How does phone company voicemail work?

Question

How does the phone company voicemail work? is the service reliable? and is it true it can answer your calls when the line is busy thanks

Answer 1

Voicemail that is on your providers end is very reliable.  

Normally you can get house..or even business phones for that matter..that have Message Indicator lights, or when you pick up the phone you will hear a stuttered dial tone.  (da da da da da) instead of (daaaaaaa).  This indicates that you have voicemail.  You can call a special number, or dial a three digit code to retrieve your messages.  

It can send calls to voicemail when your line is busy, and it can be customized with your own greeting and ring count.  

Check with your local phone company for details, but this is how most companies work, Including Verizon, AT&T, and Frontier.

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As regarding Brian's answer- In no way is a phone company's voicemail the Federal Government's responsibility.  Each provider has their own voicemail.  You can have as many messages as your alloted TIME will allow, not just number of messages.  It's your responsibility to see if you have a 10 minute, 30 minute, or 1 hour message time limit before you sign up for voicemail.

Answer 2

voice mail is generally controlled by the federal gov.. all states allow up to 10 voice mails but in califonia u can pay a fee and get up to 20 voicemails... its safe if you have a password set in order to access the vmail... once you get to 10 vmails you have to delete  some or you phn will ring and ring and ring then hang up or give an error message