Shentel VoiceMail User Guide

Getting started

Even before you set up your mailbox, people can still leave messages for you.

To sign into the Shentel VoiceMail System from your home telephone, dial:

984-4000 in Shenandoah County, Bergton, or Mt. Solon

Once you have set up your voicemail account, you can also sign into the Shentel VoiceMail System from any other telephone. To do this, call your own phone number. When your greeting starts, press * on the telephone keypad. You will need to enter your PIN when requested.

When you have signed in, you go to one of two menus.

First-time sign-in

When you sign in for the first time, you must set up your mailbox. This can only be done from the phone that is registered with the Shentel VoiceMail System.

First-time sign-in involves three steps:

1. Changing your PIN
2. Recording your name
3. Recording your greeting

You may skip first-time sign-in once by pressing **. After skipping it once, you must complete all three steps before you can enter your mailbox and listen to messages. The greeting and recorded name are played each time a caller accesses your mailbox to leave a message.

You can end the setup process at any point by ending the call. If you do so, you are asked to complete the remaining setup steps the next time you enter your mailbox.

Changing your PIN

You are first prompted to enter a new PIN, and then you are asked to confirm it by re-entering it.

You can press the * key to cancel your PIN setup at any point. If you do so, you return to the beginning of the PIN set up process.

Recording a name

Once you have successfully changed your PIN, you are prompted to record your name.

You must take less than 10 seconds to record your name. If your recording is longer than 10 seconds, you are prompted to re-record your name. Once you have recorded your name, it is played back to you and you are provided with options of keeping or changing it.

1. Record your name and press # when finished.
2. An announcement plays your recording back to you.
   • If you want to re-record it, press 1.
   • If you want to keep it, press #.

Recording a greeting

Once you have successfully recorded your name, you are prompted to select a greeting. You can select a number of different types of greetings.

• To record your own personal greeting, press 1. Press # when finished.
• To use a system-generated greeting that announces your recorded name, press 2.
• To use a system-generated greeting that reads out your phone number, press 3.
• To use a system-generated greeting that neither announces your name nor reads out your phone number, press 4.

After selecting your greeting, an announcement plays back your selected greeting.

• To record or select a different greeting, press 1.
• To save it and use it as your greeting, press #.

This is the last step in setting up your mailbox. Once you have finished, you are transferred to the Main Menu.

Main menu

The Main menu allows you to access the functions of your mailbox. When you enter the Main menu, you hear a welcome message, then a summary of the messages in your mailbox.

Menu options

The following options are available to you.

• To listen to your voice messages, press 1. If you do not have any messages, you will not hear this prompt at the Main menu.
• To create a new message for another Shentel VoiceMail System user, press 2.
• To change your mailbox settings, press 4.
• To manage any erased messages, press 6. If you do not have any erased messages, you will not hear this prompt at the Main menu.
• To login as a different subscriber, press 7.
• To listen to helpful hints, press 0.
• To end the call, hang up or press *.

Listening to your messages

At the Main menu you may listen to each of the messages in your mailbox. You can save, delete, reply to, or forward them. Your messages are arranged in the following order:

1. Urgent messages (for more information on urgent messages, go to Listening to your messages: Delivery options for messages).
2. New messages.
3. Saved messages.

By default, you will hear the time the message was received and the telephone number of the person leaving the message.

After the message details are read out, the message itself is played. While the message plays, you can choose one of the following options:

• To skip to the end of the message, press 2.
• To increase the volume, press 6.
• To slow down the playback, press 7.
• To pause the message, press 8. Press 8 again to resume.
• To speed up the playback, press 9.
• To skip forward 5 seconds within the message, press 99.
• To skip backward 5 seconds within the message, press 77.

When the message finishes, you can choose one of the following message options:

• To play the message again from the beginning, press 1.
• To save the message and go to the next message, press 2.
• To erase the message, press 3.
• To reply to the message, press 4. Depending on the message to which you are replying, you may have one or more of the following options:
  • To record a VoiceMail message to send back in reply, press 2.
  • To call back the person who left the message, press 1.
  • To reply to sender and all original recipients, press 3.
  • To forward the message to another Shentel VoiceMail user, press 4.
• To return to the previous message, press 11.
• To leave the message as new and go to the next message, press #.
• To go to the Main menu, press *.

