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GSM Tricks

Quickly divert to voice mail with one button

I rarely switch my cellphone off. I often forget to switch it back on again, and find it tedious to have to keep punching in the PIN. Instead I divert all calls to voice mail when I don't want my phone making a nuisance of itself. This is a little trick I use to switch the divert function on and off with a single button press. It works on my Nokia 6510, and should work on any GSM phone. You might need to adapt the instructions if your menus are different.

Your voice mail service must be set up before you start. Contact your service provider if you need help doing that.

1. Find out what your your voice mail divert number is. It is NOT the same as the number you dial to retrieve your voice mail.
   If you don't know, try this:
   1. Enter: *#62# [Enter]
   2. Most phones automatically go to voice mail when you are out of network coverage, so you should get a reply on the screen: Active for Voice calls
   3. Press Number to see the divert number that is being used. You may notice that it is similar to your own cellphone, perhaps with a few extra digits. Make a note of this number in its entirety.
   If this does not work, you might have to contact your service provider to find out how to construct your voice mail divert number.
2. Create a new phonebook entry and give it a name like "$Divert ON". The actual name doesn't matter. I use "$" to precede it simply to separate it from other phonebook entries.
3. Add the following number to the new phonebook entry: **21*[divert_number]*11# where [divert_number] is the voice mail divert number you established earlier. Put in the whole divert number including the "+" symbol if there is one. An example of a complete sequence might be: **21*+27821311234567*11#. When you call this phonebook entry it will activate the divert from then on; all voice calls will be diverted to your voice mail instead of ringing on your phone.
4. Create another new phonebook entry and give it a name like "$Divert OFF".
5. Add the following number to the new phonebook entry: ##21#*11#. When you call this phonebook entry it will deactivate the divert.
6. Assign your two new phonebook entries to any convenient speed dial slots, and you're finished.

I have assigned "$Divert ON" to the 9 key and "$Divert OFF" to the 8 key. Now whenever I walk into a movie theatre or don't want to be interrupted by phone calls, I simply hold down the 9 key for a couple of seconds to speed dial "$Divert ON", and it's done. At the end of the movie all I have to do is hold down the 8 key to speed dial "$Divert OFF".

Hints

• You can also use this method to quickly divert to another telephone number instead of voice mail. Just use the telephone number you want in place of [divert_number] in the above instructions. Remember to include all the dialling codes. You can set up as many phonebook entries and speed dials as you like.
• If you use your GSM phone for fax and data calls, this will not affect those calls. (*11# at the end of the code sequences specifies voice calls only.
• This will also not affect the divert settings that are used when your phone is busy, out of coverage, or if you don't answer. If fact it is possible to have it divert to a different number for each of these conditions.
• Diverting voice calls does not stop you from receiving SMS text messages. If you have a loud notification tone when receiving text messages, it is courteous to switch it off in quiet places such as movie theatres and libraries.
• Diverting voice calls does not stop your phone from communicating with the GSM network occasionally. You must always switch your phone off completely when instructed to do so for safety reasons, such as inside a moving aircraft or in sensitive areas in a hospital.