Voice to Text Feature Now Available

[Optus]

Optus recently announced that the Voice to Text feature would no longer be provided from 31 March 2019 but after careful consideration of customer responses regarding the removal of Voice to Text, Optus has decided to retain the service.

You can now purchase and use the Voice to Text feature as normal.  

Voice to Text is a $6.99 per month subscription VoiceMail feature available to Optus Prepaid and Postpaid customers that converts spoken VoiceMail messages into text and then sends them to your mobile handset as an SMS.

How can I purchase and activate Voice to Text?

To Activate via My Account select the following:

1. Log in to My Account
2. Select the Service to be activated
3. Manage
4. Call Diversions
5. Select voicemail is on if set to off and then Voicemail Settings
6. Send voicemail as messages
7. Select Optus Voice to Text
8. Tickbox for Agree to Terms and Conditions

To cancel your subscription simply follow the steps above, but ‘Unselect’ Optus Voice to Text at step 7.

You can also SMS ON or OFF to 7746 from your mobile to activate or cancel the service or call 369 (free of charge) from your mobile to activate or cancel by following the prompts.

Using Voice to Text overseas?

The above rates for Voice to Text still apply. But for Prepaid Mobile customers, when you receive a call while you're travelling overseas and it diverts to VoiceMail you'll be charged to receive the incoming call and for the diversion from your phone to the VoiceMail Service in Australia, based on the international call rates of whichever zone you're travelling in.

You won't receive any additional international roaming charges when you receive Voice to Text messages while you're travelling overseas. But, it's important to remember that if you dial VoiceMail to listen to your messages, you'll be charged the international call rate for the country you are in.

If you'd like to make sure you avoid these extra charges while you're overseas, turn off Voice to Text first and then Voicemail using the instructions above.

Please visit here for more information on Voice to Text

[emulligan]

Why is this charged for the deaf and hard of hearing customers? This is an essential service for us as the alternative option of using voicemail is useless for us. Please remove this charge for the customers who are deaf or hard of hearing.

[Jack_YC]

Hi @emulligan, we do provide the premium Voice to Text feature to hearing impaired customers at no cost. If you're looking to set this up on your account, please send us a message via the My Optus App so we can organise that for you.

You can find more info on this topic on our Disability Help and Support page.   

[emulligan]

It was set up in my account but someone removed the set up for this.  I had to use the message feature in the Optus app to put it back on.  My circumstances had not changed and didn't request this to be removed.

[Jack_YC]

Thanks for that info @emulligan. If you currently have Voice to Text on your account and you are being billed for the service, please do send us a message via the My Optus App or our Facebook or Twitter page. We'll be able to follow up on this for you from there. Jack