In addition to the message options, the following options are available:

• To create a new voice message, press 5.
• To (re)play the caller's telephone number and the time and date stamp, press 88.
• To end the call, press 66.

The available options are repeated after each message plays.

Managing erased messages

After you have erased a message, you can still play, restore, reply to, and forward it within your Erased Messages Menu until you disconnect from your mailbox. You can also permanently erase it.

To skip to the next erased message, press # while listening to your erased messages.

To return to the Main Menu, press *.

Playing erased messages

To enter the Erased Messages menu, press 6 at the Main Menu. The first erased message will automatically play. To repeat the erased message, press 1.

Restoring erased messages

To restore the erased message, press 2. The message will return to your mailbox.

Permanently erasing erased messages

To permanently remove the erased message, press 3. The message will no longer be available for you to manage.

Logging on as a different subscriber

If you have a number of VoiceMail accounts (for example, separate home and business accounts) or if you have a group account used by a number of people but accessed from the same number (for example, a family home), the Shentel VoiceMail system allows you to log into another account without the need to hang up and dial in again.

To log into another account, take the following steps.

1. At the Main Menu, press 7.
2. Depending on the type of account you have, you will hear one of the following options.
   1. Select another mailbox in your group account.
      • To transfer straight to the primary mailbox, press 1. There is no need to enter a PIN in this case.
      • To select a mailbox that has unheard messages, press the number associated with that mailbox (you cannot transfer straight to mailboxes without any unheard messages). You will then be asked to enter the PIN for that mailbox then enter the full number.
   2. Enter the telephone number.
      • You must enter the telephone number, followed by #, of the subscriber account you wish to use.
      • Enter the PIN for that account, followed by #.
3. You will be transferred to that account and presented with the Main Menu, announcing any new messages.

Sending, forwarding, and replying to messages

When you are logged into the Shentel VoiceMail System, you can send messages to other Shentel VoiceMail System users by pressing 2 at the Main menu. This action takes you to the Send menu.

Throughout the process of sending a message, until the point when you have finished recording, you may:

Return to the Main menu by pressing the * key.

Cancel a message if you make a mistake by pressing the * key.

When you are in the Send menu, you are asked to enter the telephone number of the person to whom you wish to send a message. To send a message to one or more users, take the following steps.

1. In the Main Menu, press 2 to enter the Send Menu.
2. When prompted, enter the telephone number of the person you wish to receive the message, and then press #. You will hear the person's recorded name.
   • To erase the number you just entered, press * to cancel and start again.
3. To send the same message to another user, enter that user's telephone number, then press #.
   • If you do not wish to send the message to another user, press #.
4. After the tone, record your message.
5. Once you have finished making your recording, press #. You can then review your message and set delivery options.
6. When your message has been sent, you will return to the Main Menu.

Delivery options for messages

There are a number of delivery options available to you once you have added recipients and finished recording a message.

• To review the message again, press 1. Your recording will be played back.
  • To re-record the message, press 1.
  • To keep the current recording, press 2. You will be allowed to add more information to your message without having to re-record it entirely.
  • Once finished recording, press #.
• To review your message, press 4.
• To add or remove recipients, press 7.
• To re-record your message, press 0.
• To switch whether or not your request a delivery report, press 5.
• To switch whether or not you request when the message has been read, press 6.

Marking your message private means that the recipient will not be able to forward your message to anybody else.

Marking your message urgent means that the recipient hears your message before any other non-urgent messages.

• To mark or un-mark your message private, press 3.
• To mark or un-mark your message urgent, press 2.

When you have finished choosing the delivery options, press # to send your message. You can also press # to send your message without changing any options.

If you choose to re-record your message, a tone plays. Re-record your message as normal, then press # when you have finished.

When your message has been sent, you return to the Main Menu.

Replying to messages

When another Shentel VoiceMail System user leaves you a message, you can reply by leaving a VoiceMail.

You cannot reply to a message if the person leaving the message has withheld his or her telephone number or is not a Shentel VoiceMail System subscriber.

To reply to a message that someone else has left for you, take the following steps.

1. Access your VoiceMail and listen to the message.
2. After listening to the message, press 4.
   • Record your reply message, then press # to hear delivery options.

