Setup and manage MessageBank

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    MessageBank

    MessageBank® is Telstra's voicemail and provides a personal answering service if a phone line is busy or can’t be answered. Callers are greeted with your own personal greeting and then asked to leave a message.

    If you'd prefer to send your incoming calls to another number so you don’t miss a call, you can use our call forwarding service.

    You can also extend your ring time, so you have more time to answer the phone before your calls reach MessageBank®.

    How do I manage MessageBank?

    Our Upfront plans have MessageBank activated as a default.

    The steps below will demonstrate how to turn on and turn off your MessageBank service.
     

    Turn on MessageBank

    1. Open the My Telstra app and go to Services and select your service
    2. Go to Menu (or three vertical dots in the top right-hand side)
    3. Select Manage your MessageBank to make changes.
       

    Turn off MessageBank

    1. Open the My Telstra app and go to Services and select your service
    2. Go to Menu (or three vertical dots in the top right-hand side)
    3. Select Manage your MessageBank to make changes
    4. Turn off MessageBank and Update settings.

    Turn on MessageBank

    1. Call 101 or hold down the key on your mobile
    2. Follow the voice prompts to set up your personal greeting
    3. Set up your MessageBank® PIN.
       

    Turn off MessageBank

    Fill out this MessageBank online form to request to turn off your MessageBank service.

    MessageBank Plus

    To activate MessageBank® Plus, send an SMS to 144 saying VVM ON. Once that’s done, follow the steps below:  

    1. Go to the phone app on your iPhone
    2. Select Voicemail
    3. If this is your first time setting up voicemail it’ll ask you to Set up now
    4. If prompted to set a PIN, set a 6-digit PIN, you will be asked to re-enter this and it must not be repeating or consecutive digits
    5. Choose a default greeting, or select Custom to record a personalised greeting.

    If you’re having trouble with MessageBank® Plus, try these steps and check your MessageBank®Plus messages after each step:

    1. Check your network connection; if you’re offline, MessageBank® Plus won’t work
    2. Make sure voicemail is set up; try calling your number and leave a voicemail
    3. Go to Settings > General > Reset and select Reset Network Settings. Your phone will reboot but you won't lose any data.

    How do I extend my ring time?

    1. On your Telstra mobile, dial **61*101** then the number of seconds you want to extend your ring time to - 15, 20, 25 or 30 - then finish with #. So, to extend your ring time to 30 seconds, you’d dial **61*101**30#
    2. Press Call/Send
    3. You’ll see a screen confirming your ring time extension has been successful.

    Call forwarding

    Use call forwarding on your mobile to ensure you never miss a call.

    There are several flexible options to choose from including unconditional or immediate call forwarding, busy call forwarding, no answer call forwarding and call forwarding if you’re out of range or have no coverage. Standard call charges apply for all forwarded calls.
     

    Types of call forwarding

    • Call Forward All Calls Unconditional - Forwards calls to another number immediately. 
    • Call Forward No Answer - Forwards calls if you don't answer within 15 seconds.
    • Call Forward Unreachable - Forwards calls if your phone is switched off or out of network coverage.   
    • Call Forward Busy - Forwards calls when your phone is busy. 

    Many mobile phone handsets allow you to set and remove call forwarding using your dial pad menu. We recommend using manual call forwarding codes to make sure it's updated correctly. Or for unconditional or immediate call forwarding you can send an SMS to 144.
     

