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Voicemail question

helenhelen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Is it possible to record an outgoing voicemail message, but have the mailbox itself be turned off? Basically, I want to record an outgoing message to inform people to call back later, text or email me instead, and not be able to leave voicemail.. but I want to keep the voicemail option in case I need it later (e.g. when job searching, etc.) and can turn my mailbox back on.

6 REPLIES 6

helenhelen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Thank you. That is really funny what @Nezgar is doing and I will look them up! At this point I pretty much ignore calls unless it is my family or friends. I put an outgoing voicemail message saying to try calling again if it is urgent (if I see someone calling more than once, I will answer it.. scammers and telemarketers don't as they often use an automated dialer or the incoming number will change each time since they spoof those numbers), text or email me instead. Voicemail inbox is off so no one can leave messages. It has drastically reduced the number of stupid scam calls that I get!


@helenhelen wrote:

Thank you - got my answer (which is yes - extended absence greeting and then disable incoming messages)


Thank you for writing this! it is nice to see when people put in that they have it figured out! Bravos! 

@helenhelen  You should enjoy this post from @Nezgar  its very informative. And I get to practice using the spoiler tool. If I do it properly Its a win win!

Spoiler
Re: How do I block a person from leaving voicemail?
@jpaiva83 wrote:

Plan A

How do I block a person from leaving voicemail?

 

I have blocked the number on the phone, but this person still leaves voicemail. As checking voicemail costs minuets, its very annoying to use minuets just to delete the message.

[snip]

Hi @jpaiva83 , I can satisfy your "Plan A" without having to disable voicemail for everyone!

 

There are three types of "conditional" call forwarding that are all set to public mobile's voicemail system by default. You can't disable them, but you can change each of them to forward to other numbers to achieve the same thing.

 

There are three types of conditional call forwarding are "when busy", "no answer", or "unreachable".

 

When you block a number, or manually decline a call, the "when busy" conditional forward is invoked. So, if you set that one specifically to a dead-end or other "fun" number, callers from blocked numbers will never reach your voicemail, while still allowing unanswered calls, and calls while your phone is off the network or in airplane mode ("unreachable") to proceed to voicemail

 

For you, you can dial:

*67*8080000000#

 

This sets your "busy" conditional call forward to an invalid USA number, that is still accepted for setting. Since Public Mobile does not actually allow call forwarding to a USA number, the caller will just get a fast-busy or ringing forever without ever reaching your voicemail to futher annoy you.

 

Undo this back to default with:

##67#

 

I wrote about this previously in detail here, with some other fun numbers to use as destinations, such as a payphone in Regina: 306 545 8171 "At the customers request, the number you have dialed is equipped for outgoing calls only."

 

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Fun-with-Conditional-Call-forwarding-and-...

 

Lastly, be aware that anyone can technically leave you voicemail without ever having to dial your phone number at all. By dialing any of the local voicemail access numbers across canada, and entering your phone number, a message can be left for you.

 

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Updated-list-of-Voicemail-Access-Numbers/...

 

Another option is to not use Public Mobile's voicemail service at all. You can use a free "alternative" voicemail provider such as Youmail. By setting your "conditional" call forwards to the number they provide to you at setup, they will perform spam screening, speech to text transcription, and send it to you as an e-mail so you don't even have to call in to retrieve it. I've started using it myself and it's great. The free option is already way ahead of the traditional system Public Mobile runs.

*I hope this worked!

Spoiler
Look like it did....im still learning!

@helenhelen  The voicemail expert around here lately is definitely @Nezgar  who has spent a lot of time testing out what codes to use to turn things on or off, send annoying collection agents to n endless ringing phone and all kinds of interesting things you can program your phone/voicemail to do. You can find lots of interesting posts in @Nezgar profile or in the phones and hardware section. Just look for the username as the thread author.

helenhelen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Thank you - got my answer (which is yes - extended absence greeting and then disable incoming messages)

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