2degrees Users - Check your Voicemail Greeting

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › 2degrees Users - Check your Voicemail Greeting

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kiwigander

231 posts

Master Geek

#1177499 17-Nov-2014 18:00

There is nothing to update, sorry. After 60 days of inactivity - no messages deposited, and no retrievals - your voicemail box will be deleted. If you really need to keep it, just call 202 every now and again to keep it alive.

Edit: in regards to why it isn't on the web site; it is. It's in the terms and conditions under 'Voicemail'.

Thank you.

Now I'm not meaning to be completely obtuse, but have I got this right: after 60 days of inactivity my voicemail box is deleted. From that, plus my experience of earlier today, I gather that

my voicemail greeting and any messages left in the box are deleted (and the T&C say the messages would have been deleted after 30 days);
the server reverts to answering incoming calls with a generic greeting;
callers are able to leave messages in this no-man's-land;
when I again set up a voicemail PIN and greeting, those messages are retrievable.

Seems a bit strange, but manageable.

Does Prepay allow the voicemail phone number to be changed (e.g. to a 2talk 028 number)? If so, do the minutes so used come off one's accumulated "free" minutes or does the cost come off the cash balance of the account?

nickb800

2715 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1177504 17-Nov-2014 18:26

So the effective monthly cost of a voicemail service on 2degrees is $0.10 ($0.20 every 60 days). Yes it's a rounding error, but you'd think it's something to disclose more prominently

tieke

674 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#1177507 17-Nov-2014 18:34

kiwigander: Does Prepay allow the voicemail phone number to be changed (e.g. to a 2talk 028 number)? If so, do the minutes so used come off one's accumulated "free" minutes or does the cost come off the cash balance of the account?

Yes - prepay does allow you to forward numbers. As per the standard GSM codes:

Forward unanswered calls
Activate: **61*full phone number# (SEND)
Deactivate: ##61# (SEND)

Forward calls when out of coverage or phone switched off
Activate: **62*full phone number# (SEND)
Deactivate: ##62# (SEND)

Worked on mine, and I'm pretty sure the minutes come out of your balance as it's just a standard call.

SaltyNZ

8225 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1177549 17-Nov-2014 19:58

kiwigander:
There is nothing to update, sorry. After 60 days of inactivity - no messages deposited, and no retrievals - your voicemail box will be deleted. If you really need to keep it, just call 202 every now and again to keep it alive.

Edit: in regards to why it isn't on the web site; it is. It's in the terms and conditions under 'Voicemail'.

Thank you.

Now I'm not meaning to be completely obtuse, but have I got this right: after 60 days of inactivity my voicemail box is deleted. From that, plus my experience of earlier today, I gather that

my voicemail greeting and any messages left in the box are deleted (and the T&C say the messages would have been deleted after 30 days);
the server reverts to answering incoming calls with a generic greeting;
callers are able to leave messages in this no-man's-land;
when I again set up a voicemail PIN and greeting, those messages are retrievable.

Seems a bit strange, but manageable.

Does Prepay allow the voicemail phone number to be changed (e.g. to a 2talk 028 number)? If so, do the minutes so used come off one's accumulated "free" minutes or does the cost come off the cash balance of the account?

Yes, that's correct. And you can divert to any number you like, yes. If you have any voice minutes packs these will be used to pay for the divert. But then again, if you're paying $19 a month for the prepay connection, then presumably you're using the service often enough to not be in jeopardy of your voicemail box disappearing.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

alasta

6703 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

#1177553 17-Nov-2014 19:59

nickb800: So the effective monthly cost of a voicemail service on 2degrees is $0.10 ($0.20 every 60 days). Yes it's a rounding error, but you'd think it's something to disclose more prominently

It's not the monetary cost that bothers me - it's the hassle of having to make absolutely sure that I dial into my voicemail at least once every 60 days. I've set up a recurring task to prompt me to do it, but I'd really rather not have to.

I can understand why they would do this with prepaid accounts that are getting little or no usage, but as long as I'm paying a fixed monthly charge I think it's reasonable to expect my mailbox to remain permanently active.

SaltyNZ

8225 posts

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2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1177557 17-Nov-2014 20:06

daparrot:

Once again another reason I find it hard to recommend to business clients 2 Degrees as a business solution
when we get a mickey mouse business practices like this. The lack of proper billing is also too big a hurdle to overcome.

Bruce

I'd be a bit reluctant to pay $29 a month for a business line if I expected to receive less than one call every 2 months too. Seems like a bit of a waste of money. Not sure what you mean by 'lack of proper billing though.' My wife has been getting a proper bill every month for about 4 years now.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

SaltyNZ

8225 posts

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2degrees

Lifetime subscriber

#1177561 17-Nov-2014 20:13

alasta: I think it's reasonable to expect my mailbox to remain permanently active.

