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chipchen · Jul 11, 2007, 03:16 AM

Hands down, one of the BEST features about the iPhone is VISUAL VOICEMAIL.

It is the way voicemail should have always been. It's awesome.

But I was thinking... does anyone really know how it works? It seems to be that the iPhone basically downloads the voicemails as files for playback. It's pretty obvious to me that the greeting recording is pretty much the opposite; it records it into a file and uploads to the AT&T server.

Does this mean that we don't have to pay for any minutes we would normally use to check voicemail?

Can we still access our voicemail the regular way? I assume it uses EDGE to upload and download... so if our EDGE service is down or has problems, what then? (I remember when I had a problem activating EDGE at first, it also said voicemail was not available)

Visual voicemail is something that just makes sense... but the funny thing is, we didn't really see it until they thought it up (at least most of us). We just dealt with the crappy way it was until now. Makes me wonder what other types of hassles we put up with in a daily manner that innovation can change...

icruise · Jul 11, 2007, 04:03 AM

You can still call in to get your voicemail if you want. I don't think using visual voicemail takes any minutes or anything.

badtz · Jul 11, 2007, 06:37 AM

does anyone know how long we are able to keep the voicemails on the phone?

duboy · Jul 11, 2007, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by chipchen

Hands down, one of the BEST features about the iPhone is VISUAL VOICEMAIL.

It is the way voicemail should have always been. It's awesome.

But I was thinking... does anyone really know how it works? It seems to be that the iPhone basically downloads the voicemails as files for playback. It's pretty obvious to me that the greeting recording is pretty much the opposite; it records it into a file and uploads to the AT&T server.

Does this mean that we don't have to pay for any minutes we would normally use to check voicemail?

Can we still access our voicemail the regular way? I assume it uses EDGE to upload and download... so if our EDGE service is down or has problems, what then? (I remember when I had a problem activating EDGE at first, it also said voicemail was not available)

Visual voicemail is something that just makes sense... but the funny thing is, we didn't really see it until they thought it up (at least most of us). We just dealt with the crappy way it was until now. Makes me wonder what other types of hassles we put up with in a daily manner that innovation can change...

yeah if you get a vm but you're not within EDGE, it tells you and you can call it regularly, the first voicemail i got i had to dial in to receive, i was sad because i wanted to see VV :-)

As for things that we put up with that innovation can change...Magsafe. for me at least, i'm sure some folks don't like it, but i cannot tell you how many times in the past i've tripped over powerbook/ibook cords, how many connectors i've broken (i'm clumsy, but i also work with a lot of folks who use macs, so i guess my chances of tripping were greater) because of stupid plugs. now...i don't even think about where the cord is. when i got my macbook pro a year ago i thought it was the best thing about it. and i'm pretty sure i still do. strange but true.

MacinTommy · Jul 11, 2007, 09:20 AM

When people leave yall messages does it sound a little.. off? I dont know how to explain it it just sounds kind of odd....

duboy · Jul 11, 2007, 09:32 AM

Originally Posted by MacinTommy

When people leave yall messages does it sound a little.. off? I dont know how to explain it it just sounds kind of odd....

yeah to me it sounds a bit digitized, more compressed than stnd voicemail. i'm assuming it's because the files get dl to the iPhone so to save time/bandwidth/space VV is compressed down more. but that is just what i hear, anyone else notice?

pooka · Jul 11, 2007, 12:22 PM

Yeah, they sound like crap.

dpicardi · Jul 12, 2007, 12:45 AM

Originally Posted by pooka

Yeah, they sound like crap.

Agreed. I would think this would be an easy fix though.

Perhaps Apple might even give us control over how much quality we would like to have in the sound file. I'm sure they are compressing it a ton to save bandwidth and memory on the iphone...but I would rather have better sound quality.

Gamoe · Jul 12, 2007, 04:57 AM

Originally Posted by chipchen

Visual voicemail is something that just makes sense... but the funny thing is, we didn't really see it until they thought it up (at least most of us). We just dealt with the crappy way it was until now. Makes me wonder what other types of hassles we put up with in a daily manner that innovation can change...

Not to pat myself on the back (pat, pat!), but I saw this a long time ago. I've wondered for a long time why we didn't have a visual menu to check voice messages, rather than have to deal with a cumbersome audio-only menu.

This was particularly baffling to me considering visual menus have been around a long time now in computer operating systems, the web, iPods, and plenty of other devices going much further back than those. Even the phones used to check voicemail on them have visual menus for internal functions. I don't think it takes that much imagination to apply it to checking voicemail.

As for other things... along those very lines.. how about a "visual voicemail-like" interface for automated company phone systems (press 4 for this, etc.). How about just having the menu onscreen? I mean, we've been doing that sort of thing for a long time. How about it finally gets to the phone? On the other hand, one could approach this from a different angle and make a specialized web page that one can use to "call" company reps. Either way, the function should be there.

mduell · Jul 12, 2007, 06:58 AM

Originally Posted by chipchen

Does this mean that we don't have to pay for any minutes we would normally use to check voicemail?

What TTT cell phone company charges you to listen to voicemail?!

Calls to voicemail and customer support should be free.

chipchen · Jul 12, 2007, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by Gamoe

Not to pat myself on the back (pat, pat!), but I saw this a long time ago. I've wondered for a long time why we didn't have a visual menu to check voice messages, rather than have to deal with a cumbersome audio-only menu.

This was particularly baffling to me considering visual menus have been around a long time now in computer operating systems, the web, iPods, and plenty of other devices going much further back than those. Even the phones used to check voicemail on them have visual menus for internal functions. I don't think it takes that much imagination to apply it to checking voicemail.