Changing your mailbox settings

The Mailbox Settings menu allows you to change your mailbox PIN, your greeting, and other options. You can reach the Mailbox Settings menu by pressing 4 from the Main menu.

Each option is described in its own section below.

Greetings

The first time you enter your mailbox you are asked to record a greeting. This greeting is called the regular recorded greeting. You may choose to use this greeting, or you may use a computerized system greeting, which is called the system greeting.

In addition to these two greetings, you can also choose to set one of four other greetings.

• An Extended Absence Greeting plays when you are away for a long period of time.
• An Announcement-Only Greeting is an Extended Absence Greeting which plays but callers will not be able to leave a message for you.
• An Out of Hours Greeting plays during times when you are not in the office.
• A Busy Greeting plays when a call goes to VoiceMail while you are on the phone.

Managing personal greetings

Your personal greeting is a message that you will have recorded when you have set up your account. It is played to callers when they reach your VoiceMail.

To change your personal greeting, press 1 from the Greetings Menu.

• An announcement plays back your current personal greeting.
• To re-record your personal greeting, press 1.
• To re-record your internal greeting, press 1.
• To switch your internal greeting message on or off, press 2.
• To return without making any changes, press *.

Depending on which type of greeting you are currently using, you hear a different set of options.

Managing system standard greeting

Rather than using a personal greeting, you can use one of the Shentel VoiceMail System-generated greetings. Optionally, to help callers determine that they have reached the right account, the system-generated greetings can include a recording of your name.

To set up your system-generated greetings and name recording, press 3 from the Greetings Menu.

• An announcement states the type of greeting you are currently using.
• To select and activate a type of system-generated greeting, press 1.
• To review or re-record your recorded name, press 2.
• If you are currently using a personal greeting and want to use a system-generated greeting, you must first press 1 to confirm that you want to select a system-generated greeting instead.

The system initially chooses a system-generated greeting that includes your recorded name.

After confirming, or if you are already using a system-generated greeting, you are offered the following options.

• To use a greeting that includes your recorded name, press 1.
• To use a greeting that includes your number, press 2.
• To use a greeting that includes neither your name, nor your number, press 3.
• To review or re-record your recorded name, press 4.
• In each case above, an announcement plays the new greeting.
  • To select and use this greeting, press 1.
  • To select a different greeting, press 2.

Reviewing or re-recording your spoken name

An announcement plays your current recorded name.

• To re-record it, press 1.
  1. Record your new name. Press # when finished.
  2. An announcement plays back your recording.
     • To accept it, press 1.
     • To re-record it, press 2.
     • To exit without saving your any changes, press 3.
• To return to the previous menu, press *.

Managing options using extended absence greeting (Greeting Only)

You can set up an extended absence greeting for occasions when you are unable to answer your phone for a long period of time. If you are unable to pick up any messages that are left, you can set your Shentel VoiceMail so that it does not allow callers to leave you messages. You can also record a separate internal extended absence greeting to be played when business associates call.

To set up an extended absence greeting, press 2 from the Greetings Menu.

The first time you enter the extended absence greeting menu, in addition to being asked to record the greeting, you are asked to decide whether or not you want to receive messages when the extended absence greeting is active.

• To cancel message delivery, press 1.
• To leave the setting off, and to allow callers to leave you messages, press #.

If you choose not to receive messages, the extended absence greeting will be played, the system will say goodbye and then hang up.

If you have previously set up an extended absence greeting, you will be told whether it is active or not. Then:

• To switch your extended absence greeting on or off, press 1.
• To review or change your extended absence greetings, press 2.
• To re-record your extended absence greeting, press 1.
• To exit without making any changes, press *.
• If the extended absence greeting is enabled, to switch whether you want to accept messages or not, press 3.

Managing the out of hours greeting

If you have a phone that you use primarily for business, you can set Shentel VoiceMail to play callers a special greeting message if you are called when you are not working.

Shentel VoiceMail offers a number of standard schedules that include common working hours, but you can also create a custom schedule where you can set your own working hours for each day of the week.

Once you activate your out of hours greeting, Shentel VoiceMail will play a specific message outside of these times to let your callers know that you are no longer on working hours. This greeting is a great opportunity to detail work hours, offer alternatives, and explain unavailability to answer messages.

