How To Leave a Voicemail Without Calling

Last updated 12/29/2022 by

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Summary:

It is possible to leave a voicemail without calling someone, but it depends on the carrier or calling system you use. Popular mobile providers such as AT&T, T Mobile, and Verizon all have different methods for leaving a voicemail without calling.

Breaking bad news with phone calls can be incredibly uncomfortable. Having to call someone up, wait as the phone rings, make some small talk, and then somehow pivot to “bad news” can be excruciating. Not many of us like this process, but is there another way to reach someone’s voicemail? Actually yes. Depending on how you’re making the call and who your mobile phone carrier is, you can send a voicemail directly to someone without ever making a call. In fact, most major service providers in the U.S. — such as AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon — will allow you to leave voice messages without calling.

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How to send a voicemail without calling

Different service providers have different methods to enable sending voicemails without calling mobile phones. Here are some of the main ones:

AT&T

Access your AT&T mailbox by pressing and holding 1.
Press 2 to send a voice message.
Record your message when prompted.
When you finish recording, press #.
When asked to confirm the name or number, press # if it’s correct.
Press # again to send your message.

T-Mobile

Press and hold 1 to go to voicemail.
Press 2 to access the send feature.
Record your message wham prompted.
To send your message, press 1. Or you can press 4 to access your delivery options.

Verizon

Access your Verizon voice mailbox by pressing *86 and then the send key. The 8 and 6 keys represent V and M for voicemail.
Press 2 to access the send feature.
Enter the number you want to leave a message for, then press #.
Record your message and press #.
Press # to send your message or 0 to access the delivery options.

Community Phone (landline)

Dial the voicemail system with your voicemail access number and press *.
Enter the ten-digit phone number and press #.
Press # after hearing the message “contact someone.”
Press # again to listen to the “enter extension” message.
Hang up.

Pro Tip

Community Phone is not a normal mobile service provider. Community Phone offers a cell tower connection service that is compatible with traditional landlines. This is one of the only ways you can send a voicemail without calling someone while using a landline rather than a cell phone.

Apps to send voice messages

Many people already leave voicemails to each other, in a sense, by communicating through voice messages on messaging apps. Whatsapp, WeChat, and iMessage are some of the platforms that incorporate voice messaging. In most cases, they will work as follows:

Open a chat window, either existing or new.
Find the microphone or speaker icon located at the bottom right-hand corner.
Hold the microphone and record the message.
Either send the message (iMessage), or the message will send automatically (WeChat and Whatsapp).

Is using voicemail a good idea?

Sending audio messages like voicemails and voice messages can be easy to do, but it may not be the best way to communicate. You should probably consider the pros and cons carefully before you decide to leave a voicemail instead of calling.

WEIGH THE RISKS AND BENEFITS

Here is a list of the benefits and drawbacks to consider.

Pros

Fast and easy. Voicemails are easy to send, and you don’t have to wait until someone picks up the phone to get your point across. Listening to a phone ringing constantly and never getting an answer is a soul-crushing endeavor.
Get your point across faster. If you leave a voicemail properly, you should be able to include all of the information in a delineated manner. You can skip the small talk and various other conversations that might distract from the initial point.
Avoid awkward situations. If it’s bad news that you need to give, sometimes voice mail works better. It’s preferable to an excruciating conversation, but sometimes those types of conversations need to be done with a proper person-to-person chat anyway.
More personable than texting. It can be difficult to interpret tone with just text messages. Voicemail can be more personable and let you apply the proper tone to your meaning.

Cons

No going back. Once this voicemail is sent, it’s sent. There’s no going back into the other person’s voicemail to fish it out again. If you said something regrettable, you better come up with some excuses for why you didn’t mean it.
Less personable than calling. Sometimes the small talk that you have with people is part of the glue that holds a relationship together. Particularly if the news is very bad, people might take you sending a voice mail instead of a call differently.
Outside noise. If you make a call, then the person on the other line can tell you they can’t hear you because of noise in the background. With voicemails, you might send a long message only to be told that it was drowned out by a garbage truck pulling up in the background.

FAQs

How do you leave a voicemail on your iPhone without calling?

You can leave a voicemail or voice message on an iPhone without calling by using the Voice Memo feature. This will let you send the voice message as a file through text. There are also iPhone-compatible apps, such as the Slydial app, which allows you to do the same.

What does going straight to voicemail without ringing mean?

This typically indicates the user is rejecting calls directly or the phone is inaccessible for the moment. Maybe the user is on the phone, their phone is off, or they set their phone to reject all incoming calls and go straight to voicemail.

How can you listen to someone’s voicemail without calling them?

Usually, you would just log into your own voicemail messages and listen to a message you sent. If you’re hoping to listen to another person’s voicemail that you have nothing to do with, you’re out of luck. These service providers make it very hard to access someone else’s voicemail fraudulently.

Key Takeaways

It is possible to leave a voice mail without calling a person, but it depends on the carrier or calling system you’re using.
Most of the major mobile service providers in the U.S. have a system to access voicemail, but the systems are all unique.
You can also send a voicemail without calling through a landline with a community phone, or you can use various apps on your mobile phone.
Voice messages on popular chat platforms such as WeChat, Whatsapp, and iMessage are similar concepts to voicemail.

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