Skype voicemail improvements
Skype voicemail means that you’ll never miss a call. Your unanswered calls are sent to voicemail and you can listen to messages when you want, wherever you sign in to Skype, or using Skype To Go. To make voicemail even better, we’ve added two new features: voicemail to text and voicemail alerts.
Voicemail to text
With voicemail to text, you’ll never miss an important voicemail – thanks to our partnership with the ultra-cool SpinVox. SpinVox will convert your voicemail to text, and we’ll send it directly to your mobile by SMS for you to read (SpinVox’s blogger, James Whatley, is understandably quite excited about this 
). The SpinVox gnomes currently understand voicemail messages left in English, French, German and Spanish, and, believe me, they’re pretty good.
Each voicemail to text conversion will cost €0.20/£0.17/$0.25 plus the cost of sending up to 3 SMS at standard low Skype rates, depending on the length of the voicemail message. The number of messages we send will depend upon the length of the voicemail message – if we can’t fit it all into 3 SMSes, you’ll see an ellipsis (…) at the end of the third message, and you’ll have to sign in to Skype or call your Skype To Go number to hear the full message.
Voicemail alerts
You can now set up email or SMS voicemail alerts to let you know when you have new voicemail messages. Email alerts are free, and SMS alerts are charged at Skype’s standard low SMS rates. You can also use Skype To Go to pick up your voicemail on the move.
To make life easier for you, we’ve also introduced privacy settings for voicemail alerts, so you can get alerts only from people on your contact list. In addition, you can set a daily limit for the number of alerts.
Both of these enhancements should make Skype voicemail even more useful – and don’t forget; if you have any comments or questions about these new features, leave a comment below and I’ll respond as quickly as I can.
Is there a reason we can’t get the SpinVox delivered via email? I’d prefer it that way. Getting the message split up into multiple SMS messages is a pain.
My skpe viocemail simply Never picks up. It does not work. so it doesn’t really matter how fancy you have made it latley.
the issue with the voicemail is at least 2-3 years old. The voicemail doesn’t come on at all or xtremly delayed. the adjustment in option doesn’t help and that is very annoying for a customer how pays for that service. Does the skype team is aware of this problem?
My voicemail is broken too. It’s impossible for me to get a message so why would I want nothing sent as a SMS to my phone. Come on skype this voicemail problem is 2-3 years old.
My voicemail (and the person I regularly talk to) stopped working also after upgrading from v3 to v4. I use a Linksys CIT200 phone but it would seem this does not have a bearing on it.
I thought this was a great service until I realized callers have to listen to an advertisement that the service is provided by spinvox and skype. If it were free I could tolerate this but having to pay to let them advertise the service to my callers is not acceptable. I turned it off.
Email Alerts / Voicemail on Skype To Go ?
I have tried this – and it does not work. I neither get an email alert, nor do I hear my voicemail messages when I call my Skype To Go number. Yes, these are new messages and they have been new for a while and still no notification. For someone who uses Skype for business this is not good!
I would love to just get a notification of new messages and then be able to listen to them via Skype To Go. The voicemail to text feature really does not do it for me and it is far too expensive
I have been paying for Skype voicemail and it rarely works. I have asked for Skype support and get the boilerplate emails that never help. I own a business and when someone calls they need to be able to leave a message for us. If the phone rings and rings they will probably think that we don’t exist. What business does not have voicemail? SKYPE FIX THE VOICEMAIL NOW OR I WILL CANCEL MY ACCOUNT.
@mike.wellborn I’ve pinged you privately to see if I can find out what’s going wrong
I have to say I have the same experience as most of the posters. I travel a lot and been trying to use Skype. The Voice mail is a product that should not be charged for as it’s not production-quality. It works only a small percentage of the time and then stops working without any explanation.
As other posters have mentioned the support is terrible. I’ve written several times about it and usually have to write more than once to even get a response — and then it’s always “do this and restart skype” which usually does help resolve the issue for a day or two.
When it breaks, it never picks up, and declining a call means the call is simply disconnected to dead air. It’s a horrible user experience.
I also don’t have any idea how to find the vmails I did get in Skype. Where in the UI do I go to view all of my past Vmails?
I too cannot get the email alert for voicemails to work – can I have my money back? I am just starting a new business and its a disappointing start.
I cannot get Skype’s voicemail-to-text feature to work. We have asked help from Skype support but they were not able to resolve it. Now we are not getting any more response from them.