As for other things... along those very lines.. how about a "visual voicemail-like" interface for automated company phone systems (press 4 for this, etc.). How about just having the menu onscreen? I mean, we've been doing that sort of thing for a long time. How about it finally gets to the phone? On the other hand, one could approach this from a different angle and make a specialized web page that one can use to "call" company reps. Either way, the function should be there.

Heh... I wouldn't quite pat myself in the back.... you had a multi million dollar idea you could have developed and patented....

But, we've all done that right? Come up with OBVIOUSLY great ideas... just to see someone do it later in life....

jokell82 · Jul 12, 2007, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

What TTT cell phone company charges you to listen to voicemail?!

Calls to voicemail and customer support should be free.

Every cell phone company in America. Calls to voicemail made from your cell phone deduct from your standard pool of minutes.

mduell · Jul 12, 2007, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by jokell82

Every cell phone company in America. Calls to voicemail made from your cell phone deduct from your standard pool of minutes.

T-mobile (in the USA) does not.

I can't believe that people put up with policies like that at ATT/VZW after paying more for monthly service.

icruise · Jul 12, 2007, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by mduell

T-mobile (in the USA) does not.

Are you sure about that? This seems to imply that you do use your minutes.

What will I be charged when I access my voice mail?

You will not be charged unless you go over your included minutes in your rate plan. The per minute charge is the same as your rate plan per minute charge.

I will say that my experience with T-Mobile was pretty positive when I had them. They had a nice $20-a-month plan that was great for people like me who don't need many minutes. I get significantly better reception with Cingular/AT&T in my area though.

mduell · Jul 12, 2007, 06:47 PM

I just looked over my bills for the last 3 months and there are no charges for calling voicemail.
I think what that sentence means is they charge you for calling voicemail only after you've used up all your peak minutes; if you have peak minutes remaining, voicemail does not deduct against them. That's to discourage people from just not answering their phones and listening to voicemail once they've used all their peak minutes for the month.

jokell82 · Jul 12, 2007, 09:21 PM

Unless it changed recently T-Mobile does charge for those calls. I used them for 3 years up until 2006.

jokell82 · Jul 12, 2007, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by http://support.t-mobile.com/knowbase/root/public/tm22131.htm?WT.srch=2&Result_Inq=answer&InqSource= TMO#faq

How do I access voice mail from my T-Mobile phone?

To access voice mail from your T-Mobile phone, perform one of the following steps:

1. Press and hold the 1 key.

2. Dial 123.

NOTE: Applicable airtime, tolls, roaming, and other charges may apply.

Applicable airtime means it deducts from your minutes.

mduell · Jul 12, 2007, 09:38 PM

Sonofa... so it does. It was flagging all my voicemail calls as (F) which is for mobile-to-mobile, not (G) which would be voicemail. Stupid billing site.

Have they always charged for listening to voicemail?

jokell82 · Jul 12, 2007, 09:49 PM

They did when I was with them. All companies I've come across treat them as if they were standard calls.

Gamoe · Jul 13, 2007, 12:59 AM

Originally Posted by chipchen

Heh... I wouldn't quite pat myself in the back.... you had a multi million dollar idea you could have developed and patented....

Oh yeah, easy...

Originally Posted by chipchen

But, we've all done that right? Come up with OBVIOUSLY great ideas... just to see someone do it later in life....

I know I will see things I thought of independently developed and marketed again. Some things are not even great ideas, but turn out to be great money-makers. Truth is, one CAN patent ideas and try to develop them on one's own, but it isn't as easy as some would have one believe. It takes a lot of time and energy that most people don't have because of other responsibilities or can't develop simply due to lack of resources.

Unfortunately, most patents these days seem to est with large corporations. The individual inventor is not as prominent these days. Anyway, I'm not saying that I (or anyone else) deserve any kind of compensation or credit. It's nice to see Apple finally make this small innovation come true. But, I can honestly claim that I saw it a long time back, and if Bill Gates is seen as a visionary these days, well then I might a well label myself one, too!

mjs975s · Jul 13, 2007, 06:51 PM

Visual VM isn't new but actually having it on the phone is pretty handy. Prior to the iPhone I used Callwave's visual voicemail on my laptop which was especially nice when I was at home as I couldn't get signal here to know if I was getting voicemail. With Callwave, there was a nice little widget on Dashboard that provided a visual voicemail like experience and was very convenient - this is where the limitations to the iPhone's Visual VM comes in. If you are in an area without EDGE, you're out of luck. Sure you can call in but if you have no signal there is no indication of waiting VM and you have to call from a landline. As an Apple developer, I have special access to the iPhone bug tracker as do all Apple developers, so I have requested they make this feature available over Wi-Fi as well for those of us stuck in area area with no service but Wi-Fi access. AT&T will obviously have some say in this because most likely the reason its not currently available is because it's probably on internal IP addresses which is fine for EDGE but not Wi-Fi. Does anyone else out there have an opinion on this? Maybe I'm the only one that lives in BFE with no cell service

chrisutley · Jul 15, 2007, 01:37 AM

Yeah, VVM is sorta cool, but I wonder if you can still use regular VM? I find myself listening to VM in the car all the time. It was real easy on my BlackBerry, just hold down the 1-key and start listening to VM. Playing back VVM in the car is borderline impossible without causing a wreck. Heck - just placing calls is near impossible without causing a wreck. They REALLY need to get voice activated dialing working, before they lose half their customers to death by iPhone & driving.

icruise · Jul 15, 2007, 01:39 AM

You can still call normal voicemail on an iPhone. You just hold down 1 on the keypad.