[Help] Voicemail retrieval from outside Asterisk

Asterisk Asterisk Support
1

I have a nice little Asterisk set-up for my home office running on Ubuntu with a single POTS line and VOIP outbound service.

I need to be able to access my voicemail messages when I am away from the office using the same number that regular callers use to leave me messages. Is there a way to call my regular number and hit a special character to escape to the main voicemail menu?

I don’t want an auto attendant with an option for the main voicemail menu since I’m the only person using this line and people shouldn’t have to push a menu choice just to leave me a message.

Any ideas how to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Bill

2

I need to be able to access my voicemail messages when I am away
from the office using the same number that regular callers use to leave
me messages. Is there a way to call my regular number and hit a
special character to escape to the main voicemail menu?

I don’t want an auto attendant with an option for the main voicemail menu
since I’m the only person using this line and people shouldn’t have to
push a menu choice just to leave me a message.

I think that the following should work…

= = = = = = = =

exten => s,1,Answer
exten => s,2,WaitExten(2)
exten => s,3,Go_Do_Normal_Call_Processing
;
; I often find that a wait of 1 second or so is necessary
; to keep from cutting off the first word or so in the menu
;
exten => #,1,Wait,1
exten => #,2,VoiceMailMain
exten => #,3,Hangup

= = = = = = = =

Thus, if you press the pound (#) key within the first two seconds after pickup, you should bypass the “Go_Do_Normal_Call_Processing” step and redirect to the VoiceMailMain menu.

I haven’t tried this but it looks like it should work (anyone please correct me if I’m wrong)…

3

it should. there is a better way though…
if your ivr prompts are played using Background() then just put an extension for voicemail in there. then if you dial it at any time during the prompt, you get voicemail.

4

if your ivr prompts are played using Background() then just
put an extension for voicemail in there. then if you dial it at
any time during the prompt, you get voicemail.

True, but I interpreted his question as indicating that he didn’t want any IVR prompts.

5

if you’re retrieving your messages from a mobile (read: your mobile), or another regularly used number, based on your callerid go to your own little special context.
off the top of my head something like and totally disregarding syntax
GotoIf(${CALLERIDNUM}=MY_MOBILE?s,2:s,5)