Dropped Call

A disconnected call refers to a phone call that gets disconnected before completion, often due to technical issues or network problems. 

What is a Disconnected call?

Disconnected calls happen when a phone call is cut off before a conversation is finished.

There are many reasons why this could happen, such as a faulty phone. Call dropping can happen to any phone, no matter how sophisticated your phone is.

Whether or not your call drops typically depends on the strength of your network connection.

Call drops can negatively affect your business communication, especially if your telephone network drops consistently, as customers may start to get annoyed.

What Causes Disconnected Calls?

There are many reasons why calls drop, such as:

1. A weak cell signal: This is one of the main reasons why calls drop. If your phone has a weak network connection, then your calls are more likely to be disconnected.
2. Distance from cell towers: Another reason why calls can drop is how far you are from the nearest cell tower. The further you are from a cell tower, the weaker your signal can be.
3. Physical obstacles: Natural and man-made obstacles, such as buildings, trees, mountains and sometimes weather conditions can interfere with cell signals, which cause your cells to drop.
4. SIM card problems: If your phone has problems, such as a damaged SIM card, then this can also lead to connection issues or disconnected calls.
5. Network congestion: When too many devices are connected to a single cell tower at the same time it can overload the network, which also leads to disconnected calls.
6. Low battery: If your phone battery is low, then this can also cause your call to drop.

These are just some of the many reasons why your phone can drop - however, there are ways you can fix this problem and reduce the frequency of disconnected calls.

How Can You Prevent Disconnected Calls?

To prevent disconnected calls, you should try to move to an area that has better cell coverage.

You can also try to switch to a stable Wi-Fi connection to make calls because this can provide you with better reliability in places that have poor cellular internet speed.

Another way you can prevent disconnected calls is by checking and replacing faulty wiring, using line filters, testing different phone jacks, replacing old hardware and checking for any external issues.

A faulty SIM card can also be responsible for disconnected calls, which is why you should check your SIM card to make sure it is inserted properly and isn't damaged.

Sometimes restarting your phone can help to clear the cache and remove any problems that could be interfering with the quality of your call.

Finally, it's important to keep your phone charged as a low battery can also be the reason behind disconnected calls.

In major cities across the UK, disconnected call rates are much lower than 1%. This shows that disconnected calls have become less and less frequent in urban areas that have good network coverage.

How Can a Disconnected Call Affect Your Business?

Disconnected calls can have a range of negative effects on your business, especially if they happen more than once.

If you have a high call drop rate, then this can affect your customers, your business's reputation, and the success of your business as a whole.

Disconnected calls can also result in missed sales, especially for outbound call centres.

This is because some customers may not have the patience to reconnect once the call has dropped, which could lead to potential revenue loss and a drop in sales.

This can also lead to decreased customer satisfaction, as frequent call drops can frustrate customers, which can affect their opinion of your business.

Moreover, disconnected calls can cause customers to leave negative reviews on your business both online and through word of mouth. This is not ideal, as it could drive away potential customers.

Disconnected calls can also reduce productivity as they waste time when employees have to reconnect and potentially restart conversations.

Finally, constant disconnected calls can lead to increased operational costs. This is because you may need to make multiple follow-up calls to different customers, which can take more time and cost more.

According to HubSpot, the acceptable rate of disconnected calls for most call centres should be between 5% and 8%. If it is 10% or higher it is considered high.

What Can You Do to Reduce Disconnected Calls?

As a business, you must do everything you can to remain professional at all times. This is why it is important that you do everything you can to reduce call drops and increase customer satisfaction.

In order to keep these issues to a minimum, you should prioritise improving call quality and reliability. 

This can be done by implementing VoIP systems, using signal boosters, optimising network infrastructure or improving your customer service to support and deal with any communication issues quickly and efficiently.

Here at Max Contact, we offer workforce management services to help you run your business smoothly. 

A Workforce Management tool uses statistics to generate accurate forecasts to make sure that you have the correct number of users with relevant skill sets to meet customer demand and SLA targets, whilst ensuring that you are efficient and not over-staffed.  

Our workforce management system can help with scheduling time and attendance, ensuring your call centre is able to meet customer demand and hit your targets.

How Can You Improve Call Quality in Areas That Have a Weak Signal?

Weak signals can be one of the many reasons why phone calls can drop. But, what can you do to improve your call quality in areas that have a weak signal strength? Here are a few things you can do:

• Use WiFi calling if possible rather than relying on the cellular network
• Move to a better location with fewer obstructions between your phone and the cell tower
• Use a cellular signal booster to boost the existing signal strength
• Check your network settings and try to switch between the different network modes, such as 5G, 4G and 3G
• Regular system maintenance
• Upgrade your network infrastructure
• Consider changing your network provider if the problem consists

It is important to remember that whether or not these methods work depends on your location and circumstances. This is why it's best to try a combination of the approaches listed above to find which method works best for you.