Now here’s something I just discovered. Perhaps I’m a bit way slow on this matter but I’m quite sure many people are not aware this. Nobody told me this before so that’s why I’m getting charged every time I make a call but gets the voicemail. The thing is, I’m not alone. Many mobile users are paying extra just because somebody else had their voicemail activated!
I’m a Maxis Post-Plan subscriber and I recently discovered that I’m paying extra for my phone usage just because I make calls but I get the voicemail instead. For every voicemail I get trying to call another Maxis line, I get charged 6 cents (RM0.06). For every voicemail I get trying to call another person on different network, I get charged 9 cents (RM0.09).
Just last month alone, I make 187 calls and around 50 calls are getting the voicemail of the person I called. Out of the 50 voicemail calls I made, 19 calls are Domestic Maxis-to-Maxis voice calls (total RM1.14) and 31 calls are Domestic Maxis-to-Non Maxis voice calls (total RM2.79). It adds up to RM5.00 a month and RM60.00 a year of useless calls to the voicemail which I hardly leave any voice message behind! Yeah, it may not seem a lot but every cents count specially with the rising cost of living in Malaysia.
Now this voicemail charges do not just apply just to Maxis users, but to all telcos – we’re talking about Maxis, Celcom, DiGi, U Mobile and etc. So whether you’re a Maxis, Celcom, DiGi or U Mobile subscriber, PLEASE DEACTIVATE YOUR VOICEMAIL from today onwards if you don’t need it. I know the service is free for you to activate, but how often do you check your voicemail nowadays?
AVOID GETTING VOICEMAIL AND GETTING CHARGED – HANG UP AFTER THE FOURTH RING.
You can always deactivate your voicemail but you can’t tell everyone else to do the same. However, you can still save yourself from paying extra and avoid getting the voicemail whenever you’re making a phone call. Here’s how:
1) When making a phone call, hang up after the fourth ring tone. If nobody picks up by then, call back again and do the same until somebody picks up the phone. If still nobody is picking your call after the 3 attempt calling, most probably they are not available. Call them back later.
2) When you get a CALLER RING TONE instead (music ringtone) and you can’t tell how many times the phone rang, just count to 4 seconds upon hearing the music ring tone. This is to avoid getting the voicemail after the fifth ring tone (usually 4-5 seconds).
If you still have your voicemail activated, for goodness sake please get it deactivated immediately if you really don’t need. If you’re not sure whether you have a voicemail or not, just give your telco a call and find out. It is that simple.
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