topic Re: How do i opt out voicemail service? in Get Support

How do i opt out voicemail service?

danlee — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 21:13:19 GMT

This might have ask before but i couldn't find in recent post, anyone knows how to delete voicemail service. I went into my account but only saw "change of voicemail pin"...

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

Someone_here — Fri, 04 May 2018 04:52:28 GMT

I don't think you can...

~~Two options...~~

~~1) let you voicemail message be: "please.dont leave me a message as a won't listen to it anyways"~~

2) also, leave yourself as many messages as you can until your voicemail is full, so others can't leave you messages (I'm not sure if messages eventually delete themselves automatically after a given period of time)

Try messaging the mods and ask if voicemail can be disabled.

EDITED: better answer hereunder.

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

wetcoaster — Fri, 04 May 2018 04:56:09 GMT

@danlee wrote:
This might have ask before but i couldn't find in recent post, anyone knows how to delete voicemail service. I went into my account but only saw "change of voicemail pin"...

@danlee

There is no actual "delete voicemail service".

What you can do is set-up your voice mail with an "extedended absence greeting" (sorry, have not listened to the full menu recently...). If that is activated it will play whatever you record but doesn't allow the caller to leave a message.

Edti: This is the post by @srlawren I was looking for - it outlines the process step by step: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/Re-Disable-Voicemail/m-p/213805/highlight/true#M38756

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

Someone_here — Fri, 04 May 2018 05:26:05 GMT

Just found this: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Disable-Voicemail/m-p/178587/highlight/true#M53620

Also found another post where I think (not sure) the outcome was that mods could disable the voicemail (https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/disable-voicemail/m-p/56419/highlight/true#M7147)

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

srlawren — Fri, 04 May 2018 06:03:14 GMT

@Someone_here clear out the forwarding numbers in phone config--yeah that makes a lot of sense actually! For most, probably a better solution than the extended absence greeting. The extended greeting has the benefit of letting legitimate callers trying to reach you know an alternate way to do so while still keeping robocallers and spammers from filling your box with junk. The turn-off-forwarding approach may be more perplexing to real people trying to reach you.

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

Someone_here — Fri, 04 May 2018 06:05:49 GMT

@srlawren wrote:
The turn-off-forwarding approach may be more perplexing to real people trying to reach you.

Maybe, but not everyone I know has voicemail, so I personally wouldn't find it too weird...

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

srlawren — Fri, 04 May 2018 06:18:37 GMT

@Someone_here wrote:
@srlawren wrote:
The turn-off-forwarding approach may be more perplexing to real people trying to reach you.
Maybe, but not everyone I know has voicemail, so I personally wouldn't find it too weird...

@Someone_here yeah it would be jarring for me if the phone just rang and rang or if it rang a couple of times and abruptly disconnected. But everyone's "normal" is different, I suppose.

Not that I want to turn off my voicemail, but I think if I were to want or need to, I'd probably go with the extended greeting rather than calls-go-to-the-great-abyss, but that's just me 🙂 YMMV, as always.

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

Korth — Fri, 04 May 2018 11:32:48 GMT

Just don't ever access the voicemail number. Don't say your name when prompted, don't record a greeting when prompted. Simply hang up.

Incoming callers will only hear the default Telus computer voice. They'll know it's a "real" number because of the voicemail answer, but they won't know whose. Chances are they won't be persistent enough to keep leaving messages if they never get a response. And even if they are, you'll never know anyhow if you never call your voicemail.

Your phone software probably also has options to enter, change, or forward your voicemail number. Just enter the phone number for McDonald's on Broadway, problem solved.

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

kav2001c — Fri, 04 May 2018 12:01:21 GMT

As near as I can tell every plan on every carrier these days includes voicemail

Its been years since it was an upgrade

More perplexing to me is

1- People who never setup voice mail (so when you call it gives generic error about not being setup)

2- Why would you not want the ability to have someone leave you a message?

@Someone_here wrote:
@srlawren wrote:
The turn-off-forwarding approach may be more perplexing to real people trying to reach you.
Maybe, but not everyone I know has voicemail, so I personally wouldn't find it too weird...

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

Korth — Fri, 04 May 2018 13:08:05 GMT

I initially thought (in above post) that this question might involve a privacy concern, a person who wishes to remain "anonymous" to (known or unknown) callers. Although if anonymity is a real concern then a broadcast pager service is far smarter than a telemetry-embedded radio-transmitting smartphone, lol.

Now I'm guessing this question might involve PM's new limited (50-minute) plan. If so, callers leaving messages will not consume your minutes, calling/accessing your own voicemail to check their messages (from your mobile device) will use your minutes. You can always access your voicemail (to check missed messages, etc) from any other phone by dialing 1-855-4PUBLIC (1-855-478-2542) and entering your PIN, your minutes won't be consumed if your phone isn't being used.

Otherwise, I agree with above ... there's seems to be no reason to not use voicemail.

Besides, I find in practice that most people hate speaking to machines and never bother to leave a message anyhow. Maybe it's just the sorts of people who call me, maybe it's the prevailing social protocol in my city, lol.

The phone will log missed calls (along with their phone numbers) on the call history either way, whether they leave messages or not.

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

kav2001c — Fri, 04 May 2018 14:43:58 GMT

@Korthagree completely

Most people do not leave messages unless its important and in that case I would be willing to use up a minute from a limited minute plan

As fro privacy there is no reason to leave your name, just record a blank greeting or use a generic one

Call History is only logged when cell phone is powered on though Korth

Public does not have a missed call service (only Rogers brands and Freedom offer this)

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

CalgaryBen — Fri, 04 May 2018 16:36:45 GMT

I can imagine a use case for disabling voice mail is to simplify usage -- for example, my senior parents hate that they get voicemail or SMS notifications (despite trying to train them, they're stubborn and would prefer it didn't exist!), and as easy as it is (to most of us), they find it difficult to retrieve their messages.

A device-agnostic approach I would recommend trying is to increase the number of rings before going to VM to a really high number (unfortunately, I understand the max is 30 seconds). Instructions on doing this can be found here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/Change-the-number-of-rings-before-going-to-voicemail/m-p/213343#M17397

This at least is more similar to the "feel" of not having VM for most callers, and the phone will seemingly just ring and ring...

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

danlee — Fri, 04 May 2018 18:39:06 GMT

What is the number to dial into voicemail??

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

CalgaryBen — Fri, 04 May 2018 18:47:53 GMT

@danlee wrote:
What is the number to dial into voicemail??

On most phones, the number 1 speed-dial will already be programmed to the correct number for your location (press and hold 1). If your phone (e.g. iPhone) abstracts the number away and it doesn't show up in call history, you can see what number this effectively called in your usage history (Log into your self-serve account -> click "View My Usage" in the "My Plan" section under the Account Status).

The cheat sheet is also offered up in this post: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/Voice-Mail/m-p/170589/highlight/true#M18515

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

danlee — Fri, 04 May 2018 19:02:46 GMT

So caller leaving you message will not consume your airtime minutes, if that's true. that's awesome although I still didn't like voicemail and I just don't have the habit to check it.

Re: How do i opt out voicemail service?

Someone_here — Fri, 04 May 2018 19:44:56 GMT

@danlee wrote:
So caller leaving you message will not consume your airtime minutes, if that's true. that's awesome although I still didn't like voicemail and I just don't have the habit to check it.

Caller leaving a message will never use your minutes!

Minutes will be used if you take your messages from your cellphone line only. But you can also take your message from another line and then your minute won't be used.