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Create Your Professional Greeting →Access number
101
New message signal
Interrupted dial tone
Default ring time
20 seconds (5–55)
SMS notifications
101 → option 2
Personal greeting
MessageBank only
Cost
Free on eligible plans
Telstra gives home phones two answering services, both reached by dialling 101. Home Messages 101 is the basic one: free to turn on and use, with two standard recorded messages — one for when you're away and one for when the line is busy. MessageBank is the fully featured one: it lets you record a personal greeting, works on nbn and 4G fixed services (where Home Messages 101 isn't available), and can be checked from any phone. Below is how to set up each, and how to get a professionally produced greeting onto your landline.
Pick up your Telstra home phone and dial 101. The same number both turns the service on and retrieves your messages later. Note: Home Messages 101 is not available if your home phone runs over the nbn network or 4G fixed — those services use MessageBank instead (see below).
The voice prompts walk you through activation. Callers will hear one of two standard recorded messages — one when you don't answer, another when you're already on the phone.
You'll know you have new messages as soon as you pick up your phone, because you'll hear a special 'interrupted' dial tone. Dial 101 to listen. You can also get an SMS sent to your Telstra mobile when someone leaves a message: dial 101, select 2 from the menu, and follow the prompts.
Your phone rings for 20 seconds before Home Messages 101 takes the call. You can change this delay to any interval from 5 to 55 seconds through the 101 prompts — useful if you keep just missing calls.
Home Messages 101 can't play a personal greeting — it only uses Telstra's standard recordings. If you want callers to hear your name or your business's greeting on a landline, you need MessageBank for home phone. It's included at no cost in some Telstra plans and is the standard service on nbn and 4G fixed connections; on older plans it costs a small monthly fee.
Setting it up is simple: the first time you call 101 on a MessageBank-enabled line, you'll be guided through recording your personal greeting and choosing a PIN. To change the greeting later, call 101, press 3 for Mailbox Setup, 1 for Greetings, then 1 to re-record.
To check MessageBank from another phone, call your home number and press # while the greeting plays, then enter your PIN. Messages are stored for up to 14 days (7 days once you've listened to them), with room for 60 messages of up to 5 minutes each.
MessageBank records greetings through the handset, so there's no upload button — but there's a reliable workaround used by thousands of businesses:
Phone lines compress audio heavily, so a well-mastered recording captured this way sounds virtually identical to a direct upload.
Create Your Greeting NowRemember: a landline answering service picks up when you're on the phone as well as when you're out — so avoid "we're closed" wording. Copy either script, or click "Hear This Script" to listen to it in a professional Australian AI voice.
"Hello, you've reached the [Family Name] household. We can't get to the phone right now, so please leave your name, number, and a short message after the tone, and we'll call you back. Thank you."
Hear This Script"Thank you for calling [Your Business]. We're either on another call or away from the desk at the moment. Please leave your name and number after the tone and we'll ring you back as soon as we're free. Thank you."
Hear This ScriptNeed more inspiration? Browse our voicemail message scripts or the full greeting examples library.
Dial 101 from your Telstra home phone and follow the prompts. The same number retrieves your messages. You'll know you have new messages as soon as you pick up your phone, because you'll hear a special interrupted dial tone. Note that Home Messages 101 is not available on home phone services connected via the nbn network or 4G fixed.
No. Home Messages 101 is Telstra's basic answering service and uses two standard recorded messages — one for when you're away and one for when the line is busy. To record a personal greeting on your landline, you need MessageBank for home phone: call 101 and you'll be guided through recording your greeting and choosing a PIN.
Home Messages 101 is free to turn on and use — it's included in the monthly charge on eligible Telstra home phone plans. MessageBank, the fully featured service with personal greetings, is included at no cost in some plans and on nbn and 4G fixed services; on other plans it costs a small monthly fee.
By default your phone rings for 20 seconds before Telstra Home Messages 101 takes the call. You can change this delay to any interval from 5 to 55 seconds through the 101 prompts.
Yes. To turn on SMS message notifications to your Telstra mobile, dial 101 from your home phone, select 2 from the menu, and follow the prompts.
