I called AT&T this morning and asked if playing my voice mails from the voice mail screen, would I be charged any minutes. In all cases you are but I thought that because it's recorded on the device there would be no minute deductions. At first she said no charges but then asked me to wait a minute.When she came back she said that because it's through the phone application the minutes would be deducted, no matter how many times you played it. She suggested calling from a land line.
AT&T says playing voice mail comes off your minutes
- Thread starter vvpprr
- Start date
That can't possibly be accurate. Leave yourself a voicemail. Then put your phone into airplane mode. go to your voicemail. It will says that visual voicemail is currently unavailable, meaning you cannot receive new messages. but you can play existing messages til your battery dies. since you are in airplane mode, there's no possible way you are using minutes.
Ninja edit: I didn't think checking your voicemail ever counted against your minutes. That counts as an "in network" call. I've never had voicemail calls get deducted from my minutes.
Ninja edit: I didn't think checking your voicemail ever counted against your minutes. That counts as an "in network" call. I've never had voicemail calls get deducted from my minutes.
They were probably thinking about non-iphone models that people actually have to call in to check their voicemail. On the iPhone, it doesn't call into AT&T for the voicemail.
No that can't be right. Visual voicemail uses data not voice. New messages are sent as data to the iPhone and stored there. There are no minutes involved unless you call someone back. This is different than any Cingular/AT&T phone ever before so I doubt most CS reps understand this.
good. off topic... on sprint i used about 700 anytime minutes , all my friends have AT&T. now i have iPhone for the 1st month i want to get the 900 min plan to see how many minutes i use since most should be free. think i could change my plan to the 450 if i don't use to many?
that sounds like poop to me.I never got charged for vm on my old plan and the iPhone pwns the old plan I had.. Btw this is my first iPhone safari post 
Save $$$ - check VM from landline
According to the AT&T website, see the following:
"QUESTION:
What are the charges for receiving and listening to my voicemail messages?
ANSWER:
You will be charged for airtime minutes (based on your rate plan) for calls from your wireless handset to your voicemail box (access or set up). If roaming outside of the Home Calling area you may also be charged roaming airtime (based on your rate plan), long distance & taxes.
Calls from the wireless handset to the voicemail box are not considered “Mobile to Mobile”
You will be charged airtime minutes (based on the rate plan) for calls initiated from your voicemail box (via Rapid Reply) to an outside caller.
You will not be charged for receiving a voicemail message, a message waiting indication or a numeric page while in your home calling area. In some cases, you may be charged for receiving voice mail messages while roaming outside of your home area.
You will not be charged for calls from your home or businesss phone to your voicemail box.
For more specific information about how this affects you, please call us at 1-800-331-0500 or dial 611 from your wireless phone."
NOTE: You can access your voicemail from a landline by:
1. Calling your cell phone
2. Pressing * when you hear your greeting
3. Follow prompts to enter voicemail password & listen to messages
According to the AT&T website, see the following:
"QUESTION:
What are the charges for receiving and listening to my voicemail messages?
ANSWER:
You will be charged for airtime minutes (based on your rate plan) for calls from your wireless handset to your voicemail box (access or set up). If roaming outside of the Home Calling area you may also be charged roaming airtime (based on your rate plan), long distance & taxes.
Calls from the wireless handset to the voicemail box are not considered “Mobile to Mobile”
You will be charged airtime minutes (based on the rate plan) for calls initiated from your voicemail box (via Rapid Reply) to an outside caller.
You will not be charged for receiving a voicemail message, a message waiting indication or a numeric page while in your home calling area. In some cases, you may be charged for receiving voice mail messages while roaming outside of your home area.
You will not be charged for calls from your home or businesss phone to your voicemail box.
For more specific information about how this affects you, please call us at 1-800-331-0500 or dial 611 from your wireless phone."
NOTE: You can access your voicemail from a landline by:
1. Calling your cell phone
2. Pressing * when you hear your greeting
3. Follow prompts to enter voicemail password & listen to messages
Not for the iPhone. It's data not voice. That's why you HAVE to get a data plan with the iPhone (aside from AT&T wanting more money).
I just called AT&T. If you access and listen to voicemail messages from your iPhone, IT COMES OFF YOUR PHONE AIRTIME MINUTES. It is a VOICE-RELATED feature, NOT a data-related feature.
If you call your mailbox, that will use your voice minutes. VisualVoicemail is data based. You are not using your minutes as messages are transferred over the data network.
When the EDGE network went down earlier this week, I was not able to access my VisualVoicemail.
Besides, how would AT&T be able to to track you pushing rewind/forward 50 times on a voicemail?
From AT&T's FAQ on the iPhone
"iPhone Data Plans give you Visual Voicemail, text messaging bundles and unlimited data—which includes both email and web. You'll add an iPhone Data Plan and sign a new 2-year service contract during the activation process. Discount eligibility for other devices will continue from the time of your most recent contract."
Can we put this to rest now?
Ditto.
I called as well and it seems its an issue of this being a new phone, and all customer reps not being properly trained in the area yet. I asked the young lady since the iPhone data plan gives us visual vmail, does it come from our airtime minutes?
She assured me that she had been answering this question all week and that the answer is no. It does not deduct from our minutes. Minutes are only charged when we in fact dial in our vmail box. Our contracts all state that Visual Vmail is a feature, and therefore it must be included with no hidden charges, unless stated elsewhere within the contract.
If all else fails, ask around until you get the answer you want, take down the name of the rep, and if they indeed end up charging you, get a refund!
