Voicemails while on holiday abroad

[kanesh]

We have Digital Voice from BT and are planning to be away on holiday for a few weeks soon. I’m wondering how others check and retrieve their landline voicemails while abroad—ideally without spending too much on calls to the UK.

For example, is it possible to log in to our BT account and access voicemails directly online? Or are there other practical ways to manage this while overseas?

Would appreciate any thoughts or tips.

[chrisjp]

I think the only way to access DV voicemail messages is:
-- Dial home number
-- When BT voicemail answers press Star
-- Then key in PIN
I'm pretty sure there is no way to access these messages via My BT, so I'm afraid you're stuck with making calls to the UK to retrieve messages

[Kimberlin]

@kanesh 

Hi, I'm not sure if this link will help at all?

https://www.bt.com/help/landline/all-about-voicemail-for-digital-voice-

[kanesh]

Thank you for your response. It would be a real shame if online access to voicemail is not available. I remember using the BT SmartTalk App over a decade ago—it was incredibly useful, allowing me to call home from abroad at no extra cost. If BT hasn’t discontinued this app, perhaps it could offer a way to retrieve voicemails remotely without any additional cost.

BT does seem to be losing its grip on user-friendly features. I’ve just learned that it’s not possible to temporarily disable voicemail, which is quite disappointing.

[licquorice]

Why not just divert calls to your mobile for the duration if you are that worried about missing calls whilst on holiday.

[kanesh]

Thank you for your response. I’m not sure I fully understood your point, so I thought it might help to briefly resummarise our situation.

We are planning to be away for over three weeks. During this time, mobile roaming charges from our holiday destination are quite high, so we’re aiming to limit unnecessary usage.

While we don’t need to monitor voicemails on our landline frequently, we do feel it’s important to check them every two or three days in case any critical information comes through.

Alternatively, if the option is available, we could consider switching off the voicemail feature. This would likely encourage callers to try reaching me via mobile or social media if the matter is urgent. Since I can see the caller ID on my mobile, I can decide whether to answer the call or respond via social media.

As I understand the voicemail feature cannot be disabled temporarily, I may need to consider updating the voicemail greeting as a last resort to discourage callers from leaving messages.

I hope this clarifies our position.

[licquorice]

If you divert calls to your landline to your mobile, you can either receive the calls directly or collect them from your mobile voicemail as and when they arrive rather than checking regularly.

[kanesh]

I had understood that diverting calls from a landline to a mobile typically incurs charges. My assumption is that I would be charged for the call from my landline to the UK mobile, and that my EE mobile would also incur roaming charges when receiving the call abroad.

As I’ve pointed out several times during this discussion, my aim is to minimise these charges wherever possible. However, I’m unclear whether your response is overlooking these charges or suggesting that there is a way to use diversion without incurring them.

I would appreciate it if you could clarify this point, so I can make an informed decision.

[pottyperson]

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@kaneshwrote:

Alternatively, if the option is available, we could consider switching off the voicemail feature. This would likely encourage callers to try reaching me via mobile or social media if the matter is urgent.

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Why not simply re-record your greeting asking for any urgent info to be sent by an alternative route? Then change it back when you return from your probably trouble-free absence. 

[kanesh]

Thank you. As I mentioned earlier, I probably have to consider updating the voicemail greeting to discourage callers from leaving voice messages, while ensuring the message does not suggest that the house is currently unmanned.
The goal is to offer a gentle prompt toward alternative means of contact for urgent matters, without referencing any absence.