Three voicemail number: access, setup and switching it off

If you are on Three (the network, sometimes written '3') and need to reach your voicemail, set it up, change your greeting or PIN, or turn it off altogether, the central thing to know is the short code: dial `123` from your Three mobile to reach your voicemail. That single number handles access and most setup options through a voice menu. But there is a bit more to it — getting set up the first time, recording a greeting, managing your PIN, retrieving messages when you are abroad, and switching voicemail off if you would rather not have it — and the details differ enough from other networks to be worth setting out clearly. This guide covers everything you need to use Three voicemail confidently, and how to disable it if it is more nuisance than help.

#How to call Three voicemail

The everyday way to reach your voicemail on Three is to dial `123` from your own Three handset and press call. This connects you to the Three voicemail system, which reads out any new messages and gives you a menu of options. If you have a PIN set, you may be asked for it — particularly if you are calling from another phone rather than your own. From the 123 menu you can listen to messages, save or delete them, change your greeting and adjust settings. On most smartphones you can also press and hold the `1` key in the dialler as a shortcut to voicemail, which the phone maps to the voicemail number; if that does not work, dialling 123 directly always does. There is usually no charge to call 123 from your Three phone within the UK, so checking voicemail is free in normal use.

#Setting up Three voicemail for the first time

When voicemail is first activated on your line, you set it up through the same 123 menu. Dial 123 from your Three phone and follow the spoken prompts: you will typically be asked to record your name, choose or record a greeting, and set a security PIN. The PIN matters because it protects your messages and is what you use to access voicemail from another phone or from abroad, so pick something you will remember but that is not trivially guessable (avoid 0000 or 1234). Recording a personal greeting is optional — there is always a default system greeting — but a short, clear greeting that states your name or number reassures callers they have reached the right person and is well worth the minute it takes. Once set up, voicemail will collect messages whenever you do not answer, are on another call, or are unreachable, depending on which diverts are active.

#Recording or changing your greeting

To record a new greeting or change an existing one, dial 123, go into the voicemail settings or greetings option in the menu, and follow the prompts to record. A good greeting is brief and useful: your name (or just confirmation of the number), a note that you will call back, and optionally a nudge to text you if that is the quicker way to reach you. You can re-record as often as you like, which is handy if you want a temporary greeting while on holiday or away from work. If you would rather callers not hear a personalised message at all, simply leave the default network greeting in place — it still lets people leave a message, just without your voice. Keeping the greeting current is a small thing that makes your voicemail feel professional and trustworthy, especially if you use the number for work.

#Changing your Three voicemail PIN

Your voicemail PIN can be changed from within the 123 menu under the security or settings options. Changing it is a good idea if you set up voicemail long ago, if you have ever shared the PIN, or if you simply want something more memorable. The PIN is mainly relevant when you access voicemail from a phone other than your own — when calling from your own handset, the system usually recognises your number and may not ask for it. If you have forgotten your PIN and cannot get in, Three's customer service (or the My3 app and online account) can help you reset it. As with any PIN, avoid obvious sequences, and do not store it written on or near the phone it protects. A sensible PIN keeps your messages private without making routine access a chore.

#How to turn off voicemail on Three

If you would rather not have voicemail at all — no answerphone catching calls you would prefer to see as missed — the most reliable method is to cancel the call diverts that send unanswered calls to voicemail. Voicemail is reached because your phone is set to divert calls to it when you are busy, do not answer, or are unreachable; clearing those diverts stops the diversion. Dial `##002#` and press call to cancel all diverts at once (the simplest reset), or use the targeted codes below if you want to keep some.

For most people, ##002# and call clears everything so calls ring out or show as missed instead of going to voicemail. To remove the voicemail service more fully, use the My3 app or your online Three account, or call Three customer services and ask them to deactivate voicemail on your line. Bear in mind that account changes (a SIM swap, plan change, or some network updates) can quietly reinstate the no-answer divert, so if voicemail comes back, just re-dial ##002#. For the full cross-network method, see our how to turn off voicemail guide.

