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Question

How do I clear my voicemail out of country?

J

As the question says, I'm outside Canada and I have a local SIM so no need or desire to use roaming. When I was troubleshooting a swap to esim, Koodo customer service left me a voicemail so now I have the notification. 

I don't plan to use voicemail as it is, but how can I get rid of this voicemail so I don't have the continual notification? Not only is it annoying as I can't remove it from my screen, but if I mistakenly tap it, it's likely going to try calling and perhaps trigger the daily roaming fee.

Any advice on this is appreciated. 

Thanks! 

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12 replies

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

If you have access to Wi-Fi, download the Fongo Mobile app to your phone. The app is a VoIP service that works over Wi-Fi (or mobile data) and is available for iOS and Android devices. You will get a free local Canadian phone number that you can use to call your voicemail access number (or vm access number for short).

Fongo Mobile

The vm access number is used to route calls to the voicemail system when you’re not able to answer your phone. The link below contains a table of area codes and vm access numbers. Match your home area code in the right column with the vm access number in the left column. Try dialling the vm access number without the +1. If the call doesn’t go through, add, the +1.

When calling the vm access number, you will be asked to enter your mailbox number, which is your phone number. From there, you should be able to delete the voicemail message. I tested this calling the vm access number here in Canada and it worked. Fongo mentions that you will be able to call home to Canada (all 10 provinces) for free no matter where you are in the world.

Sophia
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Right, and if you don’t want to go through all that trouble, you will need to wait (I believe) five days for the voicemail (and thus, notification) to clear.

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Good point! We have no idea the date the vm message was deposited. There may be only a few days out of the ten days of vm message storage before the voicemail/notification gets deleted automatically.

J

Thanks! I already use Fongo so that's an easy solution. Much appreciated. 

J

Ok I spoke too soon. I called the 306 number (my phone number is area code 780), it prompts for a language (1 for English), then a mailbox number (entered my 10 digit number) and then asked me to leave a message. Do I need to hit some specific key to access the mailbox instead of leaving a message? 

J

Ok, tried a few things and figured out that when it is prompting for a voicemail I can press *, and then it asks for a voicemail password which I've not set. Any way to set that remotely? 

Dinh
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Ok, tried a few things and figured out that when it is prompting for a voicemail I can press *, and then it asks for a voicemail password which I've not set. Any way to set that remotely? 

It was the password setup by customer when you  activated the voicemail. If you forgot you would have to reset it. But you would need to use you Koodo number to receive the confirmation text https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/voicemail

 

“…...You can reset your password by accessing your voicemail, then entering any random 4 digits when asked to key in your password. This will give you the option to request a password reset.

Step-by-step instructions

  1. From your handset: Dial 1 + your 10-digit phone number + Send or Long press 1.

  2. When prompted, enter any password.

  3. After 1 failed attempt, you will be prompted with "This is not the correct password. Please try again, or to reset your password press the STAR (*)

  4. Press 1 to have a temporary password sent by SMS to your phone.

  5. A temporary password will be sent to your phone. Please access your mailbox again using this password.

  6. The SMS will show as follows "Your temporary password is XXXX"

  7. To reset your password, please hang up and call into your voicemail again from your mobile phone, enter the temporary password that was sent via SMS and then follow prompts to enter your new password.

……………….”

A Koodo customer, opinions are my own.
J

I haven't set up my voicemail, so I didn't set a password. I just signed up for service a few days ago (I'm overseas, ported in from Fido).

I cannot call from my handset without triggering the roaming, which I don't want to use as I have local unlimited service here. 

Is there no way customer service can reset the password or send me a passcode via text? I can receive text messages for free, but replying will also trigger the roaming charges.

It would seem given that Koodo is very focused on self serve that they would have a way to do this via the website, or a way to clear or disable voicemail altogether.

As noted above I can wait the 10 days for it to clear, but as soon as somebody else calls and leaves a voicemail I'm back in the same boat. 

Its just an annoyance but I can't imagine there's no way to resolve this.

Any other suggestions are appreciated, and thanks to all who have offered them so far. 

Dinh
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

Well, their system was designed with customer residing in Canada. You were in a complicated situations when you were overseas and didn't initiate voicemail yet. 

Anyway, can you use your last 4 digit of your phone number to see if it work. Also try 1234. 

In the instruction above, they didn't ask you to call voicemail from your own koodo number to reset though . It didn't ask you to call or send text either. Can you call from another number and reset?

A Koodo customer, opinions are my own.
J

The instructions you quoted above tell you to call from your handset to your own number, which will invoke a roaming charge of $15.00.

When I setup my Koodo service I was very clear that I was overseas. I paid 5$ for a sim and then $20 for an esim immediately and spent an hour on the phone with support for the activation and porting process. Nobody said anything about setting up voicemail or any limitations to doing so - - making them aware of this issue and the limitations of the service is what leads to improvements. I think I've been pretty reasonable throughout the conversation and my questions. I'm simply asking for options, as others have before me.

For your future knowledge the reset process above only works when you call from your own handset using your Koodo line. From another handset or calling from another service (like Fongo) it allows two tries and then ends the call. 

I targeted the question at those who have had a similar issue and had it resolved, or at Koodo customer support to initiate the reset for me, or to provide another way to do so via the self serve, or to add to their self serve a way to do so. 

Anyways, if anybody else has alternate suggestions, all ears. Meanwhile I've requested a callback from support. If they're able to get it resolved, I'll post the steps here so others have them in future. 

R
Userlevel 7
Badge +4

I was under the impression that your voicemail service was up and running. In fairness, there was no mention that you had recently ported or that your voicemail service had not been set up. Please keep us posted.

J

The voicemail system is up and running - - in the sense that it is accepting voicemail and giving me the notification. I did not set it up. I didn't even know I had it until the notification showed up on my phone. The self serve options don't seem to consider a person might be out of the country when they hit issues with it. I travel a lot, so maybe I've chosen the wrong provider to replace Fido. 

The recent port doesn't seem related in my opinion, this could have happened 2 months from now and I would be in the same boat as I'm not back in Canada until April. 

I'm simply trying to get assistance with setting up the passcode. I've seen that in other cases Koodo support has done so through this forum, support reps have been *flagged", etc.

I had no idea until already switching to Koodo that callbacks take two days and support is primarily via a community forum and web based self service, which is fine (in 6 years with Fido I think I contacted them twice) , but then the web based self service options should cover things like a voicemail password reset. That's the reason I asked here.

I will wait for my support callback, there's some helpful suggestions here and also a lot of what feels to me like being blamed for not knowing the system I've switched to or doing so while out of country. 

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