Should I use a landline answering machine or voicemail?

Hi and welcome!

I've included a link to Voicemail Set and Features that may be helpful.

If I understand your question correctly, you can have both an answering machine and Spectrum voicemail, if you prefer to have a physical answering machine, but also want a backup for when you are on the phone. The key will be to set up the "rings to answer" on voicemail to a higher number than the answering machine. This way, the answering machine will pick up first (for example 3 rings) and the voicemail will pick up after additional rings (for example 5 rings). You will also want to set up the voicemail to answer calls "if busy", or when you don't pick up after a certain number of rings.

Another advantange to the digital voicemail settings is that it will still work in power outages and can be accessed from any phone, so you can easily retrieve messages if you are away from home. If you choose Spectrum digital voicemail, you can also set up notifications when you have new messages to be sent to you by text message or email.

Let us know how it goes, or if you have other questions.

Thanks!