#Accessing Three voicemail from abroad

When you are abroad, dialling the short code 123 often will not work, because short codes are UK-network shortcuts. To pick up your Three voicemail while travelling, the reliable approaches are to call your own full mobile number (in international format, e.g. +44 7xxx xxxxxx), let it go through to voicemail, and then press the interrupt key (usually * or #) and enter your PIN to access your messages; or to use the dedicated international voicemail access number Three provides for use abroad, which you can find in the My3 app or on Three's website. Either way, you will almost certainly need your PIN, so make sure you know it before you travel. Be aware of roaming charges: depending on your plan and the country you are in, accessing voicemail abroad may incur a cost, even within plans that include some roaming, so check your allowance. If you are travelling and do not want to risk charges or missed messages, consider turning the no-answer divert off before you go, or asking callers to text instead.

#Common Three voicemail problems and fixes

A few issues come up repeatedly with Three voicemail, and most have quick fixes. Voicemail keeps catching calls you wanted to answer — this is usually the no-answer divert triggering too soon; clearing it with #61# (or all diverts with ##002#) stops it, though you then lose the mailbox for missed calls unless you re-enable it. 123 doesn't connect — check you have signal and are dialling from your Three line; if it persists, restart the phone to re-register on the network. You're not getting voicemail notifications — toggle the voicemail/Visual Voicemail notification settings in your phone's Phone app, and ensure message-waiting indications are enabled; occasionally a quick restart restores them. You've forgotten your PIN — reset it via the My3 app, your online account, or Three customer services. Visual Voicemail isn't showing — not every plan or handset supports it on every network, so if it is unavailable you can still use the classic 123 audio menu, which always works.

If your real frustration is not the voicemail system itself but the calls filling it up — endless sales messages, silent calls or scam attempts — then the fix is identification and blocking rather than fiddling with voicemail settings. Note the numbers leaving nuisance messages, look them up to see whether they are known nuisances, and block the repeat offenders on your handset. You might also turn on any spam-screening your phone offers, and register with the Telephone Preference Service to cut compliant marketing calls. Our guide to UK mobile networks by 07 prefix helps you recognise which network an unknown mobile belongs to, and the general who called me checklist explains how to identify any caller quickly. Dealing with the source of unwanted messages is far more satisfying than repeatedly clearing a full mailbox.

#Should you keep Three voicemail on?

Whether to keep voicemail is a genuine personal choice, and Three makes it easy to go either way. Keep it on if you regularly miss calls you would want a message from — for work, for family, or because you are often driving or in meetings — since a mailbox means an important caller can leave details rather than simply giving up. A good compromise many people use is to keep the mailbox active but cancel only the no-answer divert, so calls ring through for longer and only truly unreachable callers (phone off or no signal) reach voicemail; that trims the junk while preserving a safety net. Alternatively, record a greeting that tells callers to text you, steering them to a channel you check more often. Turn voicemail off entirely if you never check it and would rather just see missed calls in your log — it is fully reversible, so you can always switch it back on through the My3 app or by calling Three if you change your mind.

It is also worth remembering that turning voicemail off or cancelling diverts does not change anything else about your Three plan, your number, your texts or your data — it only affects what happens to calls you do not answer. So there is no risk in experimenting: try cancelling the diverts with ##002#, live with the cleaner missed-call behaviour for a week or two, and see whether you prefer it. Most people who were irritated by voicemail find they do not miss it; those who relied on it more than they realised can restore it in moments. Either way, you end up with your Three voicemail behaving exactly the way you want, which is the whole point of knowing these few simple codes and menu options.

#Understanding how Three voicemail diverts work

To use Three voicemail confidently — and to fix it when it misbehaves — it helps to understand the mechanism behind it, because voicemail is not really 'stored on your phone' at all. It is a service on Three's network, and your handset reaches it because your line is configured to divert calls to the voicemail system in certain situations. There are three divert conditions that matter: no answer (the call rings but you do not pick up within a set time), busy (you are already on a call), and unreachable (your phone is off, in airplane mode, or has no signal). Each of these can independently be set to send the caller to voicemail. When people say 'voicemail keeps grabbing my calls', what is usually happening is that the no-answer divert is triggering after only a few rings; when they say 'voicemail isn't working', often a divert has been cleared or never set. Knowing this turns voicemail from a mysterious black box into something you can actually control with the GSM codes covered above.

