Voicemail does not kick in

[hyT]

I have used PM for just over a month. Everything was working fine. I set up voicemail with a password. It was successful. Had a couple of incoming messages saved.

When I read in the community that I could lengthen the time before voicemail picks up, I decided to change from the default 25 seconds to the maximum 30 seconds. I double-checked afterwards by dialing *#61#, a message showed that the change was made successfully.

When I tried to call my number from another phone, the phone did ring for a full 30 seconds, but instead of voicemail picking up then, I got the message "The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check your number and dial again."   No voicemail!!   I tried resetting the voicemail through my self-serve account. I entered another password. I could check my saved messages alright by pressing and holding "1".  However there is still no voicemail when I dial and allow my phone to ring the 30 seconds. The same "not-in-service" announcement is what I get . What did I do wrong?  How can I fix that?

[hyT]

Love my phone. Dual SIM with an individual slot for a micro SD card for added storage. Everything I need in a smart phone without paying the flagship prices. Battery lasts me more than a day with my usage habits.

[mpcdesign]

@hyT, oh man, had I been on the ball, I could have helped you sooner. Am a fellow Asus Zenfone owner too. I got the Asus Zenfone 3 Max, got my dad, the 4, and my mom a 6.

[hyT]

Found it on my phone!

Settings - Call settings - Calling accounts - TELUS - Call forwarding. That's where I found the four number options listed.

I think it is because my ASUS ZenFone is a dual SIM phone, that option was under TELUS in the menu system.

You're right.  Thank you for this suggestion.

[hyT]

This is really interesting information.

It was after reading Nezgar's recent answer to someone else's post that I decided to try changing the ringer time. Who would have thought that after my inadvertent mistake that I got to learn so much more!

You are indeed a wealth of information. Thank you for sharing.

By the way, I did eventually find the forwarding-numbers setting on by phone by diving deep into the menu system. My phone is a dual SIM phone and that option was buried under "SIM1" - "TELUS".  This may be helpful for someone else who may have the same ASUS ZenFone Max Plus M1 model.

[Nezgar]

@hyTIf you ever fear you've screwed up the "default" call forwarding options, you can dial ##004# and all three conditional call forwards will be reset to whatever Public Mobile considers your default voicemail deposit numbers. (They can also be reset individually with ##61#, ##62# and ##67#)

Any one of the numbers listed on this article should work the same as your 'default' voicemail deposit number. That's interesting if you say that setting 204-588-4001 didn't work, maybe it was a slightly different number that was not actually one of the voicemail numbers. but good to start with a query like *#61# to see what it was to begin with.

Good to hear you got it figured out.

Personally I like to direct the decline/busy conditional call forward away from my voicemail. Setting US number will result in the caller getting an endless ring or fast busy. (ie. *67*8080000000# ) There are also more entertaining numbers to forward to.

ie. a fun one at work recently was 1-800-364-7667. 😉

[hyT]

Good to know.  Did not know that there are so many voicemail access numbers. I have learned something new every time I come to the community. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

 @hyT 

Glad to hear it.

This post has a list of voicemail access numbers. There's a 204 on there but it seems to be Manitoba. And you wanted 647 in Ontario. But then in actuality, with unlimited nationwide, it doesn't matter which one you choose. You can call any one of them to get into your voicemail from anywhere.

As a reference, my Samsung S7 running A8 in the default dialer 3 dots Settings menu has Voicemail settings that shows the voicemail access number that the provider puts in and is unchangeable. Then under More settings has Call forwarding and under that are the 4 levels of forwarding which are set by the provider to the voicemail access number but are changeable.

But yes you need to use the code to set the ring time.

[hyT]

Happy to report. It was my mistake in entering the wrong area code 204 instead of 647 in the whole MMI code thing that caused this problem.  I should have been more careful.

It was all your replies that triggered me to check my previous call log. Suggestions to check the forwarding number was most helpful, though I could not find an option on call-forwarding in my phone's dialing app 3-dot menu.

I have corrected it and everything is working fine again. RingerTime is 30 seconds now when voicemail picks up.

I never knew about MMI codes before. I learned some valuable lessons from all of you. Thank you.

[hyT]

I think I have found my mistake.

I used the code *61*204---4001**30# to change the RingerTime.

I should have used *61*647---4001**30# because that 647---4001 was the number showing on my phone log when I previously checked voicemail successfully.

Area code 204 was shown in the example I read on another community post. It was careless of me to use the wrong area code.  I shall try to change it back and see if it works. Shall test it out and report back. Thanks for fast responses from all of you. It sure is reassuring to have so many people eager to help.

[geopublic]

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@hyT wrote:

Cannot find a "call forwarding option" on my phone.

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@hyT  Open your Dialer. Select the 3dots then settings -> Calling accounts -> Call forwarding. It may be a little different on your phone but same idea.

[hyT]

Good suggestion, will try that and report afterwards.

[Luddite]

@hyT Go back to normal settings to confirm vm is actually functional. 

[hyT]

Cannot find a "call forwarding option" on my phone.

[Daps]

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@hyT wrote:

No, I did not enable the extended absence greeting - choice 3. I did record a busy signal greeting though - choice 2. I assumed that was for when others phoned me and I was on the phone.

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You may have found the culprit right there. Can you try disabling that option?

[hyT]

I only have one saved message in there.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

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@hyT wrote:

I did use the whole code to make the Ringer Time change and then rechecked by dialing *#61#

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Find the call forwarding options in your phone. Make sure the digits are correct. They should all be down in your dialer options.

[hyT]

I did use the whole code to make the Ringer Time change and then rechecked by dialing *#61#

[hyT]

No, I did not enable the extended absence greeting - choice 3. I did record a busy signal greeting though - choice 2. I assumed that was for when others phoned me and I was on the phone.

[Daps]

BTW the maximum number of voicemail message you can have stored is 10.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/Voicemail-Details/m-p/270179

[Anonymous]

Perhaps you need to do the whole code.

*61*[the voicemail access number like +17785804001]*30#

But your phone dialer should have an area to set these call forwarding options rather than using codes.

[Daps]

@hyT Is it possible you accidentally enabled extended absence greeting and disabled your voicemail?

Read this for more info: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/add-an-extended-absence-greeting

[hyT]

Asus Zenfone Max Plus M1, ZB570TL

[hyT]

Asus Max Plus M1.

Everything works normally still except this voicemail problem, which only arose after I lengthened the Ringer time.

[gblackma]

@hyT  what's the make and model of your phone?  And is everything else working properly. Thanks.