Setting an out of hours greeting does not stop your phone from ringing. If you are in the office after all, you can pick up and answer a call as normal.

To manage your out of hours greeting, press 6 from the Greetings Menu.

• An announcement states whether or not your out of hours greeting is currently active.
• If your out of hours greeting is currently turned off, you can make the following choices.
  • To turn the greeting on, press 1. You will be then returned to the start of the Out Of Hours Menu.
  • To return to the previous menu, press *.
• If your out of hours greeting is active, you can make the following choices.
  • To review or re-record your out of hours greeting, press 1.
  • To review or change your working hours, press 2.
  • To turn off the greeting, press 3. You are then returned to the start of the Out of Hours menu as above.
  • To return to the previous menu, press *.

Reviewing and re-recording your out of hours greeting

An announcement plays back your out of hours greeting.

• To re-record it, press 1.
• To leave it as is, press 2.
• To return to the previous menu, press *.

Reviewing or changing the schedule for your out of hours greeting

Remember that Shentel VoiceMail plays the out of hours greeting outside of the times you set up in your standard or custom schedule. Your schedule details your standard working hours.

An announcement plays back the current schedule used for your out of hours greeting.

If you are using a standard schedule and want:

• to use another standard schedule, press 1.
• to use a custom schedule, press 2.
• to exit, press *.

If you are using a custom schedule and you want:

• to use a standard schedule, press 1.
• to review or modify your custom schedule, press 2.
• to exit, press *.

Choosing a standard schedule

You can select from the following standard schedules.

• To use Monday to Friday, nine to five, excluding holidays, press 1.
• To use Monday to Friday, nine to five, including holidays, press 2.
• To use Monday to Friday, eight to four, excluding holidays, press 3.
• To use Monday to Friday, eight to four, including holidays, press 4.
• To exit without making any changes, press *.

In each case above, pressing a key activates the selected schedule and returns you to the Review Schedules Menu.

Reviewing or modifying a custom schedule

You can select from the following options.

• To review your current schedule, press 1. Your current schedule is announced.
• To modify your current schedule, press 2.
• To select and change the day on your schedule, press the number of that day (for Monday, press 1; for Tuesday, press 2, and so on).
• To clear your schedule for every day of the week, press 9.
• To finish modifying your schedule, press *.

Changing the custom schedule used on a selected day

To add a new period, press 1.

1. Enter the start time in 24-hour clock format.
2. Enter the end time in 24-hour clock format.
3. An announcement states the day and times you selected.
   • To use the schedule as announced, press 1.
   • To change the times, press 2.
4. You will then be asked if you want to copy the schedule to another day.
   • Enter the number of the day to which you want to copy the schedule (for Monday, press 1, for Tuesday, press 2, and so on).
   • If you do not want to copy the schedule, press #.

To change or delete the current schedule, press 2.

• To change it, press 1.
• To delete it, press 2.
• To select the next period, press #.
• To return to the previous menu without deleting your schedule, press *.

To clear your schedule for every day of the week, press 9.

• An announcement asks you to confirm your decision.
• To confirm your decision, press 1.
• To return to the previous menu without making any changes, press *.

To finish modifying the schedule for this day, press *.

Busy greeting

If a caller attempts to contact you while your phone line is in use, you can set Shentel VoiceMail to play a different greeting.

To manage your busy greeting, press 5 from the Greetings Menu.

• An announcement states whether or not your busy greeting is active.
• To change your busy greeting on or off, press 1. Each time you press 1 in the Busy Greeting Menu, the busy greeting is either activated or deactivated and you are returned to the start of the menu.
• To review or re-record your busy greeting, press 2.
  • An announcement plays your current busy greeting.
  • To re-record it, press 1.
  • To leave the busy greeting as it was played to you, press 2.
• To return to the previous menu without making any changes, press *.

PIN (including Fast Login)

To change the security features of your account, press 3 from the Mailbox Settings Menu. From the Security Options Menu, you can:

• Change your PIN.
• Activate or deactivate the fast login feature.
• Activate or deactivate PIN skipping.

Changing your PIN

If you want to change your PIN, press 1 from the Security Options Menu.

