I don’t know about you but I certainly miss a lot of calls during any given day. Mostly because I don’t take calls when already in conversation (consider it a bit disruptive) and especially not when I am in meetings. OK so I get lots of voicemail..

Voicemail is one of those necessary evils, something I love to hate.

When getting voicemail via my Skype for Business client to the Unified Messaging platform, I do love..

• how I can forward on the voicemail and add a note as I do so
• how I can archive and keep copies of a message
• how I can write rules around who reaches me and when
• I get to choose which messages I want to listen to without having to follow a tedious DTMF dial pad process that offers the oldest voicemails first

When getting voicemail on my cell phone, I hate how..

• even if I say save the message, its still going to be deleted in 10 or 15 days
• I have no visual reminder associated with the actual message to tell me the number of the caller was, instead a DTMF selection reads the callers number to me
• if I have multiple messages, I have to listen to each message in sequence. Sure I can skip a message BUT I still need to listen to the first bit to determine if its what I am looking for.

In a perfect world, I’d like to get my voicemail delivered to my UM mailbox every time, regardless of the source being SkypefB\Lync or Mobile\Cell network.

Configuring Mobile and UM for one Voicemail Box

Overview of steps as follows:-

1. Configure the mobile phone to send calls to you OWN DDI\DID in Skype for Business as a voicemail destination
2. Setup UM to send calls from your Mobile number to voicemail

So lets get started..

Changing the default voicemail service offered by your carrier may appear to be next to impossible. There are multiple reasons a call may land in voicemail. You may need to cater for each of these.

The table below indicates the forward type and the codes required to manage them.

Forward Type	Description	Set and Enable	Disable	Enable	Delete	Check Status
Forward if no answer	Will forward calls to another location if the call is not answered after a set period of time	*61*[dest]*11*[sec]#	#61*11#	*61*11#	##61*11#	*#61*11#
Forward if busy	Forwards calls to another location if you are using your phone and you have either disabled call waiting or if you are in the process of making an outgoing call	*62*[dest]*11#	#62*11#	*62*11#	##62*11#	*#62*11#
Forward if unavailable	Forwards calls to another location if the handset is off or outside of service area	*67*[dest]*11#	#67*11#	*67*11#	##67*11#	*#67*11#

Note

• The codes may differ for your carrier
• The code 11 is used to indicate voice calls, additional codes exisit for data, text etc.

So lets assume that my Cell\Mobile Number is +6421 123 456 and my Skype\Lync DDI\DID is +649 97 012 345 as we go through the setup.

On my iPhone its done as follows:-

Forward No answer

Using the phone dialler, call *61*+64997012345*11*20# using the phone’s keypad. 

11 = Voice Calls & 20 = seconds before forwarding is triggered

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repeat for Forward Busy and Unreachable.

Checking the Status

Using the phone dialler, call *#61*11# using your phone’s keypad. 

So now we have unanswered, busy and unreachable calls to mobile\cell going to the Lync\SkypefB Client.

At this point the calls will follow the rules as per any call to your Lync\SkypefB client. Of course we can now configure some personal options specifically for calls from mobile to Exchange UM.

Configuring Voicemail for Calls from Mobile is done in OWA.

From the Options Menu item select Phone and add a new Voicemail Call Answering Rule, I have called mine Mobile Voicemail.

Defining the Call Answering Rule we will first specify that the call is from my Cell\Mobile number.

To do that select The Caller is.. in the drop down box

Check the box “Calling from these phone numbers” and specify your mobile\cell number.

Click the + sign to add the number and the OK button to save

Next we need to tell the rule what to do, so from the Do the following drop down box, select “Provide the caller with these option”

Click on Select Options, you will notice that the default option to leave a voice message is selected, simply click the OK Button to accept

Your new call answering rule should now look similar to the image below. Click on the Save button to save

Ensure that the Call answering Rule is enabled by clicking the On Box and click save one more time.

Now for testing..

Get someone to ring your mobile\Cell and leave the call as unanswered, the call should launch through to your Lync\SkypefB client. This allows you to either answer the call, or if you are busy\Offline the call will fire through to Unified Messaging Voicemail.

Sorted..