YouMailFilter: Where can I download fake telco "out of service" messages?

June 17, 2007 6:41 PM

I've been loving YouMail for the past year, as a replacement for VerizonWireless' sucky voicemail, but I've only now started playing around with it's individualized greeting/"ditchmail" features. I'm looking to mess with my friends & co-workers minds using this feature.

I can't remember where I heard it before, but I am specifically looking for a recording of a telephone company "out of service" message that asks you to insert coins in order to complete the call. I recall there was a website that someone mentioned on a past 2600 "Off The Hook" radio show, but for the life of me I can't seem to find it anywhere.

I'm also open to any other creative ideas or soundfiles that I can use for customized YouMail greetings and Ditchmail messages (and when I say "creative", I don't mean fake celebrity voices, movie/tv soundbites etc.)

posted by melorama to technology (8 answers total)

btw...I've tried The Google already, but this seems to be eluding my usually deft Google-fu...
posted by melorama at 6:42 PM on June 17, 2007

Actually youmail now offers a range of greetings. When you're logged in, go to this page and you'll find the stuff you're looking for.

I mess with my friends too. I found a bunch of creative ones (like "too doo doo - Your fingers are too fat to make this call. Please press the keypad with your entire palm to receive a special dialing wand") etc.
posted by special-k at 6:50 PM on June 17, 2007

special-k:

Yeah, actually, seeing that page for the first time earlier today is what inspired me to start playing around with the greetings. But the selection is pretty meh.

I wish there was a service where you could pay to have the lady who records the real telco messages to record custom messages for people...she might make a fortune doing that, assuming she's still alive :)
posted by melorama at 6:53 PM on June 17, 2007

Try this page. I got the 25 cent one from here.
posted by special-k at 6:56 PM on June 17, 2007

Oh and here's the complete archive
posted by special-k at 6:57 PM on June 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is a Recording > Payphone
posted by Partial Law at 6:58 PM on June 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

for reference, any custom greetings you can purchase relatively inexpensively from allison smith (see also) who does the voice prompts for asterisk pbx as well as many major telcos.

you can also get all the core and extra/humorous sounds she did for asterisk/digium here (NB all sounds are in wav/gsm/etc. telephony compatible formats, if you want mp3 you'll have to convert yourself)
posted by dorian at 8:45 PM on June 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Holy crap. Why have i never heard of YouMail.
posted by pencroft at 9:07 PM on June 17, 2007 [1 favorite]