I hear *18 being mentioned several times, but I don't know what that does....with Verizon. I heard it had something to do when you are roaming. Can anyone explain this to me....thanks!!
Joe, *18 is "Follow Me Roaming". This enables you to receive calls outside your home market. Its default is ON. It's purpose was to be able to turn it OFF, while roaming, so that you can can call your own number and pick up your Voice Mail (old systems would give you a busy signal since you were on your phone!). *19 turned it off, *18 turned it back on after you listened to your messages, and again wanted to receive calls while roaming. Additionally, you could enter *19 so you wouldn't get any roaming calls, just Local calls from the roaming area (w/a special roaming access #). Almost all systems have discontinued use of the feature. Once in a while, an account will accidently get switched to *19. Occasionally entering *18 would undo that, and did no harm if it wasn't activated. Even Sprint PCS phones respond to *18(but not *19), even though the feature was never used by Sprint PCS. A handful of old analog systems still use it, but other customers don't need it, even when roaming on those systems, unless something goes wrong. -Bill Radio
