4 ms·
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
by johnchristopher 13y 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 13y agoOne 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 13y agoI'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 13y agoCongratulations - you have invented the answerphone.