How do I change my Verizon voicemail greeting?

Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in the United States, with over 143 million retail wireless connections as of Q2 2023 according to List of mobile network operators in the United States – Wikipedia. Customizing your voicemail greeting is a great way to personalize your mobile phone experience and project your own style. Verizon makes it easy to record a new voicemail greeting directly from your phone.

This guide will provide an overview of the process for changing your Verizon voicemail greeting. We’ll cover how to access your voicemail settings, record a custom greeting, choose a pre-recorded greeting, update your spoken name, use alternate greetings, and change languages. With a few simple steps, you can set a personalized voicemail greeting on your Verizon Wireless phone.

Benefits of Customizing Your Voicemail

Customizing your voicemail greeting has several benefits. Most importantly, it personalizes your voicemail and lets callers know they have reached the right person. As Krispcall points out, “With customized phone greetings for incoming calls and voicemails, you can maintain uniformity. It also saves you from the trouble of answering all the calls to confirm if the call has reached the right destination.”

Having a customized greeting can also project a more professional image, according to Grasshopper. They note that a professionally recorded greeting can “welcome customers” and “direct their call.” This is better than just having a generic voicemail greeting.

Additionally, a customized voicemail greeting adds your unique brand voice to your voicemail. As Quora users point out, “The voicemail service should be able to accept incoming calls, allow callers to leave a message, and play a pre-recorded greeting.” Having a personalized, branded greeting makes your voicemail messaging more effective.

Accessing Voicemail Settings

To access your Verizon voicemail menu from your mobile phone, follow these steps:

From your mobile phone, dial *86 (*VM). Wait for the greeting to start, then press the Send or Talk button on your phone. This will interrupt the greeting and take you directly to the voicemail menu.

Alternatively, you can dial your 10-digit mobile phone number. Wait for your voicemail greeting to begin playing, then press * to interrupt the greeting and access the voicemail menu.

Once you are in the voicemail menu, you will be prompted to enter your voicemail password. Enter your password when prompted to access your voicemail settings and preferences.

From the main voicemail menu, you can record a new greeting, change your voicemail password, toggle between greeting options, and configure additional preferences. Refer to the voicemail menu prompts for available options.

If you are accessing your voicemail from someone else’s phone, you will need to enter your 10-digit phone number and password when prompted instead of dialing *86. This allows you to access your personal voicemail remotely.

Recording a New Voicemail Greeting

Recording a custom voicemail greeting on your Verizon phone allows you to personalize what callers hear when you don’t answer. Follow these steps to record a new greeting:

1. Dial *86 on your Verizon mobile phone. This will take you to the Visual Voicemail system.
2. Press 4 to access the recording options.
3. Follow the voice prompts to record your new greeting after the tone. You can record a greeting up to 1 minute long.
4. Press # when you are finished recording.
5. To listen to your new greeting, press 2. To save your new greeting, press 1.

Your new custom voicemail greeting will now play for all callers when you do not answer. You can re-record or change it at any time by dialing *86 and selecting option 4 again.

Choosing a Pre-Recorded Greeting

Verizon offers several pre-recorded greeting options that you can easily set as your voicemail greeting. To choose a pre-recorded greeting on your Verizon phone:

First, access your voicemail settings by dialing *86 from your Verizon wireless phone or calling your voicemail number from your landline. Once prompted, press the menu options to access greetings settings.

Next, you will be provided with the available pre-recorded greeting options, such as:

• “Hi, this is the mobile phone of [your recorded name].”
• “You have reached [your recorded number].”
• “No one is available to take your call.”

After selecting your preferred pre-recorded greeting, follow the prompts to save it. The system will play back your newly set greeting.

With just a few taps, you can choose a professionally recorded greeting that identifies your number or indicates your unavailability. Pre-recorded greetings provide a quick and easy alternative to recording a custom voicemail greeting.

Source: https://www.verizon.com/support/knowledge-base-211573/

Changing the Spoken Name Recording

The spoken name recording is what identifies you to callers when they reach your voicemail. By default, this uses an automated pronunciation of your name based on your caller ID. However, you can record a custom name in your own voice.

