Straight Talk iPhone 5, after the iOS 7 update, visual voicemail is gone. I tried restoring, resetting the net work settings, called the carrier and had them try to rest the voicemail, none has worked. Now what?

Go to Settings>iCloud. Scroll to the bottom of the iCloud menu.and select "Delete Account". Then after you reset all settings, which will include the network settings, the phone reboots. You go to Voicemail, delete the messages, then select to delete all. The settings may vary, depending on your carrier, as to where to locate them.

Ok, I did misread that post, badly. I do apologize. If your feature is missing, here is a list of "possible" culprits. Step 1. Verify that your Cellular Data is on and working. You must have an active data connection, to access VVM. Wi-Fi will not support it.

Step 2. If Cellular Data is working, and feature is unavailable, call your carrier. Depending on your carrier, they may need to send "Over-the-Air" signals to the phone. If this is the case, make sure you are not calling on your affected phone. The phone will need to have the network settings reset, prior to the signals being sent. This will clear any stored network cache files.

In my line of work, TS these phones, it is common for the person to just dial 611. Needless to say, I have gotten quick enough to send the signals, while the 90 second network setting reset/restart is processing.

I just started noticing my visual voicemail no longer working properly once I removed and deleted Google Talk from my iPhone 4S iOS 7.0.4. After a two hour phone call with AT&T, resetting network setting then restoring my phone to factory settings, as well as replacing my SIM card it has been determined that my Visual Voicemail only works when I'm away from my home and my AT&T Microcell. As it turns out, VM would never appear on my iPhone as long as I was connected to my home Microcell, once I was away and the AT&T system caught up with me any voicemails on the server would appear (they showed up while I was at the AT&T store replacing my SIM card?). Once I arrived back to the house, back to the Microcell, if someone called and left a voice message the call was obvious but no voicemail? So I called AT&T Case management tonight regarding my vanishing voicemail and they confirmed that since the most recent Apple iOS update Visual voicemail does not appear compatible with the AT&T Microcell. We have a Windows cell phone accessing the microcell that also has Visual Voicemail however that phone appears to be functioning correctly. I called AT&T back to ask them if the vanishing voicemails would also effect the windows phone, the indicated possibly HOWEVER they have numerous known Visual Voicemail issues since Apple iOS 7.0.4 and it's incompatibility with the Microcell and they are actively trying to solve the problem from their end however as it seems to be directly connected to the most recent iOS update they issue is more with Apple than with the microcell. I have had my Microcell for a few years and have had iPhones since they came out and I've never had this type of problem with the voicemail or the functioning of the phone itself.

Any resolution would be greatly appreciated, I will not remove my Microcell for two reasons: 1) I live in an area that has very poor cell signal and the Microcell is absolutely perfect and a necessity and it's never failed me like this; 2) why should I stop using a device that boosts my signal just because Apple's iOS doesn't seem to like it? It liked and worked with it before therefore this fix is up to Apple (or with AT&T with Apples assistance) not mine.

Andria

Apple iPhone 4S iOS 7.0.4 (11B554a)

Apple iPad 3rd gen iOS 7.0.4 (11B554a)

Here is a transcript of my chat with Straighttalk;

Jeff: Can you please help me get visual voice mail working on my brand new iPhone 5c that I just bought from Straighttalk?
Prescott: Hi Jeff. Thank you for visiting Straight Talk Wireless.
Jeff: Thanks
Prescott: You are welcome.
Prescott: Let me look into this matter.
Prescott: We want you to know that we do not support visual voicemail.
Jeff: Oh
Prescott: One moment please...
Prescott: Thank you for chatting with Straight Talk Wireless. If you have any further questions or concerns, please contact one of our customer care representatives at 1-877-430-2355. For your convenience, our representatives are available Monday-Sunday from 8:00 AM to 11:45 PM EST.
Jeff: No problem... my next chat will be with the California Public Utilities Commission
Prescott: We consider your comments and we always welcome the opinions you expressed regarding our service.
Prescott: Thank you for chatting with Straight Talk Wireless.
Jeff: or lack thereof
Prescott: Be assured that we are doing our best to provide you the best service possible and we are continually working on improving and expanding our products and services.
Prescott: Thank you for chatting with Straight Talk Wireless.
Jeff: whatever
Prescott has exited the session.
You are the only user left in the session.

While I am not 100% certain, how StraightTalk systems "provision" your VVM settings, I can say that with the carrier I work for, we attach it to the Cellular Data plan. VVM, depending on carrier, requires cellular data to be working, to sync with the network. StraightTalk uses T-Mobile coverage, where I live. T-Mobile uses GSM technology(i.e. SIM cards for any T-Mobile device).

My carrier uses GSM, as well. When iOS 7 first launched, on 7.0, many customers could not get their VVM. This only seemed to affect new iPhone 5s models. The exact symptoms were as follows: the phone would dial the basic VM, when tapping the VVM icon, in your phone menu, despite having correct VVM features in the network. This required us to have the customer do many of the steps,you have done, and continually send Ovet-the-Air signals, to the phone.

Don't ask me why, but iPhones are the ONLY phones that a carriers network has zero capability, to access the phone. As I posted, on another forum page, my Nokia Lumia 820(model RM-824[at&t]) does not have this problem. I also can't setup or change my basic VM, without calling my basic VM. For whatever reason, Apple feels a need to set the carrier settings into the iOS, and that is where the issues lie, hence the "Reset Network Settings". Take your phone to Apple, and they will just send you back to your carrier, and blame it on the carrier. As much as I hate to say this, Jeff, you will probably have to call Straight Talk, again.

