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voicemail error message: you don't have an active long distance add-on

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi,

 

i live in montreal, quebec.

 

i reset my voicemail (vm) password using the button in my account.

 

then I went to set up my vm, and when I dial into my vm, to try to set up my vm, I get an error message saying I don't have an active long distance add on and the call hangs up.

 

so i don't get the chance to set up my vm. 

 

does someone know about this?

 

let me know

 

thanks

 

ross

104 REPLIES 104

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

so you don't know what number gets dialed when you call into your vm?

 


When I press and hold 1 and eventually hear the "you have no messages" and then go to look at my usage details...I see my local voicemail access number as the destination.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

so you don't know what number gets dialed when you call into your vm?

 

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

for your phone, what is the voice mail setting?

 

curious


I have a Blackberry OS10. I can get to each call forwarding option in my dialer. I can not however change that speed dial # - that I know of...that apparently you can.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

for your phone, what is the voice mail setting?

 

curious

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

@z10user4

 

so, to recap, I just manualy dialed *86, and I got the infamous error message "you don't have an active long distance add-on".

so what was happening was my settings were:

Phone settings > Voice Mail settings > *86

and when I was trying to retrieve my vm, the phone would dial *86 (whatever this number is)

and it may have been long distance, so the call would not go through.

so I changed my settings to:

Phone settings > Voice Mail settings > 1 438 580 4001.

 

so is there some place we can record this problem so it may help people that are having a similar issue?

 

let me know how it works. maybe there is a database or something.

 

thanks


You just did 🙂

Though truth be told...few to no one comes in here and searches all day for what their problem is. They just find a thread and post their question.

I tried *86 and got a different error. So really it's just an invalid thing to call that it can't figure out what to do with.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

@z10user4

 

so, to recap, I just manualy dialed *86, and I got the infamous error message "you don't have an active long distance add-on".

so what was happening was my settings were:

Phone settings > Voice Mail settings > *86

and when I was trying to retrieve my vm, the phone would dial *86 (whatever this number is)

and it may have been long distance, so the call would not go through.

so I changed my settings to:

Phone settings > Voice Mail settings > 1 438 580 4001.

 

so is there some place we can record this problem so it may help people that are having a similar issue?

 

let me know how it works. maybe there is a database or something.

 

thanks

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

@z10user4

 

ok, hahahahahaha, you had me worried there, hahahahaha.

 

yeah, i will get my friend to call me tomorrow to check if she can leave a message. thanks

 


You don't need to tag me when it's an active (only, currently) conversation. I really just use it to get the attention of someone. I'm refreshing the screen all the time so I see posts.

Of course, try to address someone and not just say "Yes" to nothing. And so you did with the username. You can also use the Quote button.

But of course...do what you like.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

@z10user4

 

ok, hahahahahaha, you had me worried there, hahahahaha.

 

yeah, i will get my friend to call me tomorrow to check if she can leave a message. thanks

 

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

@Anonymous

 

what do you mean by "NOW you can try having someone call you to make sure it drops to voicemail. It won't cost minutes."

 

are you saying that my phone won't ring that it will go straight to vm so I won't have to talk on the phone when some one calls?

let me know

thanks


No no. Way back earlier in this thread it was the idea of getting someone to test call you to make sure it works. They call your number. You let it ring. They either leave a message or tell you that they heard your recording afterwards.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

@Anonymous

 

what do you mean by "NOW you can try having someone call you to make sure it drops to voicemail. It won't cost minutes."

 

are you saying that my phone won't ring that it will go straight to vm so I won't have to talk on the phone when some one calls?

let me know

thanks

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

so, i deleted *86 and entered 1 438 580 4001,

 

and now when I hold key 1, it dials into my vm...    🙂

 

so i think things are rocking now.

 

thanks


Fantastic!

Thanks for letting us know.

From what I had quickly read it didn't seem easy.

 

@rosstermon: NOW you can try having someone call you to make sure it drops to voicemail. It won't cost minutes.

 

Edit: Sorry that took so much time.

To the regulars here...sorry that took so much space.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

@Anonymous

 

i have a galaxy s6 running android 7.0.  it is NOT rooted. i am using the generic phone app that came with the phone.

 

thanks

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi  Dankaroo,

 

@Dankaroo

 

so, i deleted *86 and entered 1 438 580 4001,

 

and now when I hold key 1, it dials into my vm...    🙂

 

so i think things are rocking now.

 

thanks

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

so, i deleted *86 and entered 1 438 580 4001,

 

and now when I hold key 1, it dials into my vm...    🙂

 

so i think things are rocking now.

 

thanks

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

i don't know about other people, but like I said, you were the first person to tell me what the vm number was, so that was great.

and the 3 code numbers, that was great.

so, thanks very much for your help. my vm seems to be working even though I have to dial 1 438 580 4001, that doesn't bother me.

have a good morning and thanks a lot.

cheers

ross


Thanks

Realize that calling your voicemail from your phone will use your 50 minutes. You have to do the initial setup using your phone but then after that you can call your phone number and when your recording starts you can press * and then a password to get in to your voicemail.

 

I've just done a brief search for *86 and it seems it's pretty sticky. I haven't found a fix yet. Lots of workarounds. But no fix.

 

Edit: @rosstermon: Are you using the stock dialer on a non-rooted phone using a factory OS?

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

i don't know about other people, but like I said, you were the first person to tell me what the vm number was, so that was great.

and the 3 code numbers, that was great.

so, thanks very much for your help. my vm seems to be working even though I have to dial 1 438 580 4001, that doesn't bother me.

have a good morning and thanks a lot.

cheers

ross

Dankaroo
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@rosstermon wrote:

hi  Dankaroo,

 

the settings I found were through the phone app, not in the android settings.

