Learn about the BC voicemail system for faculty, staff, and students.
Ways to Access Voicemail
Voicemail Setup
- Determine your new PIN before calling to set up voicemail. See Complex PIN requirements below.
- Dial 2-4006 (on-campus) or 617-552-4006 (off-campus). Note: To be prompted for your extension (e.g., ID), press * (star) during the greeting.
- If prompted for your ID, enter your 5-digit extension.
- When prompted, enter your temporary PIN (see the email from BC Information Technology Services).
- Follow the prompts to record name and greeting, and to change PIN.
- When setup is complete, you’ll hear, “You have finished enrollment.”
Complex PIN Requirements
These new voicemail PIN requirements provide improved security:
- Must be at least six digits long.
- Cannot contain:
- A numeric representation of your first or last name.
- Your primary extension or reverse of primary extension.
- Repeated groups of three or more numbers (e.g.,408408).
- Only two different digits (e.g., 121212).
- A digit used more than two times consecutively (e.g.,28883).
- Ascending or descending group of digits (e.g., 012345 or 987654).
- A group of numbers dialed in a diagonal, vertical, or horizontal straight line on the phone keypad (e.g., 159730, 147365, or 123597).
Accessing Voicemail via the Phone
- Dial 2-4006 (on-campus) or 617-552-4006 (off-campus). Note: To be prompted for your extension (e.g., ID), press * (star) during the greeting.
- If prompted for your ID, enter your 5-digit extension.
- When prompted, enter your PIN.
Voicemail Via the Web (vmail.bc.edu)
To access personal messages:
- Log in to vm.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification.
To forward your BC personal extension to a non-BC phone:
- Log in to phones.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification. See the FAQ below for the rest of the set up instructions.
Off-campus? Eagle VPN is required to access vm.bc.edu & phones.bc.edu.
Shared & Department Voicemail boxes: Voicemail via the web is not available for shared or department voicemail boxes. Complete this Google Form to learn about an alternative.
Mobile App
Coming before 2023
Frequently Asked Questions
Your ID is your extension.
Note: When calling your voicemail from an unknown number, you will be prompted to enter your ID (i.e., your extension). To be prompted for your extension (e.g., ID), press * (star) during the greeting.
The last 5 digits of your phone number. Example: If your phone number is 617-552-4357, your extension is 2-4357.
Your PIN is used to log in to voicemail on your phone. Your initial temporary voicemail PIN will be emailed to you by BC Information Technology Services. You will be required to change it at first login. See the complex PIN requirements in the "Voicemail Setup" section above.
Note: If you forget your PIN for your personal voicemail account, you can reset it anytime at vm.bc.edu > Settings > Passwords > Change PIN. Or, by calling the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357).
For Shared & Department Voicemail: You must call the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357) to have it reset.
If you forget your personal voicemail PIN:
- You can reset it anytime at vm.bc.edu > Settings > Passwords > Change PIN. See the complex PIN requirements in the "Voicemail Setup" section above.
- You can also call the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357).
For Shared & Department Voicemail: You must call the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357) to have it reset.
To change your voicemail PIN via:
- Phone: Dial 2-4006 (on-campus) or 617-552-4006 (off-campus). To be prompted for your extension (e.g., ID), press * (star) during the greeting. When prompted, enter your current PIN. Press 4 from the main menu; then press 3 (preferences); press 1 (PIN) and follow the prompts.
- Web (not available for shared or department voicemail): Log in to vm.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification. Then, at the top of the page, click Settings. From the Passwords menu, click Change PIN.
Note: See the complex PIN requirements in the "Voicemail Setup" section above.
For Shared & Department Voicemail: You must call the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357) to have it reset.
All voicemail messages will be retained for an unlimited amount of time (until you delete them). Your voicemail box has a limited amount of space, so you should delete unneeded messages to remove them from your voicemail box. If you run out of space, you will get a warning message & new messages will not be saved.
Need to save a message for legal reasons?
To download a wav file of a voicemail message:
- Log in to vm.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification.
- Click the message you want to save, then right-click message.wav to save the file.
- Individual messages are limited to 5 minutes each.
- Your voicemail box can hold 50MB (approximately 70 minutes) of voicemail in total. Make sure to delete messages you don’t need anymore, so you don’t run out of storage.
Note: You will receive warning messages as you get close to your limit. By default, deleted messages are held for 14 days & count towards used storage. If you delete from the "deleted" folder, the message is permanently deleted and no longer counts towards storage use.
If you deleted a voicemail message, you have up to 14 days to undelete it.
To undelete a message via:
- Phone: Dial 2-4006 (on-campus) or 617-552-4006 (off-campus). To be prompted for your extension (e.g., ID), press * (star) during the greeting. When prompted, enter your PIN. Press 3 (Review old messages), then press 2 (Deleted messages) to review deleted messages.
- Web (not available for shared or department voicemail): Log in to vm.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification. Next to the Inbox tab, click the Deleted tab. Click the message you want to undelete, then click Undelete. Note: If you delete a message in the Deleted Folder, it is permanently deleted.
You can request either or both of these by calling the Help Center at 617-552-HELP (4357). To stop receiving these emails, you must call the Help Center as well.
Note: If you previously had wav files and/or voice-to-text transcripts enabled in the old voicemail system, these features will automatically be turned on for you in the new voicemail system.
If you had call forwarding set up in the old voicemail system, use these instructions to change it:
- Log in to phones.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification.
- Make sure you are on the My Phones page.
- Under Company Phones, click the gear icon for either “Cisco Dual Mode for iPhone” or “Cisco Dual Mode for Andriod." Click Add/Edit Single Number Reach to add/edit your non-BC phone number. Enter your phone number the same way you would dial it from a BC campus phone (example: 918004444444).
- Check Enable Single Number Reach.
- To set up a specific schedule for when to forward calls: Click the box next to Create a schedule for this assignment & enter the information needed on the screen. Important: Make sure your time zone is correct.
- Click Save.
To have your BC phone forwarded to a non-BC phone:
- For instructions to set this up, see the Polycom & Cisco (SIP) Phones section within Faculty & Staff Phones.
You only have this option if your phone was replaced or upgraded in Fall 2022. You will receive an email letting you know.
You can set up your phone to have calls simultaneously ring both your desk phone and non-BC (mobile) phone, by enabling Single Number Reach. When someone calls your BC extension, after ~1 rings the call will reach your non-BC phone as well. This means you only give out one number and people can reach you on either device. If you do not answer, calls will go to your BC voicemail.
- Log in to phones.bc.edu using your BC credentials and BC 2-Step Verification.
- Make sure you are on the My Phones page.
- Under Company Phones, click the gear icon for either “Cisco Dual Mode for iPhone” or “Cisco Dual Mode for Andriod." Click Add/Edit Single Number Reach to add/edit your non-BC phone number. Enter your phone number the same way you would dial it from a BC campus phone (example: 918004444444).
- Check Enable Single Number Reach.
- To set up a specific schedule for when to forward calls: Click the box next to Create a schedule for this assignment & enter the information needed on the screen. Important: Make sure your time zone is correct.
- Click Save.
For instructions to set this up, see the Polycom & Cisco (SIP) Phones section within Faculty & Staff Phones.