Center for Customers with Disabilities (CCD)

How to use CenturyLink Voice Mail Service with TTY

INTRODUCTION
With CenturyLink Voice Mail Service™ with TTY, callers can leave messages without using your auto-answer on your TTY. Nor do you need a separate machine.

Better still, hearing and hearing-impaired members of the same household can receive messages if the line is busy, if they are not at home, or if they choose not to answer.

CenturyLink Voice Mail routes unanswered calls to your personal voice mailbox. With CenturyLink Voice Mail with TTY, messages can be retrieved from any touch-tone TTY at your convenience.

SETTING UP YOUR VOICE MAILBOX
CenturyLink’s Center for Customers with Disabilities assists TTY users in setting up their Voice Mail accounts, features and preferences. Once you have elected to add CenturyLink Voice Mail Service to your CenturyLink local service, please contact the Center for Customers with Disabilities. A representative will be happy to guide you through the steps below.

SETTING THE NUMBER OF RINGS BEFORE VOICE MAIL ANSWERS
During set-up, you will need to choose how many times you would like your phone to ring before your Voice Mail Service picks up. The most common choice is four rings. Once the caller is routed to the voice messaging systems, you will not be able to answer the call.

YOUR VOICE MAIL NUMBER AND SECURITY CODE
After setting the number of rings, the representative will give you the phone number you will use to access your voice mailbox, retrieve messages, record greetings and change preferences. The representative will also give you a temporary security code. This code is always 1234 for new CenturyLink Voice Mail customers. You will be prompted to change the code the first time you call your voice mailbox.

When you dial your voice mail for the first time, there will be a message welcoming you to the system. The fluttering light on your TTY will indicate the voice prompt is playing back. Once playback ends, enter your temporary security code 1234. You will then be prompted to choose your own security code. When your TTY indicates the end of the voice prompt, enter your new security code. Pick something easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess. The number can be four to 15 digits long, but cannot begin or end with a zero.

SETTING UP YOUR GREETING
Now, CenturyLink Voice Mail will ask you to choose a greeting. You will be prompted to press 1 for a standard greeting with phone number, press 2 for a standard greeting with name, or press 3 for your own personalized greeting, up to three minutes long. When the voice prompt ends, enter the option you would like. If you choose 1, it will play only the phone number and ask the caller to leave a message. If you chose 2, it will play your name and ask the caller to leave a message.

If you choose a personal greeting (3), you will be prompted to record a name for your mailbox. After the prompt, say or type your name. The system will then prompt you to enter your greeting. We recommend that you pre-type your TTY message and save it in the machine’s Memo feature and upload it from there to the Voice Mail system. Be sure to press the pound key (#) on the phone after you complete your greeting.

From our experience, hearing combined households most often choose to have both voice and TTY messages in their greetings. A greeting similar to this works well:

1. Start your message with TTY tone. Type “Please hold.”
2. Follow with the spoken message, ending the message with “please push the pound key (#) now and leave your message.”
3. Type your TTY message.
4. Push the pound key (#) to store your message.

Remember, you have three minutes for a greeting or message.

RETRIEVING YOUR MESSAGES
When you have a message waiting, CenturyLink Voice Mail Service sends a “stutter dial tone.” You can distinguish this stutter tone by a rapid flicker of your TTY light when the handset is off-hook.

When you have a message, you may want to call the relay service to check if it is a voice message or TTY. To complete the call, you will need your phone number, your voice mail number, your security code and the following instructions for the operator:

1. Press 1 to retrieve message.
2. Press # to skip TTY message.
3. Press 7 to delete message.
4. Press 9 to save message.

AFTER THE RELAY CALL
Dial your voice mail number. Wait for the end of the voice prompt. Enter your security code. Slowly count to three and press 1 to receive the skipped TTY messages (remember you must be using a touch-tone phone or TTY to retrieve your messages). After retrieving each message, press 4 to replay the message, press 7 to erase the message, or press 9 to save the message.