Roaming with Visual Voice Mail?

[gadgeTT]

Hi All,

I've had no luck getting answers from AT&T or Apple on this one, so perhaps someone here knows the answer.

When roaming on GSM networks outside of the USA, I know that my voice minutes and data minutes are charged at the roaming rates as available. As I understand, the way the "visual voicemail" (VVM) feature works is that when someone leaves you a message, it's stored on the AT&T servers as usual, but is then transmitted as a data file to your iPhone for offline playback. Once transferred to the iPhone, the phone can be in "Airplane mode" and still play back the message because it's merely a file stored on the local device.

Therefore, if someone calls me from the USA while I'm traveling internationally, and I don't answer the all, they will roll to voicemail. If they leave me a voicemail message while I'm traveling, how am I billed for the cals which I don't answer and which roll to voice mail while I'm traveling?

1. Am I billed for the "airtime" (voice) for the caller to merely leave a voice mail even if I don't listen to it?
2. If the area has data services available, am I billed for the data transmission to receive the VVM file, so I'm billed even if I don't answer the call?
3. If the area doesn't have data service but does have voice services, am I only billed airtime (voice minutes) if I call in to listen to the message?

One AT&T rep tried convincing me that if I'm traveling, someone calls and I don't answer it, I still pay airtime minutes just for the caller to leave me a message even if I don't call in to retrieve the message at all. That sounds wong to me.

Anyone?

Thanks!

[stewsan]

Originally Posted by gadgeTT

Hi All,

I've had no luck getting answers from AT&T or Apple on this one, so perhaps someone here knows the answer.

When roaming on GSM networks outside of the USA, I know that my voice minutes and data minutes are charged at the roaming rates as available. As I understand, the way the "visual voicemail" (VVM) feature works is that when someone leaves you a message, it's stored on the AT&T servers as usual, but is then transmitted as a data file to your iPhone for offline playback. Once transferred to the iPhone, the phone can be in "Airplane mode" and still play back the message because it's merely a file stored on the local device.

Therefore, if someone calls me from the USA while I'm traveling internationally, and I don't answer the all, they will roll to voicemail. If they leave me a voicemail message while I'm traveling, how am I billed for the cals which I don't answer and which roll to voice mail while I'm traveling?

1. Am I billed for the "airtime" (voice) for the caller to merely leave a voice mail even if I don't listen to it?
2. If the area has data services available, am I billed for the data transmission to receive the VVM file, so I'm billed even if I don't answer the call?
3. If the area doesn't have data service but does have voice services, am I only billed airtime (voice minutes) if I call in to listen to the message?

One AT&T rep tried convincing me that if I'm traveling, someone calls and I don't answer it, I still pay airtime minutes just for the caller to leave me a message even if I don't call in to retrieve the message at all. That sounds wong to me.

Anyone?

Thanks!

From my experience, once the phone registers overseas you get billed for every call whether you answer or not. Until you get back to the USA and the phone logs on there.

If the phone rings and you don't answer it and let it go to voice mail, you pay double.

If you turn on your phone overseas, let it register, and then turn it off. You will pay for every call made to that phone, until you get back to the USA.

Visual voice mail uses edge, so you're paying a small amount for that.

I know that sounds unfair and it is but unless things have changed in the last month that is what happens. I turned my phone on in Australia just to see if it would work and turned it off. I ended up paying for 60+ calls before I got back to the states and got registered with cingular/att. They all went to my voice mail.

[moonshine]

ok, you got billed for 60+ calls, but PLEASE tell me you didn't PAY for any of them.

[SkyyBoy]

to avoid roaming charges, set your phone to "unconditional call forwarding" that way, your phone will NOT ring while you are roaming (calls go STRAIGHT to voicemail). to do that, follow these instructions:
# On your phone, dial *#62# and click Send.
# Phone number will be displayed.
# Write down the number (including +1)
# Dial **21*+1xxxyyyzzzz*11# and hit Send. +1xxxyyyzzzz is the number you wrote down previously
# Dial *#21# to verify that the new settings are active.
# When no longer desired, dial ##002# to reset back to normal.

I did that on my last trip to Europe and it worked fine. I did sign up for the 50MB Int'l iPhone data plan. However, I did not notice any voicemail data being recorded for my account while I was gone.
Because the calls do not attempt to "find" your phone on the foreign network, there are no roaming charges.

[Huncowboy]

I have found this also. I am sure this is old news.

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/in...-international

50 MB seems to be not much at all...