1. At the prompt, using your telephone keypad, enter a new PIN, then press #.
2. At the next prompt, re-enter your new PIN, then press #.
3. You will be returned to the Security Options Menu.

Using the Skip PIN feature

Usually when entering your mailbox you need to enter your PIN. However, it is possible to set up your mailbox so that you can enter it without using a PIN. This feature is called Skip PIN.

This feature saves time, but significantly reduces the security of your account. It means that any person with access to your phone will be able to listen to your voicemail messages, and to assume your identity when sending messages. To change whether or not you need to enter your PIN at login, press 3 from the Security Options Menu.

1. An announcement states whether or not you need to enter a PIN when logging on using your own phone during logon.
   • To switch the setting, press 1.
   • To keep the setting as it is, press *.
2. Once complete you are returned to the Security Options Menu.

Using the Fast Login feature

When you log into your account from another phone, such as a hotel phone or public payphone, you are asked to enter your telephone number and PIN. By default, if you are dialing in from the phone with which the account is associated, you do not have to enter the telephone number before entering your PIN. This feature is known as Fast Login.

You can also set your account so you must always enter the telephone number, no matter which phone you are using.

To change whether or not to use the Fast Login feature, press 2 from the Security Options Menu.

1. An announcement states whether or not Fast Login is active.
   • To switch the setting, press 1.
   • To keep the setting as it is, press *.
2. Once complete you are returned to the Security Options Menu.

Group lists

If you regularly need to send messages to a group of contacts, rather than entering each number in turn every time, Shentel VoiceMail allows you to set up a group list that contains all these numbers. You can start a list, record a name for the list (for example "sales team," or "group leaders") and then add numbers to it. Then, when you want to send a message, you only need to enter the group list number.

You can add existing group lists to a new group list—for example, to include the sales team, engineering team and maintenance team in a single group list.

To manage your group lists, press 1 from the Mailbox Settings Menu. From the Group Lists Menu, you can:

• Add a new group list.
• Edit an existing group list.
• Review existing group lists.

Editing existing group lists

If you want to edit your existing group lists, press 2 from the Group List Menu.

1. Enter the number of the group list you want to edit, then press #. If you are not sure of the number of the group list you want to change, you can review your group lists.
2. If you change your mind and you want to keep the group list as it is, press *. Otherwise, you have the following options, each detailed in the following sections.
   • To add members to the group list, press 1.
   • To remove members from the group list, press 2.
   • To delete the group list, press 3.
   • To play the list of members, press 4.
   • To record a new name for the group list, press 5.
   • To exit, press *. This saves any changes you have made and finishes editing this group list.

Adding new members to the group list

• To add members to the group list, press 1.
• Enter the number of another group list or the subscriber's telephone number that you want to add to your new group list, then press #.
• The spoken name of the person or group list that you have chosen plays.
  • To add the person or group list, press 1.
  • To change the number you entered, press *. You will be prompted to enter a different number.
  • To cancel adding a new member altogether, press **.
• you have finished, you will return to the Editing Group Lists Menu.

Removing members from the group list

• To remove members from the group list, press 2.
• The first member's spoken name plays.
  • To remove the member, press 1.
  • To keep the member and go on to the next member, press #.
  • To finish removing members, press *.
• When you have finished removing members, you will return to the Editing Group Lists Menu.

Deleting the group list

• To delete the group list, press 3.
• You are asked to confirm that you want to delete the group list.
• To permanently delete the group list, press 1. The group is deleted, and you return to the Group List menu.
• To cancel this option and keep the group list, press *. You are returned to the group list's options.

Hearing the members of the group list

• To hear the members of the group list, press 4.
• The members' spoken names play in order, and you return to the Editing Group Lists Menu.

Recording a name for the group list

• To record a new name for the group list, press 5.
• After the tone plays, record a name for the new group list, then press #. The name you have recorded plays back to you.
• To save the name, press 1.
• To cancel the recording and record a new name, press 2.
• To cancel the recording, keep the old recorded name, and return to the Editing Group Lists menu, press 3.

Adding new group lists

If you want to create a new group list, press 1 from the Group List Menu.