Unfortunately it's rather all or nothing.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

shk292

2853 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1177564 17-Nov-2014 20:18

SaltyNZ:

Yes, that's correct. And you can divert to any number you like, yes. If you have any voice minutes packs these will be used to pay for the divert. But then again, if you're paying $19 a month for the prepay connection, then presumably you're using the service often enough to not be in jeopardy of your voicemail box disappearing.

Well, that's one thing 2degrees has over Spark prepaid - it's impossible to divert calls to anything other than the standard Spark VM number, so as clever as the 2talk solution is, it's no good for Spark prepaid customers such as myself

muppet

2568 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1177566 17-Nov-2014 20:21

This service I am paying a tiny amount for, has a tiny limitation I've just been made aware of!

I'm so angry!

What if <unlikely-edge-case> or <even-more-unlikely-edge-case> happens? This affects at least 0.006% of your userbase. This is rude and unfair!

I bet we could form a mob of at least 6 people who this upsets. Who's with me?

TONIGHT WE MARCH.

Fair warning, 2Degrees.

daparrot

128 posts

Master Geek

#1177614 17-Nov-2014 21:47

muppet: This service I am paying a tiny amount for, has a tiny limitation I've just been made aware of!

I'm so angry!

What if <unlikely-edge-case> or <even-more-unlikely-edge-case> happens? This affects at least 0.006% of your userbase. This is rude and unfair!

I bet we could form a mob of at least 6 people who this upsets. Who's with me?

TONIGHT WE MARCH.

Fair warning, 2Degrees.

Now we are aware of this crazy limitation on how 2degrees does their email it becomes apparent whats happening
Checking with ten clients who have 2degrees accounts I have found 3 so far that have been having this issue
and just blaming the voicemail system for losing the setup
So I think its a few more than 0.006%

And yes there are practical reasons why you have a phone that mainly does SMS messaging but on occasion you
expect the phones voicemail to function as required.

And $29 per month is $348 per year which in my books is a reasonable amount of money to pay for a basic phone service which
you would expect to at lease retain the greeting message on its voicemail system for more than 60 days

So yes I am Angry

kiwigander

231 posts

Master Geek

#1177656 17-Nov-2014 22:16

I am loth to criticise 2° too severely here. I don't imagine I'm a prized customer. ($8 a month for the account in question can't be worth very much to 2°. Then again, I've just shifted my primary cellphone account to 2°.) But the behaviour of the voicemail system was just a bit hard to fathom. That 2° lets you avoid their voicemail system altogether is a bonus.

I reckon customers are going to be more annoyed by being ambushed by the loss of their voicemail accounts than by the fact that dormant accounts expire so quickly. We get used to prepay accounts dying after say six months of disuse. And It just seems ironic that a voicemail account will be cancelled, its contents lost, the greeting substituted by a generic one and then the system will continue to invite and store voice messages.

How carefully do people read terms & conditions? Maybe 2° could post the quirks of the voicemail system more prominently, perhaps as footnotes to the Web site's flowcharts for voicemail.

richms

28172 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1177663 17-Nov-2014 22:26

Ive been wondering why I have been getting messages left on a sim I had set the outgoing message up to say not to and then to have a disconnected tone playing on it for as long as it would allow recording on the message for.

I have been looking at the notification thinking F*****G idiots cant listen but now I learn that the greeting is gone and they are just getting the creepy sounding 2degrees man telling them to leave a message.

Think I will take my barely used numbers over to skinny.

Richard rich.ms

Spoonguard

19 posts

Geek

#1177671 17-Nov-2014 22:40

kiwigander: ..Maybe 2° could post the quirks of the voicemail system more prominently, perhaps as footnotes to the Web site's flowcharts for voicemail.

It doesn't matter how prominently they explain the quirks of their system - for me at least, this voicemail system is worse than no system at all. I despise interacting with phonemenu systems. At this point I have to strongly advise against leaving me a message - is the forlorn hope of income from voicemail really worth having their system slagged off at every available opportunity?

richms

28172 posts

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Lifetime subscriber

#1177676 17-Nov-2014 23:02

shk292:
Well, that's one thing 2degrees has over Spark prepaid - it's impossible to divert calls to anything other than the standard Spark VM number, so as clever as the 2talk solution is, it's no good for Spark prepaid customers such as myself

The spark one has not yet forgotten a voicemail greeting, and allows it to not even let them record a message. And is cheaper to maintain due to cheaper topups.

Only reason I have had my numbers I want to keep on 2degrees is so I can put the sim in my dual sim cheapie phones and have it active as only one sim can be on UMTS at a time, whereas both can be active on GSM.

Richard rich.ms

FlameBeard

344 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#1306024 15-May-2015 18:14

I have made use of an app on my iPhone (don't know if it is on the Google play store) called Tap voice mail. Creates a call forward and then lets you see the messages much like you do texts and gives you the option of downloading them too. Also you can set multiple pre-recorded messages. So if you frequently are travelling you could quickly select your "I'm out of the country" message and it sets it for you and when you get back just tap your "regular" greeting and its back. Pretty handy and worth the $2 sub if you ask me.

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