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Dont call - leave a message

Leave phone messages without ringing the phone
  (+4, -2)
(+4, -2)
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My wife cannot leave mobile phone messages unanswered. This is a real pain if she is driving because using a phone while driving in the UK is illegal. So she has to pull over, parkup, turn the engine off and check her messages (assuming the caller left one). How about a special mode on my phone that allowed me to speak direct to her answerphone (without ringing her phone) or even a special ring tone for non-urgent messages. That way she can concentrate on getting where she is going without worrying who called and where to pull over.
blammo, Nov 10 2004

US: slydial http://www.slydial.com/
Ad-financed or pay-per-use. 90 sec messages. Connects to any US mobile phone user's voicemail, without ringing their phone. [jutta, Jul 29 2008]

[link]






       I've actually found that a lot of mobiles actually seem to do this, at least my friends', without it actually being a special mode, to the extent that it can actually be quite difficult to talk to them at all. Also, are you talking about another mobile with this facility or a landline? I suppose it could be something similar to SMS.
nineteenthly, Nov 10 2004
  

       This is baked on my Verizon phone in the US. I can send a voice mail to another cell without making a phone call.
Acme, Nov 10 2004
  

       text messages.
Pericles, Nov 10 2004
  

       A text message will lead to a ringtone/vibration alert of some kind, and has a limited capacity, regardless of the non-verbal communication that is lost. A voicemail alternative is better.
nineteenthly, Nov 10 2004
  

       This is baked on some networks, you can insert a prefix to the mobile number being dialled, and you'll be sent straight to voicemail without the phone ringing.
DocBrown, Nov 10 2004
  

       Many office voicemail systems have a way to do this also.
krelnik, Nov 10 2004
  

       hey [blammo], there are two ways 'round this.
1) call the number she calls to retrieve messages (e.g. 07973 100 123 for Orange). It will then ask you to type in the phone number you want to leave a message for, at which point you can - think all the major phone co's let you do this.
2) if you call from one 'phone, then immediately dial her mobile from another, and hang up the first, then you'll automatically be put through to her voicemail (call waiting doesn't activate until the callee has answered).
neilp, Nov 11 2004
  

       P.S. she could get a second phone number which you designate only for emergency calls and attach a different ring tone to it.
neilp, Nov 11 2004
  

       Another workaround: Many VM systems let you reply to messages, going straight to their VM (same network only, of course). Keep one message from the party you want to call in your mailbox, then reply to it each time.   

       An alternate way of doing what [neilp] suggested, I found out accidentally, is to press too many buttons while interacting with your VM system. It stumped the system and I was presented with "Please enter the ten digit mailbox number..." Put in someody's and leave them a message.
swamilad, Nov 11 2004
  

       I keep my mobile phone plain vanilla - SMS, live calls, nothing else. Service providers favour voice mail (and services that send an SMS when your recipient does not answer, and the like), because they make it more likely that the recipient will call back (possibly leading to voice mail tennis), and thus increase revenue. I think of them as mainly anti-features.   

       As such, my preferred way to bake this idea would be to have two phone numbers - one for live calls, one for voice mail, ideally with different service providers.
spidermother, Jul 06 2011
  
      
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