How to Check Home Phone Messages

Checking home phone messages is easy when you're at home.  This simply involves pressing a dedicated button on your phone or answering machine.  But, when you are away from home, you'll have to key in a special access code to check your voice mail from a remote location.

• Press the button on your answering machine or phone to check for new messages.  Checking for phone messages while you're at home is simple because most phones and answering machines have a dedicated button to retrieve messages.  If your phone does not have a dedicated button, consult your user manual to see what button presses are needed to check your messages.


• Call your home telephone number.  If you want to check your messages while you're away from home, then you'll need to dial your home phone number.


• Press "0" or "#" to bring up the message check menu.  While your recorded greeting is playing, you'll need to enter either "0" or "#," depending on your phone or answering machine model.  Check your user guide to make sure.


• Enter the personal identification number you’ve set up to access your stored messages.  If you did not set up your PIN, it will usually be a simple number such as 0000.  The PIN for most systems is four digits long.  Check your user manual for the exact length and the procedure for setting up the PIN.


• Follow the voice prompts to check your messages.  The voice prompt will go something like “To play incoming messages, press one.  For help, press zero."


• Delete any messages you don’t wish to keep.  The prompt will tell you which number to press to delete a message.


• Hang up when you are done.