You are on a roof. The phone rings in your pocket, rings out, and the caller hears "please leave a message after the tone". Some leave a message. Many callers hang up and ring the next tradie on the list. You find out an hour later, from a missed call with no name and, if you are lucky, a voicemail that says "call me back".
Voicemail was built for office workers who check messages at their desk. Missed-call text-back was built for people who can't. This guide compares the two, explains why they fight each other on your phone, and shows how to turn voicemail off on each carrier. If you already know you want text-back, go straight to the set-up guide.
What a caller gets from voicemail
When a call rings out to voicemail, the caller has to decide, right then, whether to talk to a recording. Plenty do. But a person with a leaking hot water system probably has more numbers to try, and the next tradie might pick up.
Say they do leave a message. You get it when you next check, often after the job, and it is usually a name and "call me back". Now you ring them, they don't answer because they are at work, and you are playing phone tag for a job they may already have given someone else.
Telstra's Message2Txt is a step better: it turns a voice message of up to 10 seconds into a text, per Telstra's call forwarding page, so you can read it on a smoko break. But the caller still has to choose to talk to a machine, and you still have nothing to reply to except a phone call.
What a caller gets from missed-call text-back
With text-back, the call that rings out is sent to a second number instead of your mailbox. The caller hears a short message that you are on the tools and a text is on its way, and within seconds they have a text from you, in your name. By default it asks their name, their suburb and how you can help.
The difference is that the caller does not have to decide anything on the spot. They can answer the text from the car park, after work or the next morning. And they have something from you in their messages, so you are not just one of four numbers in their call list.
You get one text and an email with their number and what they said, so when you get down off the roof you know who rang, what the job is and whether it is worth ringing back first.
Side by side
| Voicemail | Missed-call text-back | |
|---|---|---|
| What the caller gets | A recording asking them to talk | A text from you within seconds |
| What they have to do | Leave a message now, or hang up | Reply whenever it suits them |
| What you get | A recording to listen to later | One text and an email with their number and what they said |
| How you answer | Ring back and hope they pick up | Text back, or ring knowing what the job is |
Why you can't just run both
Voicemail is a divert too. When you don't answer, your carrier sends the call to your mailbox after a set time. Text-back works the same way: a code tells your carrier to send the calls you don't answer to your BizEdge number instead. Both are waiting for the same unanswered call, and whichever fires first gets it.
On Telstra, MessageBank takes an unanswered call at 15 seconds by default (Telstra). So we tested it on a real Telstra mobile, twelve calls in a row, changing the delay in the text-back code:
- 5 and 10 seconds: the divert won. The call went to the text-back and the caller had a text within two seconds.
- 15 seconds: it tied with MessageBank, and MessageBank won.
- 20 and 25 seconds: voicemail won every time.
That is why the no-answer code has a 10-second delay: **61*<your BizEdge number>**10#. Ten seconds is about seven seconds of ringing you can hear, because the first few are the network connecting. So you have two choices:
- Leave voicemail on and keep the 10-second delay. In our test, the 10-second divert beat MessageBank on every call.
- Turn voicemail off. Then nothing is racing the divert, and if you want a longer ring you can re-key the code with
20instead of10and test again.
Either way, do one test call when you have finished: ring your own mobile from another phone, let it ring out, and check the other phone gets your text.
How to turn voicemail off, carrier by carrier
Do this first, before the divert codes. Changing voicemail settings can wipe your diverts, so if you ever change voicemail later, key the codes in again and do another test call.
- Telstra: in the My Telstra app, go to Services, your service, Manage your MessageBank, Turn off. Then text
DCF Offto 144 to turn Message2Txt off. Telstra says both need to be off for no voicemail. Full steps: Telstra call forwarding codes. - Optus on a plan: dial
1509and turn voicemail off. It can take from 15 minutes to 4 hours. Optus then turns on its free Missed Call Service, so textOFFto 159 to stop it. Optus prepaid: turn voicemail off in the My Optus app. Full steps: Optus call divert codes. - Vodafone on a plan: dial
1210to turn voicemail off (that turns Call Catcher on), then121600to turn Call Catcher off. Do both before the divert codes, because1210resets your diverts. Full steps: Vodafone call forwarding. - Prepaid and budget brands: some can't divert to another number at all (Vodafone prepaid is one), and some charge per minute for each diverted call. Check yours in prepaid and budget brands: which ones can divert.
Don't forget the iPhone's own voicemail
iPhones have a voicemail of their own called Live Voicemail, which answers on the handset instead of your carrier's network. ALDI Mobile notes it is turned on by default when an iPhone updates to iOS 18. If it is on, the phone itself can answer the call before your divert does.
To turn it off: Settings, Phone, Live Voicemail, off. This is the same on every carrier.
When you can't turn voicemail off
On a work or fleet-managed number you usually can't change voicemail yourself, and some brands don't publish a way to do it. That is fine. Leave voicemail on, keep the 10-second delay in the no-answer code, and do the test call. If voicemail still wins on your line, email hello@bizedge.com.au and we will work through it with you.
What you give up with voicemail off
Be honest with yourself about this one. With voicemail off, nobody can leave you a voice message: not customers, not suppliers, not your mum. If you are using text-back, every one of them gets your text instead and can reply to it, and you get what they said. If you stop using text-back later, dial ##002# to cancel the diverts, then turn voicemail back on with your carrier.
The short version
Voicemail asks the caller to do the work, right then, while they probably have other numbers to try. A text back does the first bit of the work for them and lets them answer in their own time. If your MessageBank is full of "call me back" messages from people who never picked up when you did, that is the jobs it is costing you.
Ready to swap? The set-up guide covers voicemail off, then a few standard codes, then one test call, for Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.