AT&T visual voice mail not working on 4S

[mastman]

After spending 2.5 hours on the phone today with AT&T tech support, i just found out there is a known issue with some 4S phones (mine is 32GB) that have done the iOS 5.0.1 update. For the record, techsup removed and replaced the voice mail box, reset the password, and was getting ready remove/replace my data plan (made me a bit nervous as i have unlimited). In trying to get a team leader's approval for that task she learned of this bug.

The symptoms on the phone are no indicator red dot for vm messages, and no listings of recorded messages on the voice mail tab. It is no problem to listen to the messages (by either dialing 1 or my own number). You just have no way of knowing new messages are out there. If i try to change the password or greeting on the phone, it never connects to the network and eventually throws an error message. WIFI is turned off and data/roaming are on.

Until an iOS update is released that hopefully fixes this bug, the only solution is to check voicemail after every missed call. Quite a PITA. - mastman

 

[Jordan921]

I have a 32GB 4S updated to 5.0.1 with no issues to my visual voice mail. Hopefull they find a fix for you.

 

[mastman]

While the tech said that Apple is working on an iOS fix for this issue, i don't know that i can rely on her opinion. Right now i am within the 30 days and am really inclined to return the phone and try and get one that works. A possibly related issue is that my exchange server email never pushes to my phone. All settings have been checked many times. I have to open the inbox to have them DL. Both issues combine to mean that I don't get important info from clients and coworkers in a timely fashion.

 

[Fantasigraphic]

Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (iPhone; Opera Mini/6.5.1.23995/26.1153; U; en) Presto/2.8.119 Version/10.54)

For VVM you can try turning your Cellular Data off for a few min then back on and/or do a network reset.

As for you having to open app to d/l mail sounds like in advance settings its still set to manual for d/l mail.

 

[mastman]

BTDT. Reset the network 3 times. Reset the phone to factory default and reinstalled from the backup. Restarted more times than i can count.

Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Fetch New Data is set to push, and push is enabled. Notably Calendar and Contact updates show up on the phone with 10-15 seconds of a change on my PC.

No joy on either front. Thanks for trying - mm

 

[Diode]

BTDT. Reset the network 3 times. Reset the phone to factory default and reinstalled from the backup. Restarted more times than i can count.

Settings>Mail,Contacts,Calendars>Fetch New Data is set to push, and push is enabled. Notably Calendar and Contact updates show up on the phone with 10-15 seconds of a change on my PC.

No joy on either front. Thanks for trying - mm

Try setting up as new after a factory reset. Could be a corrupted file in your backup.

 

[mastman]

I have considered that and just not bitten the bullet yet. I don't necessarily mind the thought of reinstalling all apps (though that will be a real pain). It is more that i don't want to lose the text msg threads with my kids. I know there are ways to save these to my PC, but have not found a way to preserve or better yet restore them to phone after the reset. Anyone have info on this last bit? Any other considerations I should be aware of? Not worried about contacts, email, calendar as that all syncs from an exchange server.

 

[mastman]

Well after a complete reset, and set-up as a new phone, VVM works. But in spite of trying several different approaches that i found online, i cannot seem to preserve old text messages (really the only thing i want to hang on to). There is clearly a bug in the prior configuration. For now i restored it to the non-VVM mode (with the bug), and will continue to work this problem. Will let you know if i find a solution to keeping the text msgs. -mm

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

Someone should have told you that iCloud backs up your texts.

 

[Pedro Julio]

I have never like AT&T's voicemail systems. Visual or otherwise. I switched over to using Google Voice for voicemail. For both GVoice calls and calls to my cell number. The transcription's can be pretty entertaining when the caller has an accent, but otherwise it has completely reliable.

 

[mastman]

Thanks LIVE. So can i back up just texts to iCloud, do a fresh install, then essentially recover the texts via a download from iCloud? I know that i do not want to move email, calendar, contacts to iCloud as those are managed by the Exchange Server and I already went through a major hassle with another user at my office to recover those items. Will explore this possibility further, but any assistance/direction is welcome.

 

[mkofler]

Possible Fix

Hey all ... A buddy of mine was having this issue on the iPhone 4S; he wasn't receiving alerts for voicemails. We had checked Notification Center and made sure it was set to give Alerts and Badges for the phone.

It turned out that TTY was set to On. Turning it off fixed it. Go to Settings > Phone > and check the TTY option.

No idea why this would work, but thought I'd post in case it helps anyone else.

 

[chaspdx]

Voice mail not working

Not only has my vm not worked at times but I didn't get the missed call warning. I bet its AT&T although a few people at the Mac store here have reported the same issue .... Android anyone?