JOPLIN, Mo. — If you’ve ever worried about keeping in contact in a remote area with spotty cell service, your voicemail message could be the answer.

For example, if you’re hiking deep in the woods with low battery power — you could change your voicemail message to add details, like your location. That way, even if the battery is dead, someone calling would at least learn your location from the message.

But you have to have some cell service — or Wi-Fi — to change the message in the first place.

“And the advantage of that one is that if your phone is off, or out of service, or basically unavailable, AT&T answers your phone, answers that call on your behalf. And you can get a message out,” said John Motazedi, SNC2.

And one more catch. If you do change your message — don’t forget to change it back after cell service returns to normal.