This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Receiving Voicemail on a Phone
Besides using the Web to pick up your voicemail, you can also use any phone to hear your messages. To pick up your voicemail, call your Google Voice number. Of course, there are different options to select from and various choices to make, which we take a look at next.
Using Your PIN
When you set up your Google Voice account, you chose a PIN you could use to get your voicemail. So when you call your Google Voice number, you're asked to enter that PIN. Here's how it works:
- Call your Google Voice number from any phone (including any phone you've set up for forwarding Google Voice calls to).
- During the voicemail greeting, press the * key. Google Voice plays a beep.
- Enter your four-digit PIN. Google Voice gives you a menu of prompts and tells you how many new voicemails you have.
- Press 1 to hear your new voicemails. Google Voice plays the first new voicemail. After you listen, you get a menu of possible response keys to press:
- Press 2 to return the call.
- Press 7 to mark the message as read.
- Press 9 to keep the message as new.
Press 4 for more options. When you press 4, you get this phone menu:
- Press 1 to play the voicemail again.
- Press 2 to return the call.
- Press 3 for voicemail details (time, date, and so on).
- Press 7 to mark the message as read.
- Press 8 to send a junk voicemail.
- Press 9 to keep the message as new.
After you've made your choice, Google Voice then plays the next message and gives you the same options.
- When you're done with your voicemails, hang up.
Connecting Directly to Voicemail
You can also tell Google Voice to connect you directly to voicemail when you call in (that's the default for mobile phones). That way, you don't have to press *, but you do still have to enter your PIN (unless you've told Google Voice not to ask for a PIN).
Here's how to make Google Voice connect you directly to voicemail when you call your Google number:
- Navigate to the Google Voice site and log in (if necessary).
- Click the Phones link to open the Phones page, which lists the phones you've told Google Voice about.
- Click the Edit button for the phone you want to connect directly to voicemail.
- Click the Show Advanced Settings link. Clicking this link opens the settings you see in Figure 5.6.
Figure 5.6 Advanced phone settings.
- Select the Yes radio button in the Voicemail Access section to connect the phone directly to voicemail.
- Select the PIN Required or the PIN Not Required radio button to specify whether or not you will be asked to enter your PIN when you call your Google number. If you select PIN Not Required, you will go directly to voicemail without hearing a beep prompt for entering your PIN.
- Click the Save button. Google Voice applies your settings.
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