How to turn off voicemail on Telstra (Australia)

Last checked 31 July 2026 · Telstra's own help page ↗

Telstra voicemail answers calls you don't pick up. If you'd rather those calls ring out — or go somewhere more useful — here's how to switch it off, and how to put it back if you change your mind.

Takes about a minute. Nothing here needs you to be a Don't Miss A Call customer.

Turn it off

  1. Open the My Telstra app
  2. Go to Services → tap your service
  3. Tap the ⋮ menu
  4. Tap “Manage your MessageBank”
  5. Turn MessageBank OFF → “Update settings”

Telstra switches MessageBank off in the app, not with a dial code (postpaid plans: ask via Telstra chat). The erasure codes ##004# and ##002# are a good backup.

Check it actually worked

Dial *#61# and press call. Your network replies with what your number currently does when you don't answer. If voicemail is off and nothing else has taken its place, it should tell you no forwarding is set for unanswered calls.

The real test is better: get someone to ring you, let it ring right out, and don't touch the phone. If it rings out and stops — no greeting, no “leave a message”, no text arriving to say someone called — you're done.

Still getting voicemail? ##004# clears no-answer diversions and is the first thing to try.

Turning it back on

  1. In My Telstra: Services → your service → ⋮ → Manage your MessageBank → turn it on
  2. Or dial 101 and follow the prompts

One more thing your phone might be doing

Newer handsets have started answering calls themselves. Google's Take a Message on recent Pixels picks up calls you don't answer and transcribes them; Apple's Call Screening does something similar on recent iPhones. They're handy, but they are another thing that answers before your phone finishes ringing out.

If you've switched voicemail off at Telstra and calls still aren't ringing right through, check your phone's own call settings — these features can arrive in a software update without you turning them on.

Why you’d bother

Voicemail made sense when the alternative was nothing. Now it mostly loses you work: most people who reach a tradie's voicemail hang up and ring the next name on the list rather than leave a message.

Switching it off is also the first step if you want a missed call to do something useful instead — like texting the caller back automatically. Voicemail and a missed-call text-back both trigger on exactly the same thing (you didn't answer), so whichever one the network reaches first wins. That's why it has to go.

Does this work on prepaid? Yes — and the plan is almost never the problem.