Make your phone ring for longer before going to voicemail

Tuesday 31st March 2009 by Andy Simpson in How to Guides.

I think we’ve all had experiences in the past where the phone rings, you’re in the middle of doing something and miles away from your phone. You drop everything in a mad panic, dash to your phone, only for it to go to voicemail the second you pick it up. You try and call the person back, only to end up playing voicemail tennis, with them getting your voicemail, you getting theirs, until one of you decides not to ring the other person back. I don’t know about you but that winds me right up!

There is a pretty quick and easy way to try and prevent this, and that is to increase the amount of time your phone rings for before diverting the calls to voicemail. Sounds tricky, but is actually very simple. By default, most networks will have set your ringing time to 15 seconds. Plenty of time if the phone is in your pocket, but not if its somewhere else in the house.

If you have a Samsung phone, you can increase the amount of time before voicemail through the settings on the phone, but for most other makes you will need to key a code into your phone and send it to the network.

These steps should work for all phones on all networks, but there might be some instances where this doesn’t work, in which case, you’re probably better off speaking to your network provider to find out how to do it. Before you start you will need to find your voicemailbox number. This can normally be found in the voicemail settings on your phone, or in the call diverts settings. I can’t really explain in any great detail where to find this number as it’s stored in different places on different phones. If you can’t find it, either leave a comment below and we’ll investigate for you, or contact your network for it.

To set the ringing time, key in: **61*MailboxNumber**N# then press ok/send/call
(N is the number of seconds you want it to ring for up to a maximum of 30 seconds)

To cancel previous setting key in: ##61# then press ok/send/call. This will reset it to the network default

For Example:

If your voicemail box number is: +44 7978 123 456, and you want your phone to divert to your voicemail after 20 seconds, you would key in:

**61*+447978123456**20# and then press ok/send/call.

Your phone should then say "requesting," or something similar, and after a few seconds you’ll receive a confirmation message. If you get an error message, check the code you’ve entered and try again. If it still doesn’t work, you’ll need to contact your network, or if you know someone with a Samsung phone, ask them nicely to borrow it!

Feel free to ask any questions below and we’ll do our best to answer them.

(49 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)

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http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/blog/how-to-guides/voicemail-delay-settings.htm Voicemail Delay Settings – Mobile Fun

[...] find out how, read our step by step guide to making your phone ring for longer! Social [...]
Steve

This doesn’t work on Nokia E71 on 3 network
Andy

The 3 network uses completely different technology to the others so there was a chance this wouldn’t work.

thanks for letting us know
Andy

For vodafone the voicemail box number is 121, so the code you’d need to enter would be:

**61*121*25#
Dar

how do I do this for a boost mobile phone? I have a i465 clutch by motorola.
Andy

Sorry Dar, I have no idea, I only know how to do this on UK handsets
http://www.andronicos.net A

You are a genius Andy! It actully works on my UK T-Mobile Blackberry 9700, which now means that when I am abroad and landline calls auto re-route to my mobile (which delays getting the call by a few secs, especially i the USA), I will now get more than a few seconds to answer. No more spectacular dives required!

thanks

A
http://forums.mobilefun.co.uk/samsung/914-samsung-jet-query.html#post3807 Samsung Jet query – Mobile Fun Forums

[...] the other way is to type in a shortcode on your phone – this blog post explains how to do it. Make your phone ring for longer before going to voicemail | Mobile Fun Blog [...]
Marko

Ok heres how i always do it step by step. Let me know if you got any problems.

How Do I Make My iPhone Ring Longer?

1.Dial *#61# and touch Call.

2.Jot down the phone number displayed on the screen. This is where your voicemail calls are directed to (as shown in the screenshot below).

3.Dial **61*(THE NUMBER YOU WROTE DOWN)**30# and press Call.
Your Phone should now ring longer — that is, for the full 30-second duration of your ringtone. To verify that your voicemails are still being sent to the correct place, repeat step 1 and check that the phone number matches
Andy

Thanks for that Marko.. seems to be a quicker way of doing it!
Andy
Jack

Just tried it Nokia 6500 on 3 Network.. Worked straight away.. Cheers (Y)
Carrie

Hi,

I have a LG Viewty & it stops ringing after 3 rings, very annoying! I can’t find my voicemail number on my phone to do as you suggest, could you possibly tell me where it is? Many thanks.
Carrie

By the way, I tried Marko’s way on my Viewty and just received the message ‘Error.’
Carrie

Yaaay, you’re a star Marko! I had missed out the + sign before the number. Have now done it and it works.

When you say though: ‘to verify that your voicemails are still being sent to the correct place, repeat step 1 and check that the phone number matches’ do you mean the phone number you see should match your own mobile number or the one you’ve found by entering the code?

Many thanks, Carrie
Marten

just tried it on my htc legend, says approved but when i try it out it just rings for the same amount fo time.
kev

many thanks worked a treat on o2 great help thanx again
Andy Simpson

Which network are you on? this shortcode doesn’t work with all of them..
Billy

Worked on my Nokia N97 with Virgin. **61**212**30#
Chris

My lg vu keeps saying Request rejected wat do i do?
Andy Simpson

I’m guessing you’re outside of the UK as a Vu isn’t a phone we have over here. Non-UK Carriers will use a different set up so these codes won’t work. Your best bet will be to contact your network for info on how to change it.
Casey

Thankyou so much I didn’t actually think this would work but it did! Now my phone rings until I pick it up
Graham Hadley

Can you advise how to extend the ring before vuts in on a blackberry curve please.oicemail c
Djchappie

doh, this is the simple way to set your ring for 5 seconds to 30 seconds.

Settings > Call > Call forwarding > Forward when unanswered > Menu >…then adjust the Delay to your liking, 5secs to 30secs > Update.

Chappie, Edinburgh, single, looking for love, lol, xxx

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Make your phone ring for longer before going to voicemail