1. Enter a number (from 1-99) for the new group list, followed by #.
   • If you have entered an available number, you hear a message stating the number of the group list you have chosen.
     • To accept the number, press 1.
     • To select another number, press 2.
   • If the number is already in use, you hear a message telling you so, and you are prompted to enter a new number.
   • If you are a member of a Business Group, note that if you configure a group list that matches an existing extension number, the group list number will be used in preference to the extension number when addressing messages. To avoid confusion, we recommend you select a different group list number.
2. After the tone plays, record a name for the new group list, then press #. The name you have recorded plays back to you.
   • To save the name, press 1.
   • To record a new name, press 2.
   • To continue without saving, press 3. This will leave the group list without a recorded name and continue to the next step. You can record a name for this group list later.
3. You can now add members to your group list. Enter either a subscriber's telephone number, or the number of another group list, and then press #.
   • If you chose a number of a group account (a single account with a number of members), you are asked to select which member of that group you want to add to your group list (the list of contact numbers).
   • The spoken name of the person or group list that you have chosen then plays. To add the person or group list to your new group list, press 1.
   • To cancel adding that person or list, press *.
4. When you have added the group list or subscriber, you are then taken into the Edit Group List Menu at the point where the options available are played.

Reviewing existing group lists

If you want to review your group lists, press 3 from the Group List Menu.

1. A message tells you how many group lists you currently have set up.
2. Each group list is read out in turn.
   • select this group list, press 1. You are then taken to the Edit Group Lists Menu.
   • To move on to the next list, press #.
   • To return to the Group Lists menu, press *.

Hands Free and Timesavers

Using Shentel VoiceMail's Hands Free and Timesaver options, you can make the most of your time by changing what parts of a message are played back to you, or make hands-free navigation easier.

To manage your hands-free and timesaver settings, press 2 from the Mailbox Settings Menu. From the Hands Free and Timesaver Menu, you can:

• Change your autoplay settings.
• Change how urgent messages are played.
• Change how voicemail messages are played.

Managing time and date stamp

The time and date of each message is always recorded when someone leaves a message for you. This information is called the message header. You can choose whether the message header is played before each message.

If you wish, you can also prevent the content of your messages from being played automatically. This content is called the message body.

From the Hands Free and Timesaver menu, to change whether or not the message headers or bodies are played for your voicemails, press 3.

An announcement states whether the message header or body are set to play.

• To switch the playback of the message headers on or off, press 1.
  • An announcement asks you to confirm the change.
  • To confirm, press 1.
  • To change your mind, press *.
• To switch the playback of the message body on or off, press 2.
  • An announcement asks you to confirm the change.
  • To confirm, press 1.
  • To change your mind, press *.

You are then returned to the Hands Free and Time Saver Settings menu.

AutoPlay

By default, your account is set to play the main menu after you log on.

AutoPlay allows you instead to go directly to your messages as soon as you enter your mailbox. It is described as a hands-free feature, because you do not have to press any buttons to hear your messages.

From the Hands Free and Timesaver menu:

• If you want to change the autoplay settings of your standard messages, press 1.
• If you want to change the autoplay setting of your urgent messages, press 2.

In each of the cases above the following options are then played.

1. An announcement states whether or not your voicemail or fax messages are automatically played when you log in.
   • To switch this setting for voicemails, press 1.
   • To switch this setting for faxes (if your account includes fax features), press 3.
   • To exit without making any changes, press *.
2. After you have chosen an option:
   • An announcement states the new autoplay setting.
   • To confirm the change, press 1.
   • To return to the Autoplay Settings menu without saving your changes, press *.
3. Once you have made your changes, you are then returned to the Hands Free menu.

Business group mailboxes

A group account allows you to have a number of mailboxes, all part of a single account. All group accounts have a primary subscriber, and a number of secondary subscribers. If you are the primary subscriber in a group account, you can set up secondary subscribers.

Each secondary mailbox has a mailbox number. After dialing your line, a caller must press this number to be connected to the secondary mailbox (unless your account is set up to allow separate telephone numbers for each mailbox).

To work with your secondary mailboxes, press 4 from the Mailbox Settings menu.

From the Group Mailbox menu you can:

• Enable a secondary mailbox.
• Disable a secondary mailbox.
• Add a secondary mailbox.
• Delete a secondary mailbox.
• Toggle the summary settings of the secondary mailboxes.