Before you do, can you give me a description, of whether you are on cellular data or wi-fi, when accessing the VVM? Also, tell me what happens, when you try to access you VVM, please. Finally, as I know this is a pain, but are you able to retrieve your basic VM, by calling it? Also, who is the provider, that gives you coverage with Straight Talk, in your area?

I may not have all the answers, because I don't have access to StraightTalk technology and systems, but I will do my best to research it and see what I can come up with. I'll do my best to help you folks out.

Well, if the phone is using Verizon Coverage and network carrier technology, ST should be able to fix any bugs, with similar TS performed b Verizon Tech. As far as ST having terrible customer service, that is a shame. I am personally not surprised, because ST is owned by Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart buys the airtime and data coverage, from major carriers. They resell it on their own "plans". Since Wal-Mart is eating all the overhead costs, their profits are very low. Considering the company's reputation, you will likely have to fight it out with them. If the VVM worked before, it can work again. The only thing that has changed, is the iOS. Once again, process of elimination would bring the culprit to iOS 7. As far as the VM notifications, those are usually pushed to the phone via SMS, on basic phones. Even my VVM gets no notifications, when I have new voicemail, when my cellular data is turned off, on my phone.(Once I turn data off, the VVM function just calls my basic VM).

From what you are desscribing, it sounds like ST needs to look at your VM profile, on their network. You can get basic VM fine. The symptoms you are describing sounds like a provisioning error, and not specifically your phone.

To give you a example: Your phone will show whether you have VVM permission, on ST systems. You have to get their tech support, if they even have it. Request a supervisor, if you have to.

Being that this is a Reseller Company and not Verizon, that you are contacting directly, you may need to wait for some type of network ticket to be filed. Contacting Verizon will not help, because their agents will not be able to access your account, as it is through ST.

Yeah, I guess they support it if it happens to work, but not if it doesn't 😕

I gave up on ST and finally went with Aio, soon to be called Cricket. Although ST did EVERYTHING they possibly could to mess up the porting of my number, and gave a different story about it every time I or Aio called, it finally got sorted out. VVM works fine.

ST is so full of BS. Apple shows they are a supported carrier, namely because they use T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T towers. Apple programs the "carrier settings", into the OS, which includes the VVM interface and allows for basic VM setup.

The SIM and the phone only matter, when the phone doesn't support VVM and the SIM is not "provisioned" for it, meaning STs billing system does not show to have the feature enabled, on your account. As an AT&T Tech Support rep, I can confirm, that we remove the VVM as part of VVM troubleshooting, and it doesn't require a new SIM card.

This is nothing more, than a classic case of "You get what you pay for". This is why I do not have ST for my provider, despite them being cheaper per month than AT&T and offer unlimited data. AT&T shows ownership, of my issues, when I call in.

FYI, the type of software, for the major carriers billing systems are standardized, meaning it is identical software as the type I use. Now, ST is a pre-pay type service, if I recall. For the agents to change your VM profile for adding VVM would likely mean they would have to change your billing profile. With a pre-pay account, they would have to issue a prorated or full credit to your account, so the new feature could be added and the old.provisioning would expire. It is different than a postpaid account where a feature change like that would generate a prorated charges and credit, that would zero out on your next bill. So, Wal-Mart just doesn't want to pony up the dough, if that is the case.

The only other thing I can think of, that you may have to do, would be to create a backup in iTunes. Then restore your device as new, from iTunes. When AT&T customers perform a wireless number change, we usually have to have them sync with iTunes to get their VVM box running again. Probably another iOS 7 bug, that Apple will hopefully correct with next update and/or next OS release.

Thanks, QuantLvr. I'm glad you got it to work. I have a few questions for you:

1. Who is your carrier? Straight Talk?

2. Assuming your carrier is Straight Talk, which network does your phone use? For example, does it use Verizon's network? As you may know, Straight Talk uses various networks. An iPhone that was originally designed for Verizon's network, for example, will use Verizon's network, when Straight Talk is its carrier.

3. Could you please lay out the steps you took, one by one by one? For example, was your cellular data disabled to start, and then you turned it on, and then you turned it off? Or did you turn it off, then on, then off, then restarted the phone, etc.? I hope I don't sound nitpicky; I just want to be able to reproduce the steps you took exactly.

Hi Moscovit:

My network is ATT. I turned 'cellular data' off for a two-week holiday in the UK. I received the 'visual email not available' message when I returned. I read the posts here about the issue and did the following: 1) toggled 'cellular data' on and off - no change; 2) toggled 'cellular data' on and then restarted the phone and voice mail worked fine.

PS: Public Service Announce: I'm a PCAP 'Cancer Tracker.' if you're a guy over 35, you consider having a prostate cancer PSA annually and track the results at http://ProstateTracker.org.

This discussion was the 5th or 6th one in my hunt for a solution to this problem. The top hit in my search was a Cnet article that discussed using Google Voice or YouMail as a work around. According to the article setting up Google Voice was more complicated and a few commenters said Youmail was easy to setup so I went with that. Setup was easy and I am testing it now...

Thank you so much for this easy to understand explanation! Makes total sense! Explains why I get the error message from my iphone5s "Failed to fetch your vm greeting from the server" every time I try to customize my greeting. No server connection! I tried on my wifi and with wifi off and on ST service. ST *****! I've used them for a couple years now with no problems until now. Can't believe they won't update their server to sync with ios7 VVM. I guess that's what you get from a second rate service company that doesn't have the tech support and relies on the other big companies' service.

FWIW, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1937?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US indicates that Straight Talk does support VVM ... as of 12 Mar 2014 anyway.

I fixed my iPhone 5 running iOS 7.03: settings, general, removed APN settings, restarted iPhone, voila, data, everything now works!