Voicemail: What worked for me, plus Questions

[Erft]

So, it turns out no-one's been able to leave me voicemails for awhile, but until today, no-one mentioned it to me.
I went into the app settings (I use my desktop computer) and re-entered my password, and changed the number of rings before voicemail from 5 to 4, then clicked update. Then I got someone to call me and the voicemail picked up and recorded. It went to email successfully.

I've read a suggestion here to change voicemail from "forward to email" to "copy", so I did that afterwards. I got my friend to call again, and they report that the beep was very loud, louder than usual. But I had access to the voicemail by calling *98, and in my email. The previous message left by my friend 5 minutes earlier when the setting were "forward to email" was not available by *98. I've never used *98 to access voicemails before, so I'm assuming this is normal.

So, it seems that all the voicemail system needed was a little figurative kick in the pants.

In https://status.fongo.com/, it says that voicemail services are degraded. It also says the calling platform is changing to a new system. No incidents have been "reported" for awhile, but I can see from posts in this forum that other people have been experiencing trouble with their voicemail, too. Questions: Is the trouble with the voicemail a result of the system changeover? Is it being addressed?

[Maxwell Smart]

Thanks for your work around solution.
I had similar voicemail issues. For now, I just plugged in my old answering machine as a backup.

Question: You wrote: "forward to email" to "copy"
What does "copy" do?
I did like the forward to email option, so ideally I'd like the system to still email me as it's super convenient when I'm on the road.
Cheers,
Agent 86

[Jake]

Copy will leave the voicemail in your voicemail box, and send a copy to your email.
Forward sends a copy to your email and it wont get saved in the normal voicemail system.

[Erft]

I have since changed voicemail back to "Forward". Just changing the number of rings was enough to kick it all back into action. I should have left it at "Forward" as some days afterwards, old messages registered as new. Once I had cleared those out, the dial tone continues to stutter, and "New Voicemail" cannot be cleared from the display. Changing voicemail back to "Forward" did not fix these problems.

If one is experiencing the same trouble as I had with voicemail not working at all, I'd suggest just making a small change to wake it up. It's likely that once you have saved it, you'll be able to revert it, if you want, and still have voicemail back.

I have to hope that this is something that will be corrected with the completion of the move to the new system.

[b3l]

This hasn't worked for me. I hope they get it fixed soon. I'm also having trouble getting calls. Sometimes they go straight to voicemail and it doesn't ring for me to pick it up.

[46jimbo]

When I get a voicemail, I get an email but there is no audio file attached. Otherwise, voicemail is working as it should. Does anyone else have this problem with the email?

[Liptonbrisk]

I'm receiving mp3 file attachments. I'm too exhausted right now to test on all servers.
If you want me to, I'll test using the other servers tomorrow.
Voicemail to Email is set to "copy".

Login at https://www.freephoneline.ca/voicemailSettings to check voicemail settings.

[46jimbo]

Thanks for your reply, Liptonbrisk. Mine is set to 'Copy' too. The setup has worked fine for years until the audio file went AWOL recently.

[Liptonbrisk]

I would submit a ticket asking to have your account checked.
Choose “my account inquiry” for the final issue type: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

I would be interested if you see audio files after logging in at https://www.freephoneline.ca/mailbox

[46jimbo]

Perhaps the problem isn't with Freephoneline but rather with the mail app for Windows 10. If I check my email on Gmail using a web browser, the audio file is there. But in the Windows 10 Mail app, it doesn't show up!?? Thanks for your attention!

[Liptonbrisk]

Good thing you checked. Yes, if you can see the MP3 in gmail, the issue isn’t with FPL. Unfortunately, I’ve never used the Windows 10 mail app, so I won’t be able to able to assist.
Perhaps try an alternative, such as Thunderbird instead.