Verizon Wireless upgrades to visual voicemail
LG Voyager first to offer service
August 1 2008 - 1:55 pm ET | Allie Winter | RCR Wireless News
Verizon Wireless' visual voicemail will allow users to select specific messages.
Verizon Wireless quietly launched visual voicemail, allowing customers to view caller and voicemail information and listen to voicemail messages in any order on their phone.
Voice messages will be displayed on users’ phones with sender and time information, and customers can scroll through the messages and pick the ones they’d like to listen to. That means users don’t have to call their automated voicemail system, wait for the auto-voicemail message, enter a password and play through all those old saved messages just to get to the new one.
Verizon Wireless said its service allows customers to save up to 40 messages for 40 days. Similar to text messaging, there will be an inbox and new message icon, and users can listen to or delete the messages.
Interestingly, the carrier said visual voicemail users will also be able to archive their messages in multiple locations. For example, users can keep a copy of a specific message in their device’s internal memory or on a removable memory card. Users can also send the audio file via e-mail or multimedia message service.
Verizon Wireless said its new visual voicemail offering is currently available for the LG Electronics Co. Ltd. “Voyager Refresh” touchscreen phone. The carrier said existing Voyager customers can bring their device to a Verizon Wireless retail store to have the device upgraded for visual voicemail.
“Additional devices will be introduced in the future,” promised the carrier.
Verizon Wireless is the latest carrier to move into the visual voicemail space. Spurred by the popularity of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which sports the offering, carriers such as Sprint Nextel Corp. (through its new Instinct from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.) have also introduced the service.
October 22, 2008 10:29 am
I've had VVM on my LG Voyager for two weeks now. I'm very happy with it's functionality but sometimes the touch screen doesn't respond when I get a VVM alert. That's the only drawback I have identified. I like that I can receive several messages and I can prioritize the order for myself. I also save messages I feel are important to go beyond the 40 day (renewable) limit for saved messages on the regular VM system. I have the VCast service as an add-on for unlimited data access so I've also started using the Mobile E-mail function too! If you want your text messages read, the Voyager already does that. Would I want my voice mail messages transcribed to text? No. Why? Because, the technology is not quite at a level where I want to reply on it to properly translate voice messages to text. I personally work with people born and raised in the USA and also many from other cultures and countries. Some accents (when they speak English) are difficult enough for my ear to distinguish so how can I expect today’s software to be ready for that? Some time soon I hope but for now, I’m very happy listening to clear messages without incurring additional airtime costs!
August 21, 2008 04:12 pm
The update for Visual Voicemail is on the Verizon website. Click the link "Click here for details on Verizon Wireless' new service" in the above story and it takes you directly to the application. Looks like Verizon is charging $2.99/month to use the feature.
August 8, 2008 07:03 am
If you want your mail to be written and not spoken, why not send a text message?
August 6, 2008 07:59 pm
I have not yet seen the VzW VVM on the LG device, but I am aware of the VzW activity. I imagine they will want to offer VVM on as many models as possible to maintain shrinking use of consumer voicemail. However, how prepared they are to upgrade various models' firmware remains to be seen.I agree that voice storage/delivery of messages is obviously less efficient than text storage/delivery and that both have their benefits. I also agree that a solution that gives the consumer the choice of message deliver/management type is ideal and some solutions in that regard are starting to enter the market.However, I also know that 90% of the phones in use in the world were made for phone calls and short texts. Using MMS (and/or email, optional of course), if a growing preponderance of these phones (and their descendants) with VVM can bring voicemail up to the usability standards of text messaging (circa 1998) and allow messaging without letting go of the steering wheel, we are all much better off.
August 4, 2008 09:39 am
I called Verizon Wireless and asked if my version of the voyager was compatible with this new feature since I just received it within the last week. I was advised NO, since the menu option was not there in my Voicemail options where it would be. I was told to go into my Verizon Wireless corporate chain location, and get the V9 software upgrade so that the option for Visual Voicemail would appear. My local VZW store advised me on 8/1/08 at 745PM the latest version they had was version 7 not 9, and they called the "tech store" in the area and informed me the new software for visual voicemail was not available yet.
August 2, 2008 05:06 pm
The only thing that is visual about this form of Visual Voicemail is the random access message directory for retrieval. Otherwise, it is still a non-visible message whose content has to be played sequentially. Keeping the message content in voice also ups the costs of storage and transmission. So, even though this form of Visual Voice Mail supports smart-phones like Apples iPhone, transcribing the voice content to text would really pay off to the voice message recipient.(And don't tell me its always important to hear the tone of voice in a message! That should always be an option for the message recipient,)