[Networking] Jnym:
UPDATED INFORMATION:

I misposted. My problem has not been fixed. All that was solved was that I can now log into my ATT voicemail myself from my own phone - prior to that, by pressing "1" to access my voicemail, I got the message: "This is channel 47-4"

Now though my voicemail seems OK on my end, people calling in still receive the message "This is channel 47-4"

I am in Los Angeles but I have found a newspaper article about a whole community in Norfolk, VA whose phones are supplied by a Time Warner subcontractor, Intrado Communications in Longmont, Colo and the panic it has caused that they were unable to reach Emergency Services on their phones.

(I have not posted enough to post a link. I cannot seem to post even the unlinked URL but here is the article title and newspaper - it was printed in several local newspapers, it's easy to find.)

Phone Service Trouble Remains

Watertown Daily Times

A quote from the article:

"Most of the time, the phone rings busy," Mrs. Michaud said. "Sometimes, it says this is channel 47-4."

Still nowhere can I find anyone who knows what is going on. And back in January, apparently even Time Warner had no idea, they fixed the cable but not the phones.

A NEW TEST: I have just deactivated Google Voice again and tested - my ATT voicemail IS reachable. My problem is gone. Unless I want to forward to Google Voice. I have searched Google and Google Voice Help up and down and have not found a reference to "channel 47-4"

But at this point - in my situation anyway - Google Voice is the culprit. Or possibly the target.

ORIGINAL POST:

I just finished spending 2 hours with ATT in 2 different tech support attempts for this same 47-4 message problem - only mine was slightly different. I fixed the problem but I can't let it go. I am curious how the same recording could be reached across different carriers, ATT and Sprint.

Blow by Blow to maybe help someone figure it out:

I have an unmodded Galaxy S2 SGH-i777

I have been using Google Voice for this and my previous 2 phones all with the same ATT Wireless account.

Today, when people called my number they got the same weird message as everyone - weird for the message and loud background noise.

"This is channel 47-4"

I called my phone from a landline and got the message.

Clicking the hook switch makes the message repeat without hanging up.

(I tried it 4 times)

Google Voice should have intercepted an unanswered call, right?

The first tech support advice:

Reboot the phone, they would send a voicemail reset signal and then I should reset my password.

(I took it upon myself to deactivate the Google Voice account first.)

When I pressed the "1" key to access ATT Voicemail and set the password, I got "Unable to perform this action contact customer service."

I then tried to access my voicemail account online and got ERROR E1018

I called tech support again and they weren't interested in the error code.

They called me back on my landline and asked me to reset my password using "1"

I held the phone up for her to hear. This time when I pressed "1" I immediately got the recording "THIS IS CHANNEL 47-4"

What I found fun is that the message freaked out the tech support. She had never heard anything like it, she said.

Here is the new oddity:

When she came back on the line she was more freaked out! There was no record of any voicemail on my line. Voicemail isn't an "option," she said, it comes with every account. She knew of no type of account without voicemail. Having no voicemail account on my number was impossible, she said.

Regardless, I popped out the battery and restarted while she sent a "reset" signal and everything is now back to normal. I enabled Google Voice and all is as it was before today.

I've searched online and there is a lot of recent 47-4 issues and a lot of good solutions only no one seems to know what the message is or how it got there. I have the added piece of information that somehow my ATT record of any voicemail account was wiped out in the system.

The same message across carriers means what? That it's in the shared data lines? Shared towers?

If someone knows what this message is and who it originates from, I'd like to know. If I find out, I'll come back here and leave an update.