This also explains a behaviour that confuses many Three customers: voicemail settings sometimes seem to change on their own. In reality, certain events on the network side can reset or re-apply the diverts — swapping your SIM, upgrading your plan, moving to a new handset, or a carrier-settings update pushed to your phone. After any of these, you might find voicemail has come back even though you turned it off, or that your no-answer timing has changed. The fix is simply to re-apply your preference: dial ##002# to clear everything again, or re-set the diverts you want. It is worth checking your voicemail behaviour after any big change to your account or device, precisely because the network can quietly reinstate defaults. Once you internalise that voicemail is a set of network diverts rather than a phone setting, none of this is surprising — and you always know exactly how to put it back the way you want it.

#Visual Voicemail and voicemail-to-text on Three

Beyond the classic 'dial 123 and listen' experience, modern phones and networks offer friendlier ways to deal with voicemail that are worth knowing about. Visual Voicemail, where supported on your handset and plan, displays your messages as a list in the Phone app — like an inbox — so you can see who called, when, and how long the message is, and tap to play any message in any order rather than listening through them sequentially. This is far quicker than the audio menu when you have several messages, and it is the default experience on many iPhones and Android devices. Availability depends on your specific plan and handset, so if you do not see a Voicemail tab populated with messages, you may be on the classic audio system, which always works via 123. Some setups also offer voicemail-to-text, transcribing messages so you can read them — handy in meetings or noisy places — though this is not universal and may be a paid or device-specific feature.

If Visual Voicemail is not behaving — messages not appearing, or the tab showing an error — a few steps usually sort it: check you have mobile data or Wi-Fi (Visual Voicemail downloads messages over data), toggle the voicemail settings in the Phone app off and on, and restart the phone to re-register on the network. If it still will not work, it may simply not be enabled on your plan, in which case the reliable fallback is always the 123 audio menu. None of these richer features changes the fundamentals covered above: voicemail is still a network service fed by call diverts, so the ways to access, set up, and turn it off remain the same regardless of whether you are using Visual Voicemail or the classic menu. The richer interface is just a nicer window onto the same underlying mailbox, and you can use whichever suits the moment.

One practical tip for getting the most from Visual Voicemail if your plan supports it: keep your phone connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data when you expect messages, because the transcripts and audio download over data rather than arriving like a normal call. If you spend long periods with data switched off to save allowance, you may notice voicemail messages appearing late or only when you reconnect — which is not a fault, just a consequence of how the feature works. Turning data back on briefly pulls in any waiting messages. For people who rely on voicemail for work, this is worth knowing, because it explains the occasional 'I didn't get the voicemail until hours later' experience and shows it is easily avoided by keeping a data connection available when you are expecting to be contacted.

It is also worth doing a quick occasional tidy-up of your mailbox. Voicemail storage is not unlimited, and a box full of old, listened-to messages can eventually stop new ones being left, so deleting messages you no longer need keeps things working smoothly. If you use the 123 audio menu, you can delete messages as you go; with Visual Voicemail, you simply swipe or tap to remove them from the list. A clear mailbox, a current greeting and a known PIN are the three small habits that keep Three voicemail trouble-free, and together they take only a couple of minutes to maintain every now and then.

#Bottom line

On Three, your voicemail lives behind the short code `123` — dial it from your Three phone to listen to messages, set up voicemail, record a greeting and change your PIN. To turn voicemail off, cancel the diverts that feed it with ##002# and call, or ask Three via the My3 app or customer services to deactivate it. From abroad, dial your full mobile number or Three's international voicemail number and use your PIN, watching for roaming charges. And if the real problem is nuisance callers filling your mailbox, look the numbers up and block them. For more, see our how to turn off voicemail and who called me guides, plus the O2 and Vodafone voicemail guides for other networks.