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Voicemail button dials voicemail instead of going to visual voicemail

M

morgand

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 12, 2008
3
0
I just set up the iphone earlier this week. Whenever I go to the phone menu, I see the little red numbers above the "recent" icon, but nothing above the "voicemail" icon to show that the missed callers left a voicemail. Tapping the voicemail icon causes the phone to dial voicemail instead of going to the visual voicemail screen (so I can still retrieve my messages just like always, so I guess that's something). I cannot even reset the voicemail password through the settings, as that option is not available on "Settings > Phone > Change Voicemail Password."

Spent a half hour on the phone with AT&T support this morning and they were convinced that it was a hardware problem. Off to the Mac store I went. Mac guys said it was not the hardware (from this forum I already suspected as much). He showed me his iPhone, so I know what the "Settings > Phone > Change Voicemail Password" and Visual Voicemail screens look like when properly functioning.

More time on the phone with AT&T. Several restarts later, still no visual voicemail. I read several of these posts to them, and they tried removing my data plan, then adding it back in and restarting the phone, but still no luck. They once again determined that it was a hardware problem, but this time sent me to the local AT&T store where they gave me a brand new phone to replace my 1 week old one. This time I was thinking ahead, though, and brought along my laptop so that I could set the phone up through ITunes right there and demonstrate that VV still did not work. The store manager tried removing the data plan, then reenabling it while I was there, and we could not get VV to work.

So, after a day of thrashing, I have a new iPhone, but still no Visual Voicemail. Even after following the solutions offered in this forum, we were still not able to get to the VV screen.

Any ideas? Maybe there's something peculiar about my account? (I sprung for the extra SMS messages so I can do 1500 of them a month, but that seems an unlikely culprit)
 
did at&t try a new SIM card? when i got my iphone, i had to get the SIM card that came in the iphone replaced before i could get service at all. it was weird. maybe this could help.
 
Yes they put in a new SIM. I'm not exactly sure why they did this, since the only reason for them to remove the SIM in the brand new iPhone would be to replace it with the one from the week old one. Since that was not replaced, why even open up the new phone? I should have asked.
 
Update

My issue has now been escalated to the AT&T network engineers. They must be pretty backed up, because my original trouble ticket was to be closed today (after 72 hours), but I just got a text saying that my case "has been extended for resolution until 4/24/08."

I have been a little frustrated with the level of service so far. What is the point of writing detailed notes of the problem and what has been done so far in an attempt to fix it when the next technician I talk to doesn't bother to read them?

Q: "Have you tried to set up Visual Voicemail?"
A: "Yes, I cannot even get to the screen-it just dials my voicemail instead."

Q:"So you are getting your voicemail then?"
A: "Yes, that has NEVER been a problem. I do not get a message waiting indicator, and I cannot use visual voicemail."

Q:"Have you tried restarting the iPhone?"
A:"Yes, that does not seem to help."

Q:"We've reset your voicemail password. Try it now."
A:"Still dials my voicemail instead. By the way, the voicemail system never asks me for a password. It's been reset dozens of times in the last few days and I have yet to enter it."

Q: "How long has this been happening?"
A: "I have NEVER had visual voicemail. It was nonfunctional from the time I first turned on the iPhone."

Q: "Have you taken it to the local Mac store?"
A; "Yes, and the hardware seems to be working fine. Before you ask, the local AT&T store has already replaced the unit with a new one. Same problem."

Everybody is really nice, takes great pains to use my name a lot in the conversation, and always remember to apologize for putting me on hold even for just a couple of minutes. They agree that I should be able to access Visual Voicemail, and ultimately are forced to admit that the problem may be related to their (AT&T's) network. I'll hear them tapping furiously at the keys in the background, and they go over everything again in detail so that their notes are complete before the pass me on to the next level. Inevitably, the next tech I speak with starts out with: "Have you tried to set up Visual Voicemail?"

I just know this is karma for all of the times I've ignored what users have tried to tell me...
 
Funny that I havent even got a voice mail since I got the phone on Friday so I just checked. Me too, no visual voicemail. Just dials the voice mail number.
 
gadgetdad said:
Funny that I havent even got a voice mail since I got the phone on Friday so I just checked. Me too, no visual voicemail. Just dials the voice mail number.
Click to expand...


Well I manually setup my voice mail. About a minute later I went back to voice mail and now visual voice mail is there. Odd. Did you guys manully setup yours over the phone?
 
Me too...

Hey this problem has been happening to me. I think it has
something to do with my Edge signal strength. When I have
full signal with Edge it goes to Visual Voicemail instead of
dialing voicemail.
 
Check your account!

I just found out I did NOT have the iPhone data plan. :eek:

After calling AT&T about this issue, they noticed - not me. In fact I was on pay as you go for data at ($.01/kb)!

I recommend you call AT&T immediately!
 
gadgetdad said:
Well I manually setup my voice mail. About a minute later I went back to voice mail and now visual voice mail is there. Odd. Did you guys manully setup yours over the phone?
Click to expand...

Yes when I first hit the visual voice mail button it automatcially dialed me into a set-up number. I only did it a few minutes ago maybe it will change.

I also am getting no data - so that could also be it.

Hard-Hat-Mac
 
I went through a similar situation. I think what ended up happening was I was never set up for visual voicemail. After being on the phone with AT&T for at least 30 mins they activated it. I was still not recieving message and the set up on the phone couldn't be completed until I had like full bars in 3G range. When I pressed the Visual Voicemail button it called my voice mail and I had to go through like a 5 min setup.

Moral of the story make sure you have been signed up for the Visual Voicemail Data Plan and that you have a full 3G service. At least that is what worked for me.
 
Another who had the same problem.

It was an issue with my data plan attaching to my number and the network engineers had to play with it for two days until it was fixed. It took 4 hours plus on the phone.

One AT&T rep told me that visual voicemail cost extra and I only had basic voicemail. Idiots.
 
I had this happen with my v1 iPhone. When i added a line to my account AT&T removed the VV from my line. I had to call in and have them add it back on. They tried to tell me that there was an additional charge for VV but I explained that I had an iPhone and VV was included in the service, from there...they added it back on and no problems.
 
I think with the newer phones you have to call the voicemail to set up the messages, password, etc. then visual voicemail will ask you for your password and it's off to the races.

I had to do this with the phone I bought on the 11th, and the phone that replaced it on the 13th.
 
When I upgraded from my 1st gen iPhone to the 3G, my voicemail tabjust dialed voicemail too.
I had to call 611 and follow the prompts to reset my voicemail password. After that, the visual voicemail tab went through setup and I'm good now.
 
I just set up my voicemail account in about 60 seconds after two days of frustration. Dial AT&T at 611 and follow the prompts. You will need to record your personal message using your actual phone. I don't know about visual voicemail.
 
The first step should always be check with AT&T and see that you have it.

For some unknown, retarded reason, the visual voicemail isn't a default setting when setting up an iPhone on their end.

When I got my 3G, I didn't have texting turned on... even though I had unlimited on my previous iPhone, so I called them to turn it on.

Then I noticed I had no voice mail... none at all. If I hit the voicemail button, it didn't do anything... not even the dial for voicemail option.

I called and they said, "You don't have visual voicemail on your account." WTF!? It's an iPhone!? I have the iPhone data plan... idiots.

Anyway, they turned on voicemail and it worked, but guess what.... NO TEXTS AGAIN... the morons removed texting in the process of adding Visual Voicemail.

So I called one last time and got it all fixed.

AT&T isn't a bad carrier IMO, but wow, what idiotic service I got.
 
No Visual Voicemail

I've had the iPhone 3G for about 3 months. Everything worked great. Yesterday, I stopped receiving voicemail notifications. Today Visual Voicemail quit working. I reset my phone, restored it to the original (factory) configuration, removed and added the data plan/vv back, turned off 3G and used only Edge, connected to the site for diagnostics, etc, etc. After talking to ATT, ATT Tier 2, Apple, Apple Level 2, and finally conferencing in ATT and Apple, It was determined my iPhone needs replacing.

I upgraded to Version 2.2 three nights ago. The next day I stopped receiving voicemail notifications. Coincidence? Maybe. The suprising thing is there is no way to revert back to previous versions (firmware downgrade) or so I was told.

Has anyone actually found a fix for this?
 
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