How do you access the alpha keyboard for vm and directory queries?

Sorry. No idea what you're talking about. Can you clarify what it is you're doing and what you want to access?

If you're talking about an automated system that prompts you to enter the name of the individual you want to reach, you don't use an alpha keyboard for that. You use the normal phone keypad. Individual letters are assigned to numbers on the keypad. Automated systems look for DTMF tones. Those are generated by the phone keypad.

That is not actually alpha entry. The system on the other end is looking for the DTMF tones for the numbers, which it then translates to do a lookup on that end. DTMF tones only apply to numbers, # and *.

Are you trying to press a number multiple times to get the letter you want (e.g. press the key labeled abc 3 times for c)? If so. Don't do that. Just press it once. That's all most systems expect.