Skinny: ring time of 20 secs then divert to voice mail. Can the ring time be longer?

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny: ring time of 20 secs then divert to voice mail. Can the ring time be longer?

AKLWestie

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#131149 10-Oct-2013 14:09

I am going to port my number to Skinny but it has an annoying "feature". When the phone ring for 20 seconds, it will be diverted to voicemail. I am with Telecom now and I can pick the ring time of 30 seconds or indefinite (if I turn off voicemail completely).

Skinny said the 20 seconds ring time cannot be changed, why? I found it challenging to get my phone out of my pocket in 20 secs!

I hope someone from Skinny can explain this.

http://support.skinny.co.nz/app/answers/detail/a_id/205/c/14%2C17

And here is the text from their website.

How many times will my phone ring before my voicemail kicks in? Can I change the number of rings? The Skinny standard is 20 seconds of ringing before your call goes to your voicemail. No, we can't change it, sorry.

NonprayingMantis

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#912112 10-Oct-2013 15:04

really? it takes you more than 20 seconds to get your phone out of your pocket. it takes me 5 or less.

farcus

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#912186 10-Oct-2013 16:56

turn it off and get a voicemail app for your phone.

michaelmurfy

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#912197 10-Oct-2013 17:39

20 Seconds is the max you're able to do, just get Voicemail turned off.

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Hiamie

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#912205 10-Oct-2013 18:13

AKLWestie: When the phone ring for 20 seconds, it will be diverted to voicemail. I am with Telecom now and I can pick the ring time of 30 seconds or indefinite (if I turn off voicemail completely).
Skinny said the 20 seconds ring time cannot be changed, why?

I totally agree, 20 seconds is too short.

Fine if the cellphone is in your pocket, but if the phone is on its charger in the lounge, and I am in the bedroom at the other end of the house, it can take a few seconds for the ringtone to reach full volume, and much longer to recognise that it's my phone that is ringing. Then run from one end of the house to the other, and in my case, this includes a flight of stairs often taken 3 steps at a time in the rush not to miss the call.

Please Skinny, let us select a more appropriate length of time that fits our individual lifestyles.

AKLWestie

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#913268 10-Oct-2013 21:00

NonprayingMantis: really? it takes you more than 20 seconds to get your phone out of your pocket. it takes me 5 or less.

Well, I should explain it better. =-P

Like Hiamie has said, part of the problem is that it takes a few seconds for the phone to get to full volume. So, in a noisy environment like malls and supermarkets, it will take me may be 10 seconds to notice my phone is ringing. Hence 20 seconds is way too short.

The way Skinny allows you to turn off voice mail is that it will activate "call diversion when unavailable" after 20 seconds and then play a message saying that the caller cannot leave a message. My preference is that I can pick a longer ring time (say 30 seconds) or turn off the diversion completely.

LivingSkinny

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#915576 15-Oct-2013 16:49

Hiamie:
AKLWestie: When the phone ring for 20 seconds, it will be diverted to voicemail. I am with Telecom now and I can pick the ring time of 30 seconds or indefinite (if I turn off voicemail completely).
Skinny said the 20 seconds ring time cannot be changed, why?

I totally agree, 20 seconds is too short.

Fine if the cellphone is in your pocket, but if the phone is on its charger in the lounge, and I am in the bedroom at the other end of the house, it can take a few seconds for the ringtone to reach full volume, and much longer to recognise that it's my phone that is ringing. Then run from one end of the house to the other, and in my case, this includes a flight of stairs often taken 3 steps at a time in the rush not to miss the call.

Please Skinny, let us select a more appropriate length of time that fits our individual lifestyles.

Hi

A point well made. I can't make any promises at the moment but I have added this to the feature list for review with our software provider.

Cheers

Paul

ubergeeknz

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#915615 15-Oct-2013 17:45

AKLWestie:
NonprayingMantis: really? it takes you more than 20 seconds to get your phone out of your pocket. it takes me 5 or less.

Well, I should explain it better. =-P

Like Hiamie has said, part of the problem is that it takes a few seconds for the phone to get to full volume. So, in a noisy environment like malls and supermarkets, it will take me may be 10 seconds to notice my phone is ringing. Hence 20 seconds is way too short.

The way Skinny allows you to turn off voice mail is that it will activate "call diversion when unavailable" after 20 seconds and then play a message saying that the caller cannot leave a message. My preference is that I can pick a longer ring time (say 30 seconds) or turn off the diversion completely.

Why not just have your ringer on loud straight away so you don't spend 10 seconds waiting to hear it? Would people who call you actually wait for more than 20 seconds anyway, I'd assume by that stage (it really is a lifetime when you're listening to ringback) that you're not going to answer...

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coffeebaron

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#915618 15-Oct-2013 17:50

A Skinny lad like you on the Skinny network should have no problem slipping out you Skinny phone from your fat pocket :)

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Hiamie

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#915643 15-Oct-2013 18:32

Why not just have your ringer on loud straight away so you don't spend 10 seconds waiting to hear it? Would people who call you actually wait for more than 20 seconds anyway, I'd assume by that stage (it really is a lifetime when you're listening to ringback) that you're not going to answer...

I do! But...

Not ALL cellphones allow for instant full volume, and whilst that might give an additional 3 to 5 seconds or so to reach the phone, it is still just not realistic to get from one side of the house, to the other, and negotiate a set of stairs, and then grab the phone and hit the answer key. Or even just come in from the garden, remove dirty shoes and take the phone from the charger in order to answer it.

A ring time of 40 to 60 seconds would be my preference, and other people would no doubt have differing requirements.

It's simple, why not just allow the customers to have a choice? Can only encourage more people to choose Skinny as their provider. Can't think of anyone who would leave Skinny because there is a choice! But I think lots of people might decline using Skinny because there is a hard and fast requirment to answer all calls within 20 seconds.

mattwnz

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#915647 15-Oct-2013 18:36

Not everyone keeps their phone in their pocket, so I can see when 20 seconds may not be long enough.

1eStar

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#915680 15-Oct-2013 19:47

I'm looking forward to the ring time being extended. As a former telecom customer who always bumped up to the 40sec ring option. Very handy if you're driving and bluetooth isn't hooked up or something, so many instances where default 20 sec is too short.