 

in the phone if I open settings I get

voice mail service  >  My carrier

voice mail settings  > *86

 

thanks


It's unusual to see only those options/information after pressing the three dots, is there any more to what you are seeing and could you perhaps add a screen shot to your response using the camera icon on the reply page.

 

Also in your next response kindly tag me using the @ symbol (ex. @Dankaroo) this will allow me to get notified of your response.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

what do you mean by "Apparently nor is my use of time."



I have been criticized on this forum for taking too much of the customers time (and quantity of posts) to fix something. As this dragged on I became aware that it was dragging on.

If we had gone in the Android direction I would have bowed out long ago as I don't have much familiarity with Android.

It looks like you're in fine hands with Dankaroo.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi  Dankaroo,

 

the settings I found were through the phone app, not in the android settings.

 

in the phone if I open settings I get

voice mail service  >  My carrier

voice mail settings  > *86

 

thanks

Dankaroo
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@rosstermon wrote:

hi  Dankaroo,

 

voice mail settings  >  *86

 

thanks


Hi, 

 

Am I correct in assuming there is no generic Settings option after pressing on the three dots at the top right inside of your default phone apication?

 

To avoid misleading you there are voicemail settings and then there are sim voicemail settings, let's try doing this in baby steps so I don't direct you to the wrong one.

 

Also kindly tag me in your response by using the @ sign. (Example @Dankaroo) this way I get a notification when you respond.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

thanks for all your help.

 

what do you mean by "Apparently nor is my use of time."

 

you told me the 14385804001 number to call.

 

you told me the 3 codes to dial to set call forwarding.

 

you helped me quite a bit.

 

P.S. yes, dialing *86 does not work. i was wondering what the code is that is used to dial public vm?

 

thanks

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi  Dankaroo,

 

voice mail settings  >  *86

 

thanks

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

I am not sure they can be set in the dialer, because the settings I found have "Voice Mail service" and when i click that setting, the only setting is "My carrier" and there are no settings to change this setting.

 

my vm is set to *86.  do you know what the good code should be? thanks


*86 doesn't seem to work for me. Pressing and holding 1 works for me.

Inner, deeper settings of Android are not my forte. Apparently nor is my use of time.

You have the voicemail access number. It works. The rest should work.

Maybe you have to contact the mods to have them reset the service for you.

Maybe you could try the re-start trick of using the lost/stolen feature.

Maybe just going into airplane mode and back might do something.

Dankaroo
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@rosstermon 

When you open your phone application (or dialer if you prefer). And you press on the three dots at the top right what options are listed?

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi computergeek541 ,

 

so i think when I press the 1 key it is dialing *86.

 

do you know the correct code?

 

thanks

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

I am not sure they can be set in the dialer, because the settings I found have "Voice Mail service" and when i click that setting, the only setting is "My carrier" and there are no settings to change this setting.

 

my vm is set to *86.  do you know what the good code should be? thanks

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

>>I have been hinting from the beginning that you should be able to set all this in the dialer settings. I'm old school partial to the codes. But this would have been much easier to set in the dialer. You needed your "local" vm access number. The rest could have been done in the dialer.>>

 

sorry, I am not getting what you mean.

 

are you saying i shouldn't have had to dial the 861* , etc, numbers manually?

 

or do you mean getting the key 1 to work?

 

i looked in my settings and I can't find any dialer settings.

 

let me know

 

thanks


Yes. I mean these call forwarding options would be setable in the dialer. The dialer will have it's button to touch to get you to its settings menu. In one line, in the post just above my previous one, likely settles this what...hour or so of back and forth and confirming and trying etc.

The 1 key I still don't know. Maybe it's a provisioning thing. All of this really should have happened automatically upon activation.

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

i mean the are you saying i shouldn't have had to dial the *61* , etc, numbers manually?

 

i found info for voice mail settings. it's dialing *86.

 

what should the number be?

 

let me know

 

thanks

rosstermon
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

hi z10user4,

 

>>I have been hinting from the beginning that you should be able to set all this in the dialer settings. I'm old school partial to the codes. But this would have been much easier to set in the dialer. You needed your "local" vm access number. The rest could have been done in the dialer.>>

 

sorry, I am not getting what you mean.

 

are you saying i shouldn't have had to dial the 861* , etc, numbers manually?

 

or do you mean getting the key 1 to work?

 

i looked in my settings and I can't find any dialer settings.

 

let me know

 

thanks

Anonymous
Not applicable

@rosstermon wrote:

hi z10user4,

 

>>Do you mean pressing and holding the 1 key until it dials the vm?>>

 

doing the above still gives me an error message.

 

manually dialing 14385804001 gets me to my vm and it works.

 

so i dialed *61* 1 438 580 4001# (without the 30 secs) and i got the following message "call forwarding when no reply. registration was successful."

 

so that is all 3 of them working?    🙂

 

I don't understand what you mean by this "Why are you averse to going into your dialer settings after all this?"

 

i am pretty knowledgeable on my android phone. what settings do you want me to imput?

 

let me know

 

thanks

 

 


I have been hinting from the beginning that you should be able to set all this in the dialer settings. I'm old school partial to the codes. But this would have been much easier to set in the dialer. You needed your "local" vm access number. The rest could have been done in the dialer.

It's unfortunate that the 1 key speed dial still doesn't get to vm. I dunno.

Others have been trying to interject that it's perhaps a service provisioning problem that only the mods can reset. Maybe the mods would have been able to fix all of this. Maybe. You were having successes as we went along. So I kept going.

Need Help? Let's chat.