Broken phone or unpaid bill?

[BookstoreEscapee]

I called someone's cell phone and got a recorded message saying "The subscriber you have dialed is unable to receive calls at this time" (or something to that effect).

Would you say this means the phone is broken (as he told me in mid-August) and the owner had the service suspended, or the bill has simply gone unpaid, and the company cut off service?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Taboo]

I've gotten that when calling a friend whose bill went unpaid. The number was still listed as being subscribed, thus why there was a message from the company. If it specifically said "the subscriber you've dialed" rather than "the number you've dialed" then I'd guess it's an unpaid bill.

Probably depends on the company though?

[DesignFox]

Usually that means the person is suspended for an unpaid bill. Although, in theory, it could also have been suspended by choice (broken, lost, stolen or temporarily not being used but subscriber does not wish to cancel).

[BarbieGirl]

My husbands phone has done that randomly before, without missing payments or anything like that.