20 cents for voice mail retrieval query.

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › 20 cents for voice mail retrieval query.

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#1015130 29-Mar-2014 18:29

steve98:
plambrechtsen: It's always been there and the voicemail system isn't all that cheap to run... you can always disable voicemail so then you won't get messages.

How do you do this? Do you have to call customer service?

You can do it via the sphone.telecom.co.nz site, there are about four toggles on when to send a call to voicemail (no answer/phone busy/cannot find/something else).

Bung

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#1015139 29-Mar-2014 18:44

The network operator will tell you voice mail is a luxury that you have to pay for. It is a bonus for them as it increases the termination rate. Even the callers that hang up immediately get charged something.

JaseNZ

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#1015140 29-Mar-2014 18:50

at 20 cents a time it must generate a fair bit of revenue which I would have thought would have paid for the hardware used to manage it many times over.

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jarledb

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#1015142 29-Mar-2014 18:58

sbiddle:
I don't pay it on Vodafone because I just call my number using included minutes to check my voicemail. I don't know if the same trick works on Telecom.

Thats a neat trick. Always annoyed me that I was unable to call to check my voicemail while still having lots of minutes to spare every month because I only fill up my account enough for the monthly $19 package. (Hard learned lesson from having gone over my data package one month and using up a lot of money real quick).

So my voicemail number is now set up to call my phone number. Thanks a million! :)

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#1015254 30-Mar-2014 00:33

Bung: The network operator will tell you voice mail is a luxury that you have to pay for. It is a bonus for them as it increases the termination rate. Even the callers that hang up immediately get charged something.

In the early days BellSouth were forced to offer voicemail to all users because Telecom's interconnect insisted that 100% of calls were actually terminated on their network. BellSouth responded by not charging for voicemail deposit, all while Telecom charged a per minute fee for voicemail deposit (to the mobile owner) when a message was left.

If you don't want voicemail turn it off.

old3eyes

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#1015308 30-Mar-2014 09:10

Yabanize:
sbiddle: Right now Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees all charge 20c for no reason other than that's the price of the service - in much the