    SMS to 144 for unconditional or immediate call forwarding

    1. Send an SMS to the number 144 with the words 
      • CFU ON 'phone number' (E.g. CFU ON 0400123456) to turn on Call Forwarding Unconditional/Immediate
    2. You'll receive an automated response:
      • Please wait while we action your request, or
      • CFU to 'phone number' is on
         
    To check the status of your unconditional/immediate call forwarding
    1. Send an SMS to the number 144 with the words CFU Status
    2. You'll receive the automated response:
      • CFU to 'phone number' is on, or
      • CFU is off
         

    Using the mobile dial pad

    Turn on call forwarding:

    1. Press **code*
      • To forward All calls immediately, use code 21
      • For No answer, use code 61
      • For Unreachable/out of coverage, use code 62
      • For Busy, use code 67
    2. Enter the phone number you’re forwarding to, including the area code
    3. Type in *10#
    4. Press Send
       

    For example, to forward All calls, key in the following code: **21*(enter the number you’re forwarding to, including area code)*10# then press Send.

    Important:

    For no answer, you can extend your ring time before it diverts, like this: **61*(number you’re forwarding to, including area code)**(number of seconds)# then press Send. The time before forwarding can only be between 5 and 30 seconds, with increments of 5 seconds. Remember to enter double digits like this: 05, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30.

    SMS to 144 for unconditional or immediate call forwarding

    1. To turn off unconditional or immediate call forwarding on your mobile:
      • Send an SMS to the number 144 with the words CFU OFF
    2. You'll receive the automated response:
      • Please wait while we action your request, or
      • CFU is off
         
    To check the status of your unconditional/immediate call forwarding
    1. Send an SMS to the number 144 with the words CFU Status
    2. You'll receive the automated response:
      • CFU to 'phone number' is on, or
      • CFU is off
         

    Using the mobile dial pad

    To turn off call forwarding, dial the appropriate code listed below on your mobile handset, then hang up.

    Press **code*

    • To cancel All calls immediately, use code 21
    • For No answer, use code 61
    • For Unreachable/out of coverage, use code 62
    • For Busy, use code 67

    If you’d like to prevent calls from forwarding to MessageBank follow these steps:

    1. Dial ##002# from your Telstra mobile
    2. Press Call/Send
    3. You’ll get a notification about Call Forwarding being disabled
    4. Press Ok/Dismiss
       

    To resume call forwarding to your MessageBank:

    1. Dial **004*101# from your Telstra mobile
    2. Press Call/Send
    3. You will get a notification about Call Forwarding registration
    4. Press Ok/Dismiss
       

    If it says ‘not in service’ when you call 101 it means your MessageBank isn’t active. Please refer back to How to manage MessageBank

    Frequently asked questions

    To change your MessageBank greeting:

    1. Call 101 or hold down the key on your Telstra mobile
    2. You’ll hear any new voice messages first and then be directed to the MessageBank main menu
    3. Press for Mailbox Setup
    4. Press for Greetings
    5. Press to re-record your new personal greeting.

    Message2Txt® converts a 10-second voice message into an SMS and is activated by default on your Telstra mobile service.

    If you activate MessageBank® then Message2Txt® will be turned off until you deactivate MessageBank® again.

    To turn Message2Txt 'off' or 'on', send an SMS to 144 with the following text:

    Text Action
    DCF On Turns on the diversion to Message2Txt
    DCF Off Turns off the diversion to Message2Txt
    DCF Status

    Will display the current status of Message2Txt


    Important:

    MessageBank and Message2Txt both need to be ‘off’ for your phone to have no voicemail service.

    1. Dial your mobile number from another handset
    2. When you hear your MessageBank greeting press #
    3. You'll be prompted for your PIN
    4. Enter your PIN to access the normal menu.
       

    Or send an SMS to +61101 while roaming internationally - additional charges will apply.

    Hang-up messages are SMS notifications that tell you when a caller has hung up after your greeting and didn’t leave a message.

    To activate or cancel hang-up messages:

    1. Call 101 on your Telstra mobile.
    2. You'll hear any new voice messages first, press ** to go to the MessageBank® main menu
      • Press 3 for Mailbox Setup
      • Press 6 for Hang-up Message service
    3. Follow the prompts to turn it on or off.

    Your caller ID preference determines whether your phone number is visible to people you call. Find out more about managing Caller ID

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