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Mystery
@qwest.net

Mystery to retiredqwest

Anon

to retiredqwest

Re: Message Waiting Light

retiredqwest: Thanks, but irrelevant. I have the original printed document from CenturyLink, and neither it nor the link you provided say anything about a message waiting message that keeps appearing on the telephone readout.

The message waiting light is off, as it should be: I had a problem with voice mail when CenturyLink set the number of rings too high when enabling the message might, so I reset it to four, then left myself a voice mail message. The light turned on, and then turned off when I erased the message, and has remained off since that time, which was last Friday afternoon.

Again, what I am wondering is why the on-screen message that message waiting is off keeps appearing, given that since I left the message to myself last Friday, there has not been a single new message left. I guess I'll call the Voice Mail help number, and hope that I get one of the knowledgeable agents.
Mystery

Mystery

Anon

Called the relevant CenturyLink number, quickly got through to an agent; she said that there is nothing in my account records that would indicate what might be causing the problem, and that I should contact the telephone manufacturer.

I have sent a support request to the manufacturer, to ask if they might have any idea (other than turning off the phone, that is, an idea I did not to ask about...).

I shall report what, if anything, I hear back; of course, if I don't hear anything, then I shall be in the position of trying to prove a negative, as I will have no idea as to a possible reply at some unknown future date.
Mystery

Mystery

Anon

Apparently no one at CenturyLink can fix this; I've called them three times today, my voice mail has been reset by tech support twice, and the annoying message continues to appear.

No new calls, no new voice mail messages, but lots of "Msg Waiting Off" notifications.

I suppose I should be happy to know that, but as it is meaningless to tell me that, well, I am not happy to know that.
Expand your moderator at work
Mystery

Mystery to Mystery

Anon

to Mystery

Re: Message Waiting Light

It took a while, several phone calls, much frustration, and then my sending an e-mail to CenturyLink, which engendered a reply, followed by more phone calls, etc. by me, I finally was able to get an answer.

I shall not claim that I understand all of the technicalities, nor do I remember the complete phone conversation. Suffice it to say that I got a call from a Clink employee in Denver, Colorado, who has been dealing with voice mail, phones, and the like for some twenty years.

He told me that CLink has two types of relevant equipment, and that the type used where I live is hard-coded to send a refresh code every thirty minutes. Furthermore, he said that my Cortelco Model 2200 phone is the only one he has every encountered that reacts to that refresh, and that is why the LCD lights up and the message appears.

He also said that CLink can change some things to prevent the message appearing, but so doing would make the message waiting light on the phone less reliable.

I emailed Cortelco about this, giving them the name and phone number of the man in Denver, should they want to discuss the matter; I've not received any reply from Cortelco so far.

Now to find a suitable new phone for the bedroom. I can tolerate, and likely shall, over time learn to ignore, the LCD problem next to my computer keyboard, but I'd not want this to keep happening in the bedroom. I keep finding what seem to be reasonably-priced Caller ID plus hold button phones, my two most serious wants for a new bedroom phone, only to find that they are battery-powered, and reviews say that the batteries die rather quickly. I don't get many phone calls, so battery life might not be a problem for me, but I'd rather not buy a phone only to find out that battery life is indeed rather short.

At least I have something important to occupy my time....
Mystery

Mystery to Mystery

Anon

to Mystery
(Yet another conspiracy: Apparently the message I posted in this thread earlier today got lost in the system crash.)

I have an answer, after several phone calls and emails, and a lot of frustration. Thanks to one knowledgeable and polite female agent, who sent my problem up to the next support level, I was called by a man in Denver, Colorado, who has been working with voice mail for twenty years.

CenturyLink uses two types of equipment; the one I am on sends a refresh every thirty minutes, and that is hard-coded so that it cannot be turned off. The man in Denver told me that my phone, a Cortelco 2200, is the only one he has encountered which responds to the refresh signal by turning on its LCD and showing the `message waiting off' message.

I suppose I can get used to, and ignore, this on the phone next to my computer keyboard, but I don't want this with a new phone in the bedroom. I'm trying to find a reasonably-priced phone with Caller ID and a hold button (my two main requirements,) and every time I think I've found one, I discover the unit to be battery-powered, with reviews saying that the batteries die quickly.

I don't get many calls, so perhaps a battery-operated unit will be acceptable, but I'd prefer not to experiment, so shall continue looking for a line-voltage device.

(Ironically, the LCD lit up just as I was about to post this, so I am still aware of the thing. I sent an email to Cortelco about the problem, complete with CLink name and phone number in Denver; I've not received any reply, and likely won't, alas.)
Mystery

Mystery to Mystery

Anon

to Mystery
Sorry for the double post: For reason(s) I do not understand, neither of yesterday's posts appear when I visit the forum using Firefox, only show when I use a Firefox extension which opens the page in IE inside Firefox.

As my first post did not appear when I visited the forum using Firefox after the system crash, I assumed that that post had been lost, so posted again using different verbiage, only to find, a few moments ago that the first and second posts are both on the forum, but for me, only seen when using IE.

Odd!