPhone * Software update work of our network is completed | Failure information | Rakuten Mobile