I had the occasion to call tech services the other day...a customer had a voicemail issue... while working with the Tech rep he let it slip that if you program your phone number with a + sign in front of it in the format +1 (area code)(phone number).. ...wait for the recording and press the star (*) key...you will no longer be charged airtime for checking your voice mail if you had MTM in your rate plan... considering ppl were all clammering for voicemail retrieveal numbers a while back this could moot that point...I'm not actually in the USA and cant confirm the validity of the statement... but it does make sense...any takers on the grand experiment?
Interesting, but with the amount of rollover I have it really doesn't matter much to me. I hardly use my anytime minutes as most of my calling is M2M or N&W. So far in this billing cycle I've only used about 200 anytime mins out of 550, and I've talked about 1,000 mins. -Jay
Same here, off of my 450 netime minute plan since june I've managed to save up 900 minutes. Besides if I recall correctly, Cingular counts VM as MTM already, at least on most of their switches.
unless you are the *fortunate recipient* of a billing error VM access is billable airtime direct from the "billing bible" Customers WILL be charged: Calls from the wireless handset to the voicemail box (access or set up) are not considered “Mobile to Mobile.” Calls from the wireless handset to the voicemail box (access or set up) while in the Home Calling area are charged airtime (based on the rate plan). Calls from the wireless handset to the voicemail box (access or set up) while outside of the Home Calling area are charged roaming airtime (based on the rate plan), long distance & taxes. Calls from the Voicemail box (via Rapid Reply) to an outside caller are charged airtime rates (based on the rate plan). Customers will NOT be charged: Calls from a landline to the voicemail box are not charged airtime. Calls deposited into a voicemail box from an outside caller are not charged airtime. Exception: voicemail deposit charges (airtime and long distance) may apply while roaming in a foreign market. If the phone is off and a call is made to the phone, the call will go directly to voicemail and since the network does not attempt to deliver the call, there are no charges such as airtime, roaming, or long distance. If the phone is on, the "first" charge is for delivering the call to the foreign carrier and is the equivalent of receiving a call. However, if the call is not answered, it is then routed by the foreign carrier back to the U.S. voicemail system resulting in the second charge. If they receive a numeric page. If they receive any message waiting indicators (MWI) sent to the wireless handset. Customers in the NYS Market with the Enhanced Voicemail SOC EVM1 are not charged airtime for voicemail retrieval
Now this last line is interesting, I am still Blue & my VM retrivals are still M2M and I don't have enhanced VM. I wonder why they only allow the NY Market to count VM as M2M? I guess they just want to charge customers for any minutes including M2M, it's a good think Cingular offers Rollover if you get hit with a bunch of VM's in 1 month on top of heavier then normal usage. I do have to say if your a person that gets a lot of VM's & don't want to use your M2M, the Got Voice that I am using is just what these people would need & even for those that don't get a lot they can get the free version for limited retrivals a day.
Back in the days where I only had a 200 minute plan I used to call my VM from a landline to read my messages, avoiding the minute charges. Unfortunately my cell is not a local landline call from where I live at this time. -Jay
are you still blue?... if so the VM is free because you fall under the ATT GSM rules...what I posted affects orange customers
Yes I am still Blue, & realized even with the switch to the orange billing I was still covered as M2M for VM. What I found interesting is how people with enhanced VM on the Orange side in the NY market get their VM charged as M2M in the reply you posted. I know a few people with Orange on this forum that still get it as M2M and some don't. I wonder why they only give the NY market m2m VM (for enhanced) vs saying no other markets are allowed to get this feature?
I have had Cingular for a few years, in the Atlanta and now in the Charlotte NC market. VM has always been M2M 11/01 05:05 PM VMAIL 704-XXX-XXXX P MS 1