To change your spoken name recording on Verizon:

1. Dial *86 (*VM) to access voicemail settings.
2. Press 3 for greetings options.
3. Press 3 for name recording options.
4. Press 2 to record your name. Speak your first and last name after the tone.
5. Press # when done to save your recording.

You can repeat this process anytime to re-record your name in your own voice. Just be sure to clearly state your first and last name. Verizon will play back your new recording to confirm before saving it. Your individualized name recording helps give your voicemail a personal touch.

Temporarily Using an Alternate Greeting

Sometimes you may want to set up a temporary voicemail greeting, like when you’re on vacation or out of the office. Verizon makes it easy to record a custom greeting that will automatically expire after a set number of days.

To set up a temporary greeting on Verizon:

1. Dial *86 from your wireless phone.
2. Follow the prompts to record your temporary greeting. Make sure to state the dates that you’ll be away so callers know when to expect you back.
3. Choose the number of days you want the greeting to be active (up to 30 days).

Your previously recorded default greeting will be automatically restored after the temporary greeting expires. This is useful if you’re going on vacation and want callers to know you’re away without having to rerecord your usual greeting when you return.

Some examples of when you may want to use a temporary voicemail greeting include:

• Vacation – “Hi, this is John Smith. I’m out of the office on vacation until May 5th.”
• Medical leave – “Hi, this is Jane Doe. I’m currently out on medical leave but expect to be back at work on April 15th.”
• Bereavement leave – “Hello, this is Mike Brown. Due to a family emergency, I will be out of the office until next Thursday.”

The temporary greeting feature allows you to easily convey short-term absences without having to rerecord your normal voicemail greeting multiple times. It’s useful for vacations, leaves of absence, or any other situation where you’ll be unavailable for a set period of days or weeks.

Changing Greeting Language

Verizon offers voicemail greetings in several languages besides English, including Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, Tagalog, French, Arabic, and more. To change the language of your greeting:

1. Dial *86 to access voicemail.

2. When prompted, enter your voicemail passcode.

3. Press 4 for personal options.

4. Press 1 for greeting options.

5. Press 3 to select a language. You will hear a list of available languages.

6. Press the number corresponding to your preferred language.

7. Follow the prompts to record your greeting in the selected language. Make sure to speak slowly and clearly.

8. When you finish recording, press # to save the greeting.

Your voicemail language preference will now be updated. Callers leaving messages will hear the greeting in the language you selected. To change it back to English or another language, simply repeat the steps above.

Troubleshooting Issues

Sometimes you may encounter problems when trying to change your voicemail greeting on Verizon. Here are some common issues and solutions:

If you are unable to access your voicemail settings, try calling Verizon customer support at 1-800-922-0204 from a landline or *611 from a Verizon mobile phone. They can check that the voicemail feature is enabled on your account and troubleshoot any access issues.

On some Android devices, issues have been reported with the built-in Phone app. Try downloading the Verizon Voicemail app instead.

For iPhone users, check that Visual Voicemail is enabled in Settings > Phone. If you recently changed SIM cards, you may need to re-enable it. Force quit and relaunch the Visual Voicemail app to refresh the settings.

On the Verizon website, you can also try resetting your voicemail PIN which may resolve a problem: Reset Voicemail PIN.

As a last resort, you can back up your phone and perform a factory reset. After restoring your data, Visual Voicemail should be reset to default.

If none of these basic troubleshooting tips resolve your issue, contact Verizon support for further assistance. Be ready to provide details on your phone model, OS version, and the specific error you are seeing.

Conclusion

Customizing your voicemail greeting is a great way to personalize your phone and express your personality. With just a few simple steps, you can record a new greeting, choose a pre-recorded option, or set a temporary greeting when you’re away or on vacation.

Verizon makes it easy to access your voicemail settings and change your greeting at any time. Whether you want something formal or fun, standard or seasonal, you have full control to shape your caller’s experience when they reach your voicemail.

Overall, a customized voicemail greeting ensures your friends, family, and business contacts are greeted with a recording that represents you. It only takes a minute to change it, so feel free to regularly update your greeting to reflect your mood or circumstances.