Voice Mail while in the US without an add-on

[navilluspm]

Hi all,

Both my wife and I are PM customers. Both of us crossed the border for a short stint and did not purchase an Add-on, thinking that all calls would go to voice mail while we were gone. A few people told us that they tried to call to leave messages but, instead of getting redirected to voice mail, an automated message told people that I was not in a service area and disconnected their call. Once I returned to Canada, everything worked fine.

Is there a way to make sure that calls go to voice mail when I am in the US? I don't want to purchase a US add-on every time I cross the border so that people can leave a voice message when I am gone.

[dust2dust]

That would fix conditional call forwarding . But it still doesn't fix it if the active sim in a phone connects to a US tower. But maybe things have changed with the newer roaming plans (and maybe add-ons).
When dealing with support you can try the dialing method using a dial code like *62*+1fullnumber#. If that works then conditional call forwarding should work. Try it now and see what happens. Undoing that is ##62#.
To test to make sure of that volte, turn off wifi and take or make a call and see if the symbol in the top bar changes to 3G.

[navilluspm]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I have a 2020 iPhone SE. The cellular settings say that the voice is on VOLTE. So if I understand correctly, I should submit a ticket to PM about this to fix the call forwarding when I roam in the US so that it goes to my PM voice mail. 

[dust2dust · Accepted solution]

Voicemail uses conditional call forwarding. That got broken when volte arrived. Do you know if your phone has been enabled for volte yet? If so then allegedly support can fix the call forwarding. Or are you using a non-Public voicemail service that you set the conditional call forwarding to? If so then that also breaks when the sim in a phone connects to a US tower.

[HALIMACS]

The other option, @navilluspm is to advise folks in Canada that they can STILL TEXT you when you are in the USA even if you don't have a US add-on nor a Canada-US plan.

While you can still receive SMS texts in the US, you will not be able to respond to them.   So at least this way, messages can still be delivered to you whilst in the US.

Even better, if you have an iPhone or other device with a web-based messaging such as iMessage or Android chat, all you need is a wi-fi connection to carry on a discussion with anyone, anywhere.

[Handy1]

@navilluspmmaybe consider a CAN/US plan 

[HALIMACS]

@navilluspm 

You can leave your device (or at least the SIM card in a device) within Canada while in the USA.

Since you're not utilizing a PM add-on in the US, there's no need to carry the PM SIM card there in your device.   The only pickle here would be if you use e-SIM.