How to change the number of rings before voice mail picks up

This worked today on my iPhone 13 with AT&T prepaid plan:

Settings -> phone-> turn off Live Voicemail

On the phone keypad, dial *#61# to get the phone number of the call center for voicemail.

It should be +1 followed by the area code and seven digit number. After the + sign, there will be 11 digits.

Next, on the phone keypad, dial *61*, followed by the eleven digits, followed by *11*40*#

There are no blanks, and the number 40 toward the end is the number of seconds before voicemail.

Example: *61*16501234567*11*30*# for area code 650, number 123-4567, and 30 seconds.

Simply not correct. I tested this, 5 phones, all Tmobile, 3 android, 2 iphone. All same line settings. The android phones take longer to go to voicemail than the iphones do.

This is a really simple test, that anyone can do. Different phones, same carrier, different number of rings before voicemail picks up. I'm not sure why folks here all insist it has nothing todo with the phones.

For me, its a problem, because I use call forwarding, and I want the android phone to pick up the voice message, but my iphone picks it up much sooner. Both phones start ringing at the same time, the iphone goes to voice message sooner.

AND, its not set at the phone number (not the line), because I get the same result if I switch the sims.

Iphones are picking up faster than android, so it has something to do with the phones, its an easy test to confirm.

Brandylab wrote:

Incorrect information. This is NOT controlled by the carrier, if it was, all phones from the same carrier would pick up on the same number of rings. For tmoble, different phones pick up at different times, iphone picks up faster (fewer rings) than other phones. Settings for all 5 phones are IDENTICAL per tmobile customer support.

Sorry, but YOU are the one who is incorrect. Carriers deliver calls and control how long the phone rings before going to voicemail. It has ALWAYS been so. You can believe what you want, but you can't create facts which don't exist.

I'm on AT&T and I too wanted the phone to ring longer. A call to AT&T and they increased the length of time my phone rings. No one else but AT&T could do this for me.

Brandylab wrote:

Incorrect information. This is NOT controlled by the carrier, if it was, all phones from the same carrier would pick up on the same number of rings. For tmoble, different phones pick up at different times, iphone picks up faster (fewer rings) than other phones. Settings for all 5 phones are IDENTICAL per tmobile customer support.

Nope! YOU are wrong. The number of rings before voicemail is controlled by the carrier. You may be surprised to know that voicemail is also a carrier service. Your phone is not actually recording the call when it comes in, it is the carrier that starts the voicemail after the set number of seconds and records the message on their servers. Your phone is just playing the voicemail from the carrier.

That is why users here in this thread have found the solution to change the seconds before voicemail with the specific codes for AT&T. Note that is is the seconds not the number of rings because each ringtone may have a different duration and the carrier has no idea what ring tone you have on your device. Since you are a TMobile user, you can see the solution for your carrier on their website:

https://community.t-mobile.com/accounts-services-4/how-to-change-number-of-rings-before-goes-to-voicemail-39504

https://community.t-mobile.com/android-9/want-to-increase-number-of-rings-before-voicemail-54639

Try reading the very first response in this thread.

Live Voicemail must be turned off.—- it is that simple!

aveo10 wrote:

How to set how many rings before voicemail comes on

You will need to contact your cell provider. They set the time in seconds before it goes to voicemail, not by how many rings. In some cases you will be able to do that yourself by logging into your account on your cell providers website and other times there is a code that you enter into your phone like you are making a phone call. It will all depend on your carrier and if you are not able to use one of those options, then calling them is your only solution.

Live Voice mail must be turned off.

Brandylab wrote:

I have a google voice number. It is forwarded to several phones, a pixel, and iphone 13, and a samsung S23.

That may be the difference for you right there. As you have seen on this thread, there are several AT&T users who were able to get the time before voicemail changed through a code sent to the cell provider and I have posted the links to TMobile users who have done the same.

Nobody else here has asked about which phone gets sent to voicemail first when forwarding to multiple phones using a Google Voice number. That would seem to be a different topic altogether and saying the answers to the Op's question and others here is wrong is simply not a true statement as they have confirmed it has worked.

Contact your carrier. That’s under their control. It’s not controlled by the phone.

Contact your carrier. They determine the timing between the call and the auto-pickup of voicemail.

That’s exactly what happened to me but one time they gave me some method of fixing it that didn’t work and they just give you the runaround the whole time. I think it has something to do with the iPhone. I think androids were always able to do it I don’t think iPhones can.

I think it has something to do with the iPhone.

No, it doesn't.

So far, all that you have really told us is that you have had poor service from AT&T. That is something that we as users.....just like you.....cannot control.

Since AT&T has just had another massive security leak, you might want to think about whether you want to continue with them.

Not sure what all these "call your carrier" stuff is about. I have a google voice number. It is forwarded to several phones, a pixel, and iphone 13, and a samsung S23. ALL are tmobile. The iphone sends calls to voice mail right away. Pixel and S23 take longer. SAME CARRIER, iphone sends to voicemail much faster.

SO, its NOT just a carrier thing, different phones, on tmo, take different times before sending to voicemail, with iphone being the fastest.

How do we set an IPHONE to wait longer before it sends calls to voicemail?