Killing Voicemail with Twilio: A Simple Setup for People Who Hate Voicemail

I hate voicemail. My inbox was mostly full of robocalls, accidental pocket dials, and 'call me back' messages that would have been far clearer in writing. Eventually, I decided that voicemail had to go.

The solution turned out to be wonderfully simple: instead of letting my carrier send unanswered calls to a traditional voicemail box, I now forward them to a Twilio number that plays a short, polite message and immediately hangs up.

Step 1: Get a Twilio Number

After creating a Twilio account, I rented a local phone number. This costs me $1.15 per month.

Step 2: Create a TwiML Bin

Twilio uses TwiML (Twilio Markup Language) to define call behaviour. In the Twilio Console, I created a new TwiML Bin containing my greeting logic.

Here is a sample XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Response>
  <Say voice="male">
    Hello. I do not use voicemail. Please send me a text or email instead. Goodbye.
  </Say>
  <Hangup/>
</Response>

This answers the call, speaks the message, and hangs up immediately. If you prefer a recorded audio file, you can replace <Say> with <Play> and point it to a publicly accessible MP3 file.

Step 3: Connect the TwiML to the Number

In Twilio's number settings, I set the Voice configuration to use my new TwiML Bin. Calling the Twilio number now plays the message and disconnects properly.

Step 4: Forward Unanswered Calls to Twilio

Here is the key part: telling my mobile network to forward all conditional calls (busy, no-answer, unreachable) to this Twilio number instead of voicemail.

On T-Mobile US, that is done with a single GSM code:

**004*<TwilioNumber>*11#

Dial it on your phone, press call, and you will receive a confirmation. This ensures any call that would have gone to voicemail is redirected to Twilio instead.

To remove forwarding later, dial:

##004#

What It Costs

Twilio charges:

• About $1-$1.50 per month for the virtual phone number.
• About $0.008-$0.009 per minute for incoming calls.

Because my greeting is under 10 seconds, each forwarded call costs only a fraction of a cent. Even ten missed calls a month add up to only a few pennies.

Future Possibilities

The setup leaves plenty of room for adding smarter call handling later on.. In the future, you can add:

• Different greetings or handling for different callers.
• Automatic SMS replies explaining why voicemail is disabled.
• Integration with email, messaging apps, or your calendar.
• Logging or analytics to see who tried calling, without needing voicemail.

And That's It - Voicemail Is Gone

Now, whenever I ignore or miss a call, the caller is forwarded to my Twilio line, hears:

"I do not use voicemail. Please send me a text or email instead."

...and the call ends. There is no mechanism for leaving a message. My voicemail inbox is gone, notifications are gone, and life is significantly quieter.