Irish Phone in Dubai

miss.piggy

Hi, strange question but I hope someone can help me. Going on hol soon to Dubai and I have an O2 phone. I need to know, if people ring me from home and it is out of signal or goes to voicemail will a foreign voice come on talking? Thanks!

conor_ie

No you'll be grand, if it goes to voicemail it will be your voice they hear!

coylemj

No, they will get your voicemail greeting or if you haven't recorded one, they will get a generic (Irish voice) recording saying that 'you have reached the voicemail of 086xxxxxxx, please leave a message....'

To set or change your personal voicemail greeting for free while still in Ireland, dial 172 from your O2 mobile and follow the prompts.

When out of the country, it will cost you if people call and you don't answer unless you have forwarded all calls to voicemail. On your phone menu, set your voicemail number to your number with a '5' between the 086 code and your seven digit number, then just before you board the flight, forward all calls to voicemail.

athtrasna

Most networks charge you for receiving voicemail when you're abroad, it's as if you're phoning home. You're charged when people leave a message and again when you listen to it. Best option is to disable voicemail or leave a message asking people to text you and not leave a message

miss.piggy

Thanks for the replies guys. But I'm not sure about the irish voicemail thing.....when I was in Germany last year if people rang and I had no signal they got a voice in German saying whatever. So I'm just wondering will it be an Arabic one in Dubai or whatever and if there's any way I can prevent that?

coylemj

athtrasna wrote: »

Most networks charge you for receiving voicemail when you're abroad, it's as if you're phoning home. You're charged when people leave a message and again when you listen to it. Best option is to disable voicemail or leave a message asking people to text you and not leave a message

You are not charged when people leave a voice message if you have forwarded all calls to voicemail before you go. You only pay to listen to them

If you call forward all calls to voicemail before you go and don't bother listening to them until you get home, it won't cost you a penny.

Agree that the best option is to leave a voice message asking people to text you and not leave a message.

Atlantic Dawn

They will get a foreign dialtone if they call and your phone is outside Ireland and receiving a signal.

coylemj

miss.piggy wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. But I'm not sure about the irish voicemail thing.....when I was in Germany last year if people rang and I had no signal they got a voice in German saying whatever. So I'm just wondering will it be an Arabic one in Dubai or whatever and if there's any way I can prevent that?

Do you have an account with O2 Ireland? If yes, phone 172 and record a greeting, that is what people will hear when they ring you and you don't answer or are out of range but as already advised, that will cost you money (whether you answer or not) so I strongly suggest that you call forward all calls to voicemail and tell your friends and family to text and not call you.

coylemj

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They will get a foreign dialtone if they call and your phone is outside Ireland and receiving a signal.

There is no dialtone with mobiles, I think what you meant to say is that they will get a foreign ringing tone.

ayeboy

You will be charged for every voice mail. I had an 80 euro bill to prove it....from messages left on my phone whilst in dubai.

Set up your phone so you can't receive messages...Then reactivate message service when you return home.

Atlantic Dawn

coylemj wrote: »

There is no dialtone with mobiles, I think what you meant to say is that they will get a foreign ringing tone.

Yes I meant ringtone

coylemj

ayeboy wrote: »

You will be charged for every voice mail. I had an 80 euro bill to prove it....from messages left on my phone whilst in dubai.

Set up your phone so you can't receive messages...Then reactivate message service when you return home.

You can't 'Set up your phone so you can't receive messages', you can call forward all calls to voicemail in which case people can leave (voice) messages until the cows come home and despite what you claim above, it won't cost you a penny.

What cost you money was the search for your phone because you hadn't forwarded all calls to voicemail, not because the caller left you a message. Foreign networks refuse to ring your phone for free if it's switched on and you don't answer it.

Receiving SMS (text) messages when abroad costs you nothing.

miss.piggy

So are you saying the reason people hear foreign automated messages when they ring someone who is abroad is because that person hasn't set up a personal voicemail greeting?

coylemj

miss.piggy wrote: »

So are you saying the reason people hear foreign automated messages when they ring someone who is abroad is because that person hasn't set up a personal voicemail greeting?

Yes, I have never heard of a call going to a foreign voice greeting if the subscriber had recorded a personal greeting.

keithclancy

coylemj wrote: »

Yes, I have never heard of a call going to a foreign voice greeting if the subscriber had recorded a personal greeting.

I have a Dutch, German and Irish SIM.

Seems to depend on the network you are roaming on, some networks it plays my German T-Mobile message, on Meteor it plays a Generic Meteor voicemail message, on O2 it plays my German Personal Greeting.

Same with my Dutch and Irish SIM behaviour seems to be related to the Network you are roaming on rather than the country.

When in Abu Dhabi, someone said they got some generic very posh sounding English accent when ringing my German SIM.

Sheldons Brain

coylemj wrote: »

You can't 'Set up your phone so you can't receive messages', you can call forward all calls to voicemail in which case people can leave (voice) messages until the cows come home and despite what you claim above, it won't cost you a penny.

This. And if you have some access to Skype or the like then it may be cheaper to use this to listen to the voicemail than play it back on the phone.