The only way to access your voice mail is to use your airtime??? That's ridiculous most other services I know you can call your cell number from a land line and access it that way. Is there no other way to access your voicemail through verizon besides using your cell phone?
Ummm....yeah....you can call your own cell phone number from a landline. When you hear the greeting press # then enter your passcode. It's that simple.
if you dial *86 during peak times then yes you'll be using your peak airtime. if you dial yourself from a landline and press # when your voicemail comes on you shouldn't be charged airtime. someone posted before that if you dial yourself from your cell phone during peak times and if your plan includes mobile to mobile minutes, you'll be able to access your voicemail and it will come out of your m2m minutes and not your peak. i've tried it and it works so program your phone to dial your voicemail using your cell number rather than *86, it's a great work around.
Yes, dialing my own phone number instead of *VM acts as a M2M call for me. So, its pretty useful during peak time to check the minutes if you have the 1000 M2M in your plan. Make sure you have the Digital indicator on while you make the call to use your M2M minutes.