voicemail error?

[Barciurek]

Hi
I turned off my voicemail today and now when people call me they hear the message "You've reached the voicemail system. If you have a voice box on this system press star. To read the message for another customer enter 10 digit mobile number now"."


I talked to the customer representative online...

Rebecca H: oh if you have turned the voicemail off that is one of the errors that you will get I am able to try changing it so it will just ring continuously if you prefer?
..
Rebecca H: no it is not an option to choose an error, the network just does so as if the feature is not functioning properly cause it is supposed to be there.

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What does that mean? I know when I call someone in Poland when they don't have voicemail it syas "the subscriber is currently out of reach please try again later"... Why can't that happen? :|

[tmobileman]

That message is what is referred to as the vm loop, you phone is still set up to forward the call to the vm system after a certain amount of rings so what is happening is call is coming in to your phone at the preset ring limit the phone is calling the vm system because your vm is inactive it's getting the standard message for the vm system, if you don't what this to happen change the call forwarding settings on your phone then it will just ring and not stop until the caller gives up. The only time an actual error or Switch message will play is if there are provisioning issues with the network.

[Barciurek]

Well the problem is that was the first thing I tried - turn off call divert on my phone.. the problem is it said "Incomplete" or some kind of an error... It must be network denying it because I know I tried that on other sim cards and it worked. :/

[Quint101]

Originally Posted by Barciurek

Well the problem is that was the first thing I tried - turn off call divert on my phone.. the problem is it said "Incomplete" or some kind of an error... It must be network denying it because I know I tried that on other sim cards and it worked. :/

If you are a prepaid customer, the network disables all call forwarding options; you cant even disable call forwarding. If you're on a contract, I can't explain the forwarding errors.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by Quint101

If you are a prepaid customer, the network disables all call forwarding options; you cant even disable call forwarding. If you're on a contract, I can't explain the forwarding errors.

Totally spaced the prepaid thing

[Barciurek]

So if I go out of the country and someone calls me and reaches it, it's not gonna charge me for forwarding, right?

[Quint101]

That's an interesting question. International long distance charges do apply if the phone is on and the call goes to voicemail, per their website, because the call is sent to a USA phone number from the foreign country. If you turn off your phone, no charges will apply of course. Since prepaid phones work in Canada and Mexico, I would assume that intl long distance fees apply. If you go to Europe or some other locale where prepaid doesn't work, no fees should apply since the phone won't have a signal anyway.

Am I right to assume that you have prepaid service?

[Barciurek]

Yes but my question was different.
I have had my Voice Mail turned off. Now when you call me it forwards to voice mail number where you can log in to your box..
There is no option to turn call forwarding off - network does not allow me to do so. So if I go to Canada and someone calls me and gets forwarded there, I don't think it's fair to charge me for something I don't want and can't turn off.

[tmobileman]

Originally Posted by Barciurek

Yes but my question was different.
I have had my Voice Mail turned off. Now when you call me it forwards to voice mail number where you can log in to your box..
There is no option to turn call forwarding off - network does not allow me to do so. So if I go to Canada and someone calls me and gets forwarded there, I don't think it's fair to charge me for something I don't want and can't turn off.

you're right it is a flaw in the system, however on the billing side of things, I believe your given 500 call forwarding min per month so that your not charged for this call being forwarded from your phone, while in canada though I guess I see your point the call delivery fee...have you called prepaid cust service about this, we have an internal suggestion system and I can't submit it for prepaid but this would be a good one to have submitted. You would be surprised how many things change with our systems due to customer response.

[Barciurek]

Alright I will call in tomorrow and will let you know what happened.