Gizmodo: visual voicemail

Verizon Visual Voicemail Hits LG Voyager, Sadly Not Free

John Mahoney — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:45:00 EDT

Sorry to get everyone's hope up—the rumor that VZW's visual voicemail was to be gratis apparently only referred to the app download. To actually use the service, it'll cost you $2.99/month per line, plus data and airtime charges, to hold up to 40 messages for 40 days. It's only available for LG Voyager owners at the moment, but more phones are surely to follow. Hit the download here, and read on for full details.

VISUAL VOICE MAIL FROM VERIZON WIRELESS GIVES CUSTOMERS A NEW WAY TO MANAGE THEIR MESSAGES

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – The company with the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network today introduced Visual Voice Mail, a new application that lets customers manage their voice mail on their phones. Available today on the Voyager™ by LG, Visual Voice Mail provides an easy-to-use display screen with one-touch access to listen to voice mail messages. Customers can also delete, reply and forward their voice mail messages without having to listen to prior messages or voice instructions, making Visual Voice Mail ideal for busy professionals who want a more effective way to manage and respond to messages.

Visual Voice Mail allows customers to see a list of all of their voice mail messages with important information, such as date and time of receipt, as well as message duration, in order to prioritize and efficiently manage their voice mail messages directly from their phones. When a caller leaves a new voice mail message, the Visual Voice Mail application pops up, alerting the customer that a new voice mail message has been received. From the phone display, customers can select from a number of options, including call back, reply, forward, add to contacts, and archive message (to internal or external memory).

Customers can store up to 40 messages for 40 days – double the storage capacity and nearly double the retention time of Basic Voice Mail. In addition, customers can create up to 10 greetings, as well as up to 20 distribution lists and 50 distribution members to receive messages.

"Verizon Wireless recognizes that voice mail plays a large role in how customers conduct business and manage the balance between their personal and professional lives," said Mike Willsey, executive director for marketing, Verizon Wireless. "With Visual Voice Mail, we're able to offer customers more options to help them better prioritize voice mail messages from family, friends, colleagues, and business partners in a more timely and effective manner."

Technology Providers

Verizon Wireless' Visual Voice Mail service is powered by Alcatel-Lucent and Comverse. Alcatel-Lucent, a leading provider of messaging solutions worldwide, is deploying the Alcatel-Lucent 5150 Messaging Applications Broker (MAB) which provides enhanced notification and content delivery services for voice, text and video messages through an intuitive visual interface. Visual Voice Mail eliminates the need to dial-in and listen to messages in sequential order, making it easier for customers to manage messages. Alcatel-Lucent is also providing network integration services for Visual Voice Mail.

Comverse is a pioneer and market leader in Visual Voice Mail services, which are deployed over its InSight Next-Generation Voicemail Platform. Visual Voice Mail improves the customer experience with solutions for today's diverse lifestyles and different technologies. New messages are delivered to the handset for one-click access, and message details are displayed at a glance.

Availability and Pricing

Verizon Wireless customers can find the Visual Voice Mail application on the Messaging menu under option 6 on their Voyager by LG phones. Visual Voice Mail is available for $2.99 monthly access, per line, plus airtime or megabyte charges and messaging fees, depending on a customer's plan. Customers should take their Voyager by LG phones to any Verizon Wireless Communications Store to receive the free software update. Verizon Wireless expects to offer Visual Voice Mail on additional devices in the coming months.

For more information about Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 68.7 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 70,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). For more information, go to: www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Verizon Visual Voicemail to Be Free For Supported Phones?

John Mahoney — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EDT

Eagle-eyed spotters recently took note of a few visual voicemail tidbits inadvertently pushed live on Verizon's site (now removed), most notably that the service will potentially be free. The site is down now so this remains in the rumor department (where are the screenshots, guys?), but if true, the reports go against what we all assumed penny-pinching Verizon would do. The only phone model listed on the leaked site was the refreshed Voyager, which jibes with what we've heard previously. [Verizon (dead) via Phone Arena]

BlackBerry Storm to Get Visual Voicemail on Verizon

Kit Eaton — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:47:00 EDT

We mentioned that there were rumors that Verizon was going to be bringing its own version of visual voicemail out sometime, and now there are further rumblings that this will include visual voicemail on the BlackBerry Storm. This makes the touchscreen, haptic-feedback smartphone sound even more like a real iPhone competitor, wouldn't you say? [Electric Pig]

Visual Voicemail Coming to Verizon... For a Price

Benny Goldman — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:19:41 EDT

Rumor has it that Verizon Wireless will be joining AT&T and Sprint in offering visual voicemail, in this case on four upcoming phones: LG's Chocolate 3 and an updated Voyager (possible software update but more likely hardware refresh), along with the mysteriously code-named "Blaze" and "Utopia" from Motorola. That's more phones than any other carrier to date, though there's no mention of it on the iPhone wannabe LG Dare. The catch is that the optional service will cost $2 a month—annoying when you consider other carriers offer it for free, though totally expected when you consider that even Verizon's email app costs an extra $5 per month. Look out for this to arrive in late July or early August. [IntoMobile]

Sprint Licenses Visual Voicemail, Can Use It Without Being Sued

matt buchanan — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:55:00 EDT

When I groped Sprint's Instinct at CTIA and was flipping through the features, one of the reps made sure to show me visual voicemail—a necessity for any device taking on the iPhone. Apparently, he didn't just mean visual voicemail in the generic sense, it's the real, patented deal, licensed from Klausner—who's currently suing the balls off of Apple and AT&T for patent infringement. Smart move, since they'll likely win the suit, given that RIM, AOL and Vonage, among others have also paid to license the patent. Course, the Instinct's still no iPhone-killer. [Forbes, Thanks John]

Apple and AT&T Sued Over Visual Voicemail Patents, Will Probably Lose

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:40:54 EST

Klausner Technologies, a patent holding firm founded by the inventor of the PDA, is suing Apple and AT&T for $360 million for infringing on its patents with visual voicemail. Its patents cover selectively retrieving messages from a menu displaying the caller's name, number, etc. Yes, they have on patent on that entire concept. Lending credibility to their claim, the suit's filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the McDonald's of patent suits, complete with a drive-thru window.

But what makes this more legit than the average infringement suit—and scary for the big A's—is that they've successfully sued both AOL and Vonage into submission over the same patents. Better still, Apple actually licensed one of Klausner's older patents for an electronic pocket dictionary for the Newton. Takeaway: Klausner has a pretty good shot at digging some coin out of AT&T and Apple's back pockets. Any bets on how long it'll be before they settle? [Apple Insider]

AT&T Apparently Offering Non-iPhone Plans to iPhone Users (As Promised)

kevinhall2 — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:00:00 EDT

Electronista reports that if you get AT&T on the horn and threaten to cancel because of slow or unused iPhone Internet capabilites, they might try to strike up a secret deal: $40 a month for 450 minutes and 5,000 night-and-weekend minutes. Wi-Fi works but there's no mobile data. Also, you kiss Visual Voicemail and those 200 SMS messages good-bye, but you do save 20 bucks. Hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like AT&T's 450-minute Nation plan. Could this be fulfillment of Apple's original promise?

Back when Apple and AT&T announced iPhone plans, they said, "In addition, iPhone customers can choose from any of AT&T's standard service plans." Could the secret rate simply be a standard service plan? If you try this, though, take heed: You will probably see added costs for text messaging, and you may really miss that Visual Voicemail. [Electronista]

Tallying Up the iPhone's Cost of Ownership

gizmodo.com — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 10:59:38 EDT

AT&T's three service plans for the iPhone are helping us whittle away speculation and figure out just how much the smartphone will set campers and callers back. Assuming you stay with AT&T, that is, and decide not to eat the $175 cancellation fee.

All three plans include unlimited data for email and Web browsing, Visual Voicemail, mobile-to-mobile, and a paltry 200 SMS text messages. The cheapest of the bunch offers 5,000 weekend and night minutes, while the top two plans are unlimited. So let's crunch the numbers! Just how cheap does your cult membership cost over two years?

If you buy the 4GB model iPhone at $499 and go with AT&T's sparest plan–$59.99 for 450 minutes a month–you'll be looking at a ballpark figure of around $1974.76. Whoa, that's steep? Maybe I suck at math, you should check me on this one. That figure includes the mandatory two-year contract through AT&T and the $36 activation plan. With only 450 minutes and 200 text messages, you're bound to attract some overcharges, as well. Who wants to use their shiny new iPhone for only 450 minutes a month?

Well, might as well break the bank. Let's step up to the beefiest plan AT&T is offering right now: 1,350 minutes for $99.99, though still with the same amount of texts. Also, let's toss in that 8GB iPhone for $599. With your two years of AT&T and activation fee you're at $3034.76. Holy shit! Mind you, the bulk of these costs will show up over the course of two years, but that's still quite a bit!

UPDATE: The "beefiest" plan just got beefier! For $219.99 a month you'll get 6000 minutes, 200 texts (all of the plans have an option for more texts), and pretty much unlimited everything else. Couple that with the 8GB iPhone for $599 and the $36 activation and you're looking at just shy of $6000 dollars over two years.

Get Visual Voicemail Without the iPhone

Jason Chen — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:15:54 EST

If the iPhone visual voicemail feature is the one thing you're most looking forward to, then check out callwave. By redirecting your voicemail to their free voicemail service, you can access any of your voicemails at any time (from your computer). There's even a widget version (OS X and Yahoo) that lets you hear messages in any order you like.

Along with that, Callwave also sends you a text message and an email telling you you've missed a call. Not quite the Visual Voicemail of the iPhone, but cool for its desktop integration. When we tried it, the audio quality was decent enough to use as a full-time voicemail solution. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Callwave via Mobile Mag via Lifehacker]