Question

Changing Voicemail announcement from abroad

  • 27 February 2024
  • 32 replies
  • 253 views
R
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Our daughter will shortly be travelling abroad to Australia.  It will obviously be prohibitively expensive to keep using her ID Sim whilst there, so she intends to put the IDMobile sim in an old phone, only use it on WiFi to avoid roaming charges, and get a new Australian PAYG sim when she gets there to install in her other phone.

Does anyone know if it is possible to change her VM announcement FROM Australia, as she wants to inform anyone calling her ID Mobile in the UK, of her new Australian number?

Customer Services say that it isn’t, but I just wanted to check!

32 replies

andewhite
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Provided you’ve got a PIN for your iD Mobile voicemail, you should be able to access voicemail while roaming, but this would be an out-of-plan use while in Australia (i.e. expensive).

An option, while in Australia, which might be cheaper, would be add credit to a Skype account, link a mobile number to the Skype account, and use Skype to call the iD Mobile voicemail service instead.

Good luck, @RG58.

 

R
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Are you saying, set up a Skype account in the UK and link it to her ID Mobile number.  Then when she gets to Australia and buys a PAYG sim there, she could use the skype to access her ID Mobile voicemail in order to change the announcement to give out that new number?  What number would she have to call on Skype? How do you link Skype and a UK mobile? (sorry, haven’t used Skype in years). The accessing the voicemail is not the problem - it is being able to change the message on it whilst abroad.

 

Thanks

andewhite
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Okay @RG58, you wouldn’t need to link the mobile to the Skype account.

If the Skype account had credit, then just call iD voicemail on +44 7782 333 123.

If the voicemail PIN is setup, you can access voicemail, and should be able to record greetings etcetera.

 

R
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That is exactly what Customer Services says you cannot do!  They are saying you dial that number to access your voicemails but are saying you cannot change the greeting.  That is what I am trying to confirm.  However, perhaps it can be done via Skype?  I will have to set up a Skype account and try it myself.

 

 

andewhite
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Okay @RG58, sorry I can’t be certain - I’ve not tried changing my voicemail greeting while abroad.

If it’s not possible, then perhaps your daughter’s UK proxy could call +44 7782 333 123 instead. Assuming your daughter was happy to share her voicemail PIN and Australian mobile number.  

 

 

R
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I will wait to use my wife’s mobile when she gets home (she is on Three) as if I dial that number from my phone, it just goes straight through to my voicemail.  If that works, I could always play a recording of my daughter’s message into the microphone in order to change the message.  It might work?

andewhite
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You might want to consider using a PIN with iD voicemail service, @RG58. 

Without a PIN, anybody who knows your mobile number can call +44 7782 333 123 from any phone, and access your voicemail(s).  

 

R
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Well that didn’t work!  Being on Three, dialling the number above goes straight to her voicemail as well!  No option to access another person’s mailbox.

 

andewhite
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Okay @RG58, perhaps Three UK (the iD Mobile network partner) have enhanced their voicemail system. 

It was the case that WITHOUT a mailbox PIN, your voicemail was open to anyone.

If somebody knew your mobile number, then called the voicemail service number (for your mobile service provider), they could listen to your voicemail. 

I have a PIN on my voicemail - whenever I call voicemail using 123 or +44 7782 333 123, I’m required to enter my voicemail PIN.

 

R
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No.  What I am saying is dialling that number from my wife’s phone, you just get a message saying “you have no messages”.  I did not go any further because I assumed that by dialling that number, I would be met with a message asking for what number I was trying to access and then asking for a PIN.  I will wait until we see our other daughter next week - she is on O2 and maybe dialling from that will give the option to access a Three/ID Mobile voice mail.

 

andewhite
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Perhaps your wife doesn’t have a PIN on her voicemail either, @RG58. 

The mobile number +44 7782 333 123, is the network service number for voicemail for mobile operators Three UK, SMARTY Mobile, and iD Mobile. 

 

B
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The voicemail system is not open if you have not set a pin, this is incorrect info, it will just simply be inaccessible abroad or from someone else’s phone. 
if you want to call the Three voicemail system and be able to enter a number for someone else’s voicemail, you will have to do it from a phone not within the three network (O2/Vodafone/EE/Landline). 
 

but if the daughter does not have a pin on her voicemail, you won’t be able to access it without calling 123 from the daughters phone within the uk and setting a pin.

Only thing i can come up with now is - post the SIM card to someone back in the uk and get them to dial 123 and change the voicemail.

R
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Thanks for the above. All I am trying to discover is whether she can change the greeting/announcement from abroad?  Customer Services says no but I cannot understand why. If she has a PIN and she dials the international number, how on earth is that option not available?  

andewhite
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Agreed @RG58, it does seem odd the voicemail option would not be available, but difficult to do a test to make certain.  

B
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Thanks for the above. All I am trying to discover is whether she can change the greeting/announcement from abroad?  Customer Services says no but I cannot understand why. If she has a PIN and she dials the international number, how on earth is that option not available?  

Does she get this message by any chance?

I received this whilst dialling voicemail from the Free and Bouygues Networks in France. Maybe it’s a restricted version of the voicemail due to that fact?

 

R
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No idea. She doesn’t go for a couple weeks. Perhaps that is why Customer Services says it doesn’t work? Wonder if you get the same via Skype as per the first answer?

B
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No idea. She doesn’t go for a couple weeks. Perhaps that is why Customer Services says it doesn’t work? Wonder if you get the same via Skype as per the first answer?

So she hasn’t gone yet?

and you still can’t set a custom greeting… 

let me call my own and see if i get the same options.

B
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Dial 123, option 3, option 1 and that works for me. 
what options do you get when dialling?

andewhite
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The issue might be that the voicemail greeting needs to include an Australia mobile number, which is unknown at this point.

R
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No that is not the problem. She could set a custom greeting now in the UK but until she gets to Australia and buys a local sim, she does not know the number to put on the announcement. When she gets that number, we are trying to work out how to then change her announcement. 

B
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No that is not the problem. She could set a custom greeting now in the UK but until she gets to Australia and buys a local sim, she does not know the number to put on the announcement. When she gets that number, we are trying to work out how to then change her announcement. 

Ahhh okay, 

As long as she defiantly has a pin for the voicemail, just dial +44 7782 333123 and enter the pin, 

then follow the same steps as in the uk and it should work a breeze.

R
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Sorry messages crossed in the ether. It is as andewhite says. 

B
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Userlevel 2

Sorry messages crossed in the ether. It is as andewhite says. 

It may be easier to get a Lebara Australia sim with international calls whilst there than messing about with Skype as they have inclusive calls to uk mobiles and landlines for 100 or so minutes. Three voicemail is billed as a mobile number so should work fine.

https://www.lebara.com.au/prepaid-plans/30-day/

andewhite
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No that is not the problem. She could set a custom greeting now in the UK but until she gets to Australia and buys a local sim, she does not know the number to put on the announcement. When she gets that number, we are trying to work out how to then change her announcement. 

Ahhh okay, 

As long as she definitely has a pin for the voicemail, just dial +44 7782 333123 and enter the pin, 

then follow the same steps as in the uk and it should work a breeze.

Would it be correct to assume this voicemail call would need to come an iD SIM card, while it was roaming in Australia, @Bubblesthefish? 

Would that be considered a trusted network connection? 

Three also operate in Australia, so a local Three SIM might be okay.

R
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Userlevel 1

To try and summarize:

  • Daughter going travelling to Australia for at least a few months, in 2 week’s time.
  • She is currently on an ID Mobile 30-day PAYG plan.  She will change that before she goes to the cheapest 30-day plan - basically just to keep her UK number alive for people trying to contact her.
  • She will ensure a VoiceMail PIN is set up before she goes.
  • When she arrives in Australia, she will buy a 30-day PAYG SIM with probably either Vodafone Australia or, as per @bubblethefish suggests, Labara Australia.
  • She will then want to change her greeting on ID Mobile voicemail to include the new Australian number.
  • ID Mobile Customer Services told me this morning that is not possible.
  • Posters on this question suggest that information is not correct and if she uses her new Australian number to dial +44 7782 333 123, she will get the same options as if she was in the UK dialling from another network.
  • The text messages she will get back saying she is dialling from an Untrusted Network are irrelevant and can be ignored.  Is that correct?  Will she still get all the normal options to change her greeting?  Does it matter what network or phone she uses to call her voicemail from Australia ie her current ID SIM which will cost her roaming fees or the new Vodafone/Labara Australian number that includes free international calls to the UK?

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