Canned voicemail lucrative for telecoms

That automated voice you hear just before leaving a message on someone’s cell phone? It’s helping to make millions of dollars for wireless carriers while wasting your time.

The New York Times’ David Pogue writes that Verizon Wireless rakes in $620 million per year, if you assume each of the carrier’s 70 million customers checks voice mail twice a day. The extra revenue is coming from the time spent listening as a voice tells you to press “5″ to send a numeric page and hang up when you are finished recording, or press “1″ for more options.

The $620 million guesstimate seems far-fetched. I’m definitely not spending more money on voicemail because my plan has always been minimal. I have a feeling most people don’t cross a threshold in minutes simply due to a few extra moments listening to a recording.

Still, the carriers do appear to be making money on these canned voicemails. Pogue said cellular executives have told him in the past that voicemail instructions exist primarily to keep people on the line, in turn making more money for the company. Given that nobody sends a numeric page and everyone knows to hang up the phone after leaving a message, I’m inclined to think those instructions are there for nefarious reasons.

Regardless of how much money carriers make on canned voicemails, they’re annoying, and Pogue is calling to action anyone who’s had enough. He’s posted where people can complain to Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T, and encourages readers to spread the word. Even if the efforts are futile — which I suspect they will be — it’s a cause I can get behind.

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