Honestly
01-09-2005, 01:44 AM
OK, so after having 5 PCS phones, and learning the tricks from browsing the forums, I'm loving it. I've also been with Cellular One/Cingular, Verizon Wireless, and US Cellular, and PCS really is the best overall available in the States.
That said, there's something I need to find out how to do. I want to set my voicemail up so that people CANNOT leave messages. Some answering machines have an outgoing-only setting, maybe voicemail does too.
Now, here's the scenario: I run a single-taxi cab company in a very small town. I have a land-based phone line which is the advertised phone number (it's a great number, ends in -TAXI). Whenever I leave to take a cab run, I forward from my land-based line to the cell phone. I turn the forwarding off when I come back. I don't want people to know the number of the cell phone at all, only the number to the land-based line.
Options I've Examined:
1. CS advises I can simply turn off voicemail alltogether, so people will simply get the message "...the pcs user...not available..." (or something like that). This option won't work in my case, as I need for people to have some confirmation that they've called the taxi company. This message confuses people who dial a land-line number.
2. I can simple turn off the prompting, and leave an outgoing message along the lines of "...You have reached the mobile telephone of xyz cab company. I am temporarily out of the service area, please try back in a few minutes."
Option 2 is the one I'm currently using. Trouble is, people know it's a voicemail (they hear the beep which cannot be turned off) and leave messages. Normally, this would not be a problem. In this case, however, Murphy's law will kick in. It goes something like this.
Msg 1: Hello, this is "Mike", I need picked up at 9:00pm at (The North Side).
Msg 2: Hello, this is "Mack", I need picked up a 9:00pm at (The South Side).
You may recall I said that it's a single-taxi cab company. Impossible situations tend to develop. Especially since Murphy's law also suggests I already had a cab appointment scheduled at 9:00pm on the West Side!
The trouble is, people WILL leave a message. I even tried one outgoing in which I repeated at the end "please do not leave a message, try back. please do not leave a message, try back. please do not leave a message, try back." Guess what... they still leave a message.
There may not be a lot of people who would understand a legitimate reason to not allow incoming VM messages, but I can vouch for at least one.
Does anyone here have any idea how to make voicemail outgoing only.
I did once try recording an outgoing message with like a whole minute of silence after it. Trouble is that Sprint's VM system truncated the silence anyway.
I would be extraordinarily grateful for any help. This has been driving me up the wall for three years now.
That said, there's something I need to find out how to do. I want to set my voicemail up so that people CANNOT leave messages. Some answering machines have an outgoing-only setting, maybe voicemail does too.
Now, here's the scenario: I run a single-taxi cab company in a very small town. I have a land-based phone line which is the advertised phone number (it's a great number, ends in -TAXI). Whenever I leave to take a cab run, I forward from my land-based line to the cell phone. I turn the forwarding off when I come back. I don't want people to know the number of the cell phone at all, only the number to the land-based line.
Options I've Examined:
1. CS advises I can simply turn off voicemail alltogether, so people will simply get the message "...the pcs user...not available..." (or something like that). This option won't work in my case, as I need for people to have some confirmation that they've called the taxi company. This message confuses people who dial a land-line number.
2. I can simple turn off the prompting, and leave an outgoing message along the lines of "...You have reached the mobile telephone of xyz cab company. I am temporarily out of the service area, please try back in a few minutes."
Option 2 is the one I'm currently using. Trouble is, people know it's a voicemail (they hear the beep which cannot be turned off) and leave messages. Normally, this would not be a problem. In this case, however, Murphy's law will kick in. It goes something like this.
Msg 1: Hello, this is "Mike", I need picked up at 9:00pm at (The North Side).
Msg 2: Hello, this is "Mack", I need picked up a 9:00pm at (The South Side).
You may recall I said that it's a single-taxi cab company. Impossible situations tend to develop. Especially since Murphy's law also suggests I already had a cab appointment scheduled at 9:00pm on the West Side!
The trouble is, people WILL leave a message. I even tried one outgoing in which I repeated at the end "please do not leave a message, try back. please do not leave a message, try back. please do not leave a message, try back." Guess what... they still leave a message.
There may not be a lot of people who would understand a legitimate reason to not allow incoming VM messages, but I can vouch for at least one.
Does anyone here have any idea how to make voicemail outgoing only.
I did once try recording an outgoing message with like a whole minute of silence after it. Trouble is that Sprint's VM system truncated the silence anyway.
I would be extraordinarily grateful for any help. This has been driving me up the wall for three years now.