Any of you guys able to get this feature working? maybe you could help me..
@intelligentocean @gweb_org_communictations could you let me know what happens – is it a setup problem, or do voicemails fail to appear as text?
I would get REALLY excited about .mp3 delivery of voicemails to my email account.
I also have paid for Skype voicemail and found that it does not work. I e-mailed Skype support about a week ago and have not received any reply, not even an initial courtesy reply to let me know that the matter is being dealt with. Charging for a service which does not work and not replying to customers’ e-mails is quite clearly a con. I would not recommend Skype voicemail to anyone.
@davidwatkins68 check your settings to make sure voicemail is switched on – if it is, please give me a shout and I’ll do my best to investigate.
I got an email message saying I have a voicemail (nice service) and that I could just call my Skype-to-go number and retrieve it, but I have not been able to find instructions on how to do that. I assume I should input a PIN or something. My account is enabled to “Hear your voicemail using your Skype To Go number” — just wish there were instructions for doing that. Even a hint would be nice.
@mwe1951 if you haven’t already set up a Skype To Go number, you should do that first
Thanks Peter, but would you care to elaborate? I already have a Skype phone number, but I presume that is not a Skype-to-go number. I tried setting up my mobile as a Skype-to-go number, but there is no indication in my account now that I did this successfully.
All I want to know is how to retrieve Skype voicemail from a phone when I’m away from my computer. Is this not a frequently asked question?
I see no “Contact Us” link on the Skype website. Is there a tech-support email address to ask such questions?
Thanks again.
Me too. How do you access your voicemail from skype to go????
Email says I have one and that I can get it by calling my skype to go number, but doesn’t say how.
Not helpful.
And now will I have to monitor this line of questions, somehow, in order to see if this question ever gets answered?….
Not helpful.
Sorry, I suck.
I just called my skype to go number and listened to a voicemail.
Just call it and if there is one it will prompt you.
Cool.
@mwe1951 sorry if that wasn’t clear – you’re absolutely right, your Skype To Go number is different to your Skype online number.
Try heading to your account page on the Skype website and click on the Skype To Go tab – do you see a number listed there?
I am in the same boat. I just started my own business and thankfully I have not had the cards made yet, because there is NO WAY I am going to use Skype for this if they can’t deliver consistent voicemail service. It was working fine last week, but now, nothing. I have tested on both my mac and pc clients, doesn’t matter. Just rings forever.
@reberly80 please make sure you have voicemail switched on in the settings (Tools > Options on Windows, Skype > Preferences on Mac) – and let me know if that doesn’t work.
I’ve subscribed to a Skype plan and even bought an online number, but am not happy that I am not getting e-mail alerts of voicemail received. This is a very important feature that makes having the Skype-In number worthwhile, so I would appreciate some information on why it does not work.
@ortega.chiles please check that email alerts are switched on for your account, and also that they aren’t getting caught in your spam filter – let me know if you’re still having problems
The voicemail access using Skype To Go doesn’t work for me. There are currently 2 new voicemails in my box, but when I dial into Skype To Go there is no option to listen to them. The only options presented are: [1] – “dial the my defined number” and [2] – dial any other international number. All help appreciated.
@jloco430 – very strange. I’ve asked someone to investigate – they’ll be in touch directly if they need any more information from you.
@jloco430 – very strange. I’ve asked someone to investigate – they’ll be in touch directly if they need any more information from you.
@jloco could you check your voicemail settings and confirm that it’s showing as ‘enabled’?
My voicemail never picks up. It worked in the passed. People are getting angry at me for using skype. If I cant resolve this I will be switching to Magic Jack.
D
@duncanmiller1 first, make sure that voicemail is turned on, and that your calls aren’t being forwarded to another number first. Let me know if that helps, and if it doesn’t, I’ll do some more investigating.
I enabled the following options for voicemail:
-send unanswered calls to voicemail (ON)
send calls to voicemail if…
-I do not answer within [7] seconds
-I reject an incoming call
-I am already in a call
I checked my account options, clicked on “voicemail”
- it says that my voice mail is “enabled”
the checkbox is on for
- send an email alert to (my emailaddress) when I receive a voicemail.
I tried making different contacts in United States to call my number. they all say it rings twenty times and it just says i am unavailable. giving them no option to leave a voice mail.
I really need this problem to be fixed.
@youryellowfellow sorry you’re having problems – I’ve contacted you on Skype to get some more details.
Fascinating reading. My Voicemail hasn’t worked in a 12month despite emails to ‘support’, reboots, sign-out-ins etc etc.
Clearly there is a systemic problem here, Peter, not just a bunch of guys who don’t know how to enable a feature in their software.
Frankly it’s all well below par for a business user, or, well, for anyone.
There comes a stage when the hassle of issuing a new non-skype number to customers is less than failing to have voicemail: I’m close to that stage now.
Phil
@philcommon I’ve asked someone to investigate. They’ll be in touch directly if they need any more information from you.
I’m a new customer. I have voice mail. It worked the first time, but now I receive notification of voice mail in my e-mail, but the voice mail is not showing up when I log in to Skype. I’ve tried sending myself a voicemail, with the same results. This is scary, because I have received a voicemail that I REALLY need to see, but I can’t. Is this typical behavior for you voicemail service???
-Jim
I have a Belkin desktop Skype phone. It, and the Skype service, work very well. However, the Skype voicemail function is simply non-functional. I know everything is setup properly.
I was happy to find this discussion thread. At least I no longer feel like an idiot.
I have a SkypeOut number used for my business. Voicemail is switched on and receiving messages but I can’t retrieve them. The voicemail notification email says:
Sign in to Skype to listen to the message or call your Skype To Go number to hear it.
I’m signed into Skype now, and there’s no voicemail or missed call in my history.
I’ve called my number as per the emailed instructions and all I can do is leave myself a message! So I left myself a message, but nothing comes up on Skype about a missed call or voicemail.
What is happening with Skype’s voicemail? I’m using this for business and my customers are getting irate that I’m not receiving their messages! I know I have everything set up correctly because it has worked before, I just want to know how to get my voicemail now.
I have just purchased skypein and it is showing that my voicemail is enabled, but the voicemail never comes in when anybody rings. all it does is ring and ring then disconnects. I have recorded a VM and have checked all the settings. I have logged out and signed back in but still nothing. The whole point of getting this was to have a service that a message can be left! Any ideas anybody? Please
@caroll1005 you should contact our customer service team – they’ll be able to help out.
@quinnkn do you have more than one Skype account? If so, please make sure you’re signing in to the right one. Otherwise, please give me a shout and I’ll do my best to help out.
I’ve recently begun a new business and am dismayed after reading this message thread to see that this appears to be a systemic problem. Our biggest selling feature to our clients is promised availability and the option to speak with us over the phone – and our voicemail hasn’t work since we’ve ordered it.
Yes, clicked the ‘send unanswered calls to voicemail’ button on the preferences tab, and still, the phone just rings and rings. No, it’s not set up to forward to any other number.
The lack of readily available technical support is also disappointing; I spent an hour searching the site and FAQs for someone to call before stumbling upon this page, which seems ridiculous.
I would really appreciate help in working on this problem, as the success of our business depends on being available to our clients.
@rewordcommunications I’ve asked someone to investigate – they’ll be in touch with you directly if they need any more information.
I am receiving skype voicemails to my pc but when I play them I get no sound at all as the message plays through. There are no problems with my sound card. Do I have to use a headset to listen to the voicemail messages or should they just play on the computers inbuilt speakers? I need to sort this out quickly before I launch a new business using Skype as my main communication system.
@rhodanmc voicemail should respect Skype’s sound settings, so if you normally hear calls through your speakers, voicemail should play through your speakers too. Let me know if that isn’t the case.
I’d like to be able to recieve mp3 or wav files of the voice mails via E-mail. Is that possible, even as a pay service? I pay for the SkypeIn service, and the voice mail function works fine, but when I’m in Europe on my blackberry and a voice mail comes in, I don’t want to pay Verizon $1.99 per minute to listen to the voice mail. Data transfer is free. I’d like to be able to log in someplace, or maybe reply back to the voice mail notification E-mail to authorize skype to send me the sound file for a small fee….thoughts?
@sfolkson unfortunately our BlackBerry app isn’t available to the public yet, but our full-featured mobile apps (e.g. Skype for iPhone and Skype for Windows phones) can receive voicemails over a data connection.
I know that doesn’t solve your immediate problem, but it’s one we’re aware of
I have voicemail installed & activated. I listened to my voicemails ONCE and then they disappear. How do I go about listening to my voice messages after listening to them the 1st time (when they are in my missed calls area)?
I can listen to YESTERDAY’S voicemail but not TODAY’S…HELP!!