4 ms·

Here's an idea: get rid of voicemail completely. The only person, the ONLY person I know who has used mine is my father, and his message is always "Sorry I miss

by thret 12y ago

Here's an idea: get rid of voicemail completely. The only person, the ONLY person I know who has used mine is my father, and his message is always "Sorry I missed you, call me when you can." Which I know already, thanks.

MichaelApproved 12y ago
> Here's an idea: get rid of voicemail completely. The only person, the ONLY person I know who has used mine is my father The only person you know is your father. There are millions of people who still rely on voicemail to communicate. > and his message is always "Sorry I missed you, call me when you can." Which I know already, thanks. You wouldn't know that if your mobile phone was out of range and didn't receive the missed call.
- andreasvc 12y ago
  > You wouldn't know that if your mobile phone was out of range and didn't receive the missed call. You could, actually. My provider sends a text message when that happens, which you receive when you're in range again.
  - MichaelApproved 12y ago
    You could, I can't. I use Verizon and they don't offer that feature.
sspiff 12y ago
I disabled it on my previous provider through a bunch of obscure operations that seemed like black magic to me. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to disable it on my current provider. I don't know why providers make this so hard for their users. Perhaps it's because the providers make money from those brief, useless voicemail connections? I assume the caller is billed just like he made a normal phone call. I personally hate listening to a machine and playbacks of recorded messages, but my employer uses my voicemail sometimes so I guess I'll have to cope.
pritambaral 12y ago
Others find valuable. Here in a country where there is no notion of voicemail, all we have is is a missed call log. And then we have to call each one up in person to inquire what they wanted to talk about if they didn't SMS me right after, which few people do. A voicemail system would be good here. Some people may feel it unnecessary, and are welcome to not use/disable it.
johnchristopher 12y ago
I always wondered (and still do) why the voicemail recordings weren't stored on the phone. I could get it in the 90's (storage was expensive and phones weren't beefy enough to transcode efficiently) but at the beginning of the century I got puzzled by this. Obvious advantages are: - you never lose any information ; - you can archive and transfer them on your personal devices (PC, etc.) for later use ; - you don't have to call your voicemail and navigate a audio/keypad interface that is basically a huge timesink and an horrible experience.
- emiliobumachar 12y ago
  One disadvantage is that your phone would need to be turned on and in range to receive the message. This could be solved by a hybrid system where the carrier also stores it. A perhaps more important factor is that when you call the carrier to get your voicemail, you sort of automatically know you'll have to pay for it. But if your phone silently downloads a message you may never check, not so much. So that crestes a billing problem.
- kalleboo 12y ago
  I've never understood why they weren't sent as MMS to your phone as soon as all the phones supported it (which was when, 2001-2003?). In the pre-smartphone era, Japanese phones actually had a answering phone feature inside them that would receive and record the message to the microSD card. This had the big downside of not working when you're out of range or out of battery, which is still probably the #1 reason for a call to go to voicemail (IMO).
- jameshart 12y ago
  Congratulations - you have invented the answerphone.
vertex-four 12y ago
Here in the UK, it's easy to disable it. The number to do so usually becomes preloaded on phones, or you can phone up customer support and have them do it, or search for it online.
- jameshart 12y ago
  Presumably then it's also easy to enable it - can you enable it for an arbitrary phone by using one of the caller ID spoofing systems mentioned in the article?
  - vertex-four 12y ago
    I wouldn't think so, but I haven't tried.
tjoff 12y ago
My first idea as well, have always had it disabled and I can't remember last time I actually came across one, it died in the nineties (an SMS is way better anyway). Although I bet all operators have them included in all plans in case you want to enable it. And that's a problem of it's own, it probably wouldn't be difficult to turn anyone's voicemail with social engineering or probably a host of other techniques. So I don't know if you suggest getting rid of it completely or just disable it as a customer, the first will not happen over night and the latter might not help much (but probably can't hurt).

by thret 12y ago

MichaelApproved 12y ago

> Here's an idea: get rid of voicemail completely. The only person, the ONLY person I know who has used mine is my father The only person you know is your father. There are millions of people who still rely on voicemail to communicate. > and his message is always "Sorry I missed you, call me when you can." Which I know already, thanks. You wouldn't know that if your mobile phone was out of range and didn't receive the missed call.

andreasvc 12y ago
> You wouldn't know that if your mobile phone was out of range and didn't receive the missed call. You could, actually. My provider sends a text message when that happens, which you receive when you're in range again.
- MichaelApproved 12y ago
  You could, I can't. I use Verizon and they don't offer that feature.

sspiff 12y ago

I disabled it on my previous provider through a bunch of obscure operations that seemed like black magic to me. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to disable it on my current provider. I don't know why providers make this so hard for their users. Perhaps it's because the providers make money from those brief, useless voicemail connections? I assume the caller is billed just like he made a normal phone call. I personally hate listening to a machine and playbacks of recorded messages, but my employer uses my voicemail sometimes so I guess I'll have to cope.

pritambaral 12y ago

Others find valuable. Here in a country where there is no notion of voicemail, all we have is is a missed call log. And then we have to call each one up in person to inquire what they wanted to talk about if they didn't SMS me right after, which few people do. A voicemail system would be good here. Some people may feel it unnecessary, and are welcome to not use/disable it.

johnchristopher 12y ago

I always wondered (and still do) why the voicemail recordings weren't stored on the phone. I could get it in the 90's (storage was expensive and phones weren't beefy enough to transcode efficiently) but at the beginning of the century I got puzzled by this. Obvious advantages are: - you never lose any information ; - you can archive and transfer them on your personal devices (PC, etc.) for later use ; - you don't have to call your voicemail and navigate a audio/keypad interface that is basically a huge timesink and an horrible experience.

emiliobumachar 12y ago
One disadvantage is that your phone would need to be turned on and in range to receive the message. This could be solved by a hybrid system where the carrier also stores it. A perhaps more important factor is that when you call the carrier to get your voicemail, you sort of automatically know you'll have to pay for it. But if your phone silently downloads a message you may never check, not so much. So that crestes a billing problem.
kalleboo 12y ago
I've never understood why they weren't sent as MMS to your phone as soon as all the phones supported it (which was when, 2001-2003?). In the pre-smartphone era, Japanese phones actually had a answering phone feature inside them that would receive and record the message to the microSD card. This had the big downside of not working when you're out of range or out of battery, which is still probably the #1 reason for a call to go to voicemail (IMO).
jameshart 12y ago
Congratulations - you have invented the answerphone.

vertex-four 12y ago

Here in the UK, it's easy to disable it. The number to do so usually becomes preloaded on phones, or you can phone up customer support and have them do it, or search for it online.

jameshart 12y ago
Presumably then it's also easy to enable it - can you enable it for an arbitrary phone by using one of the caller ID spoofing systems mentioned in the article?
- vertex-four 12y ago
  I wouldn't think so, but I haven't tried.

tjoff 12y ago

My first idea as well, have always had it disabled and I can't remember last time I actually came across one, it died in the nineties (an SMS is way better anyway). Although I bet all operators have them included in all plans in case you want to enable it. And that's a problem of it's own, it probably wouldn't be difficult to turn anyone's voicemail with social engineering or probably a host of other techniques. So I don't know if you suggest getting rid of it completely or just disable it as a customer, the first will not happen over night and the latter might not help much (but probably can't hurt).