Well, everyone, here is the latest news on my problem. I had to speak to Apple again. They have changed their structure of tech support. I had to go through a level 1, for want of a better description, and then to a level 2 tech. The level 2 tech was very nice and told me she had had some of the same problems as myself, e.g. every time she belled one very old and familiar number, she would get a number disconnected message, but other phone had no problem with the same number. She said the problem lay between her phone service provider and the provider for the other number and was eventually resolved, so after we finished speaking, she placed me on hold and belled my phone provider, spoke to them for a few moments, and then transferred me over to them. Here is where it became very aggravating again.
The woman I spoke with placed me on hold for a while, and once she returned, she said that the problem dialling into those two specific phone numbers (both owned by the city where I live) was because the city had changed their numbers to non-toll numbers. I know, I was thinking the same thing.
Exhausted, I told her the numbers had always been "non-toll," and even if they were "toll" numbers, contacting long distance numbers is part of my phone's plan. I can bell any number in the U.S. on my plan. Besides, "non-toll" means you pay nothing extra to dial a number. She insisted on the reason she stated. There was nothing I could do.
The upsshot is I still cannot reach either of those numbers. I did get icloud turned off and all of my stuff put back on my computer. Tonight, however, I received a message from Settings saying that my iphone had not been backed up in two weeks. It said I must connect it to power and have WiFi turned on. I connect it to my computer every single day, and as far as I know, WiFi is turned on. The little symbol that looks like a lollypop with parentheses coming out of the ball the top of the stick is my WiFi symbol, and it is turned on.
I remain exasperated after all of these months. I was further saddened to know that now that I have updated my phone with every new update, I can no longer put my phone back to where it was before I started using iCloud. As for the explanation about "non-toll" numbers, all I can say is there may be something to it because neither my iphone nor my Android based phone can contact those numbers, and the phones have two different phone service providers. The iphone is with Cricket, which operates off of ATT towers, and the other phone operates off of a different carrier. Whether they both use the same towers or not, I have no idea.
Does anyone have anything they can tell me about this "non-toll" number explanation? It sounds crazy! I am in the same city with those numbers. We have the same area code. I never had this problem before I started using iCloud, and Apple insists it has nothing to do with iCloud. iCloud is now OFF, but I still cannot get through on those two numbers. Funnily enough, there are other city numbers I can get through with no problems, e.g. the number for the water department.
So frustrating....