tominct2's profile

Tutor

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5 Messages

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012 8:56 PM

Home Voicemail feature - we need to be able to put an already answered call into voicemail.

First off  callerid  does not solve this.   My spouse takes many business calls from home - (an attorney).  Since clients vary I dont know who is who and invariably answer those calls.  Taking written messages is far less than desirable because it means spouse cant retrieve the messages remotly,  client confidentiality is zero which leaves a less than professional impression.  I have 2 options - both are poor: 

 

1) "Not here, please call back and I wont answer", which is such an obvious dork up that its an immediate hit to the professional impression one would like to cultivate and maintain.  

2) Not answer the phone, which inturn puts all calls to voicemail but begs the question, why have home  voice servicel?  

 

There has to be an easy way to get this done. A simple "flash #" key sequence can signal the computer to do the hand off.  An old fasioned home answering machine can handle this, but not UM.   There has to be a simple programming fix here.

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

New Member

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25.7K Messages

11 years ago

Here is your solution.  Activate or add 3 way calling.  When you answer the call and you want them to leave a message simply do a hook flash, dial your home phone number (like your calling yourself), it will ring straight to VM, then hang up and the calling party will be able to leave a message.

Expert

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10.1K Messages

11 years ago

tominct2 - If you know of a machine that can do it, your third option is to get one of those machines.

Professor

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1.9K Messages

11 years ago

Another option: If your husband takes that many business calls at home it might be worthwhile to consider putting in a second phone line, you'll have separate VM or answering machine.

Tutor

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5 Messages

11 years ago

This feature is included in my Brother MFP which also handles fax and print duties, hardly a dedicated function answering machine.  The availability of  the feature is hardly the point - it should be a function of a sophisticated  voice system - especially one with that supports multiple voice message queues.

Tutor

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5 Messages

11 years ago

I take this as a vote for ditching land line and moving traffic to a wireless plan - dedicated # and voice mail bundled in 1 solution.

ACE - Expert

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34.6K Messages

11 years ago

You could go wireless, or you could get a second number/line on U-verse voice, as a previous poster suggested.

 

Tutor

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5 Messages

11 years ago

Yeah - I heard it the first time  - get a second number.  That is an obvious but not economic especially these days when everyone is feeling the pinch.   I am already paying for a service that could delivery but seems intentionally crippled. I suppose the question is given the obvious nature of the problem is there a  reason (other than to deliver a crippled service which inturn motivates the sale of other services) that this feature is not available?   Have to tell you - I dont get it.  Good news is that I am not under contract with my home line.  I am seriously considering dumping the home line, using my obi110 (voip interface)  or skype for incidental home calls and moving up the ladder in our wireless service to get to unlimited voice service.   Metro PCS is offering unlimited everything on promo for $30 a month. Not sure about their coverage, my buddy has experienced dropped calls and delayed txt delivery with them.  Pageplus is offering Unlimited voice txt and 100mb for $40 (Verizon prepaid network).  Right now I am spending $30 on my wireless and $15 for hers (grandfathered corporate affiliation rate)  and 45 for home line.  Thats $90 monthly - I can put us both on pageplus unlimited and save $10-15 monthly, or even more on metro.   The math points to dumping the home line, not adding another.  If AT&T wants land line service to remain relevant they need to fix obvious dork ups inorder to deliver compelling value.   I will run a test  and see if I can send a  fax across my obi110.  If that works I dont have a technical reason to keep the land line.  My spouse is comforted by the land line, and its a nostalgic link to the past. I suppose some people probably felt nostalgic about buggy whips. 

ACE - Expert

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34.6K Messages

11 years ago

You're paying $45/month for your phone line?  U-verse voice lines are $35 for unlimited use on your first line, $15 for a second, which would be two lines for $50.

 

http://www.att.com/u-verse/explore/voice-plans.jsp

 

Just saying...

 

 

Tutor

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5 Messages

11 years ago

 Wish it were that simple.   I should have taken notes when I negotiated my recent service package, cause it ended up screwed up and it might  be entertaining to give a tutorial in how not to do it.  Basically Uverse package could not match my combined  price of pots/DSL & Directv.    Best deal they figured was  POTS + Uverse tv / internet.  Turns out this solution is not meant to be sold and didnt work  - so back into the customer retention mill I went.  For more fun - what we negotiated in last pass is not whats being billed.   For some reason that process missed certain taxes and fees so actual price is higher than what was comitted.  Suboptimal, but honestly I am so annoyed with Directv that this increase seems  like a price worth paying. 

 

At one time Directv had best quality customer service and billing accuracy, but 12 -18 months ago or so that changed.  After duking it out with them each and every month I reached my snapping point.  Spending an hour or 2 every month rehashing their past promises and billing fixes, trying to figure out how those "fixes" richocheed into current month billing problem - none of that effort resulted in a lasting fix.  So frustrating. Not standing behind their comittments, unethical acccounting gimmicks.   Lesson learned - once I enter that kind of billing death spin I need to eject immediately cause the relationship is destined to auger itself into the ground.  I would suggest anyone experiencing billing problems with  Directv leave immediately.  It wont get better, ever. 

ACE - Expert

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34.6K Messages

11 years ago


@tominct2 wrote:

... Best deal they figured was  POTS + Uverse tv / internet.  Turns out this solution is not meant to be sold and didnt work  - so back into the customer retention mill I went. 

 


Funny, that's what I have (POTS + Uverse TV & Internet).  I chose to maintain POTS because my bill with taxes (@30.50) is still less than the Uverse Voice per month (@35).  If your POTS bill is $45, then U-verse Voice should be cheaper for you.

 

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