[Asterisk-Users] Access Voicemail From Outside

[David Brodbeck]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Ford [mailto:bill.w5waf at gmail.com]

> I'd like to see what some of you are doing to reliably accccess
> voicemail from an outside line.

We have two ways of doing it.

One is a special extension from our IVR main menu.  From the menu, users can
dial # followed by their extension number to access voicemail.  This is a
carry-over from how our old system worked.

exten => _#XXX,1,MailboxExists(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _#XXX,2,SayDigits(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _#XXX,3,Playback(T-is-not-available)
exten => _#XXX,4,Goto(main-menu,s,1)
exten => _#XXX,102,Voicemailmain(${EXTEN:1})
exten => _#XXX,103,Hangup()

However, during the day the receptionist answers, instead of the IVR.  To
allow people to still directly check their mail, we set up a POTS line as a
"back door number" into the system.  The line is shared with an
outgoing-only computer fax modem, so the net cost of adding this was very
low.