Technical Help Please?

Question

Here is the question. I have Verizon phone service and I have Net Zero. My boyfriend tries to call me at night while I am on the computer and he gets a recording saying that the "customer has not set up there voice mail"??????? I dont understand when I am not on the computer my regular answering machine picks up. My boyfriend says that Verizon service has a voice mail that you pay for and I should activate it. Does anyone know what I am talking about? PLEASE

Answer 1

Contact your phone provider, they can fix this issue with you.

Answer 2

If I assume you are using Verizon PSTN phone service and NetZero is your "Dial-up" Internet service, then:

Because you are using "dial-up" Internet, then when someone calls your phone number, your phone service will respond with "busy" signal.

With DSL Internet, you can receive phone calls while surfing on computer and Internet, and that would not happen (assuming it's working correctly).

When your boyfriend calls, and because your phone line is busy (cuz you're surfing), then Verizon is informing the caller that your line is busy and that your "Verizon Voice-mail" is not activated......... This is a "marketing ploy" by Verizon to encourage your friends to tell you (as your boyfriend heard) that your voice-mail is not activated.  

And, of course, you can "subscribe" to Verizon Voice-mail as an add-on...... for an extra fee....

For the cost of extra voice-mail fees from Verizon, you may want to just consider upgrading to DSL Internet service and have higher speed for surfing while taking PSTN phone calls at same time....

P.S.

Verizon "Basic Local" Package does not include Voice Mail.

There is an extra charge for VM with Basic service...

In some cases they charge $8.95 - $9.30 month for VM.....

Just depends where you live and what package they have you locked into...

Answer 3

Your answering machine can only take calls when the phone line isn't in use.  Just like if you were talking on the phone and someone called you your answering machine would not be able to take the message.  This is an advantage of voice mail as it can take messages no matter if you're on the internet, talking and don't want to pick up the beep or if you just left the phone off the hook by accident.  Verizon is not "trying to sell you voicemail" -- you already have it; it's just that an outgoing message and pin code was never set so it can't take any messages.  You can do a few different things:

Set up your voicemail.  It's obviously included with whatever plan you've signed up for with Verizon.  Just dial your own phone number from your home phone, and press *.  The password is your phone number.  Follow the promts to set up voice mail.

Call Verizon and cancel voicemail.  Whoever calls while you're online will then get a busy signal.  

Use call forwarding on busy.  When the line is busy (such as when you're on the internet) you can set up the phone to forward your calls to your cell phone if you have one.  This way you can get your calls and use the net at the same time without having to get high speed or a second line.