Visual Voicemail over Wi-Fi?

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Level 1

76 points

Visual Voicemail over Wi-Fi?

Hi Folks,

I'm considering taking the plunge into iPhone land, but I'm getting conflicting reports about whether Visual Voicemail works over Wi-Fi. The issue is that we have little to no signal from AT&T inside our house...so I need to know if I can still at least get indicators of voicemail while I'm at home. This is sort of a make-or-break proposition.

I'm encouraged by the fact that the user guide (under Appendix A > Troubleshooting > Phone & Voicemail)says "Visual Voicemail is delivered over the cellular data network or a Wi-Fi connection." That seems pretty unequivocal. But I've seen a number of posts here where people have flatly stated that Visual Voicemail works ONLY over the cellular network. This would be a problem.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!
-joe

Sony Vaio PCG-SRX99

Posted on Jul 13, 2008 1:02 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 13, 2008 1:09 PM in response to joePM

It is my understanding that visual voicemail is downloaded to the iPhone via at&t's cellular data network only.

Those able to cancel the unlimited data plan for the first generation iPhone and have at&t disable any data access over the cellular network with their iPhone lost access to visual voicemail.

When connected via wi-fi with the iPhone, data access over at&t's cellular network is still available in the background to download visual voicemail. at&t wouldn't have any idea how to forward visual voicemail to an iPhone when connected to the internet via wi-fi. Pull the SIM card out and use the iPhone as an iPod and internet device via wi-fi access only and access to visual voicemail is lost when doing so.

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Answer 2

Jul 13, 2008 1:42 PM in response to joePM

You're welcome.

Yes I have tried it.

If I turn on Airplane mode which disables all iPhone radios - cellular, wi-fi, and bluetooth, visual voicemail messages are not available. The few times I've had no cellular reception, I didn't have access to my visual voicemail.

Visual voicemail messages cannot be downloaded to the iPhone via wi-fi.

When an iPhone is connected via wi-fi, cell phone access is available so the reception level indicator is also available. Next to the reception level indicator is AT&T and next to AT&T is the wi-fi access indicator and reception level. Even though access to the cellular network remains available in the background for access to visual voicemail, there is no indication of this in the iPhone's menu bar.

The iPhone switches from an available wi-fi network to at&t's data or cellular network for internet access automatically and seamlessly. My iPhone can be connected to a wi-fi network and when I wake it from sleep, I regularly see the E indicating that my iPhone is connected via EDGE before quickly switching back to the wi-fi access indicator. Access to the wi-fi network is never lost when I see this.

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Answer 3

Jul 13, 2008 4:25 PM in response to joePM

You're welcome again.

And as I'm sure you know, Airplane mode doesn't really have a bearing on this issue as it turns off Wi-fi along with everything else.

Not with firmware update 2.0, which provides for turning on wi-fi access only with Airplane mode on. A number of airlines are beginning to include wi-fi access during flights - of course at an additional fee.

And I've removed the SIM card which doesn't prevent wi-fi access and my existing visual voicemail messages were not available since I had no cellular reception.

This is puzzling to me because I've seen lots of posts where people talk about the fact that the voicemail messages essentially reside on your phone -- and once you've received them you can in fact listen to them when in Airplane mode.

I formally believed the same, but visual voicemail messages do not reside on the iPhone. You need cellular reception to receive new voicemail messages and for listing to existing messages previously received. These reside on at&t's servers just as normal voicemail messages do, and the iPhone requires cellular reception in order to access them.

Based on what is available in the manual regarding having access to VVM when connected via wi-fi (which doesn't include regardless if you have cellular reception when connected via wi-fi, I'm going to test this again.

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Answer 4

joePM Author

Level 1

76 points

Jul 13, 2008 1:29 PM in response to Allan Sampson

Hi Allan,

Thanks very much for the response. Have you (or anyone else here!) tried it yourself? This is a big source of my confusion: http://weblogs.redeyechicago.com/iphoneblog/2007/09/no-visual-voice.html

Well, that and the bit from the user guide I included in my original post.

Thanks!
-joe

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Answer 5

joePM Author

Level 1

76 points

Jul 13, 2008 3:55 PM in response to Allan Sampson

Again, thanks for the detailed reply. The problem is that I'm in an area (inside my house) where I get zero cell signal, but plenty of Wi-fi. So in this case the phone would be connected via Wi-fi but cell phone access would not be available.

And as I'm sure you know, Airplane mode doesn't really have a bearing on this issue as it turns off Wi-fi along with everything else.

When you say "The few times I've had no cellular reception, I didn't have access to my visual voicemail" I'm curious what you mean -- were you in a situation where people were calling but you got no voicemail indicator? Or you got the indicator but were not able to listen to the message? Or could you just not listen to voicemail messages you'd already received before going into the dead zone?

This is puzzling to me because I've seen lots of posts where people talk about the fact that the voicemail messages essentially reside on your phone -- and once you've received them you can in fact listen to them when in Airplane mode.

And the whole idea of not being able to retrieve voicemail over Wi-fi appears to contradict the user guide as well, of course.

Anyone else have any experience on either side?

Thanks,
-joe

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Answer 6

joePM Author

Level 1

76 points

Jul 25, 2008 9:37 AM in response to Allan Sampson

Allan -- did you ever get a chance to test this out?

Anyone else -- Do you have any experience with this?

Thanks!
-joe

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Answer 7

Jul 25, 2008 11:44 AM in response to joePM

joePM wrote:
Allan -- did you ever get a chance to test this out?

Anyone else -- Do you have any experience with this?

Thanks!
-joe

I've done some experimentation this morning.

1) A cellular connection is required for Visual Voice Mail notification and download to the phone. I confirmed this by
a) Placing a call to myself and leaving a message, and then putting the phone in airplane mode.
b) Turning Wi-Fi on and doing some surfing and email.
c) Going to the visual voice mail screen, where a message is displayed saying that Visual Voice mail is not available.
d) I waited a while and there was no VoiceMail notification. I turned Airplane mode off, and within a minute or two I had my voice mail notification.

2) A cellular signal is NOT required to listen to messages already in visual voice mail. I tested this by
a) Going back to Airplane mode
b) Turning Wi-Fi on (may or may not have been necessary).
c) Going to VVM. I had the same "not available" message, but I also had the voice mail received in test 1 above.
d) I played the voice mail with no problems, then deleted it.

3) Visual Voice Mails ARE stored on the iPhone and can be played with no cellular or Wi-Fi connection. I tested this by:
a) Still in Airplane mode from the previous test, I turned off Wi-Fi.
b) I was able to play the message deleted above from the deleted messages list.
c) I turned airplane mode off and left myself another message.
d) I waited for the indication that I had a visual voice mail.
e) I turned airplane mode back on, and left Wi-Fi off as well this time.
f) I went to VVM. Same "not available" message on screen along with the latest message.
g) I listened to the new message and then deleted it, all with no problems in spite of being in airplane mode with Wi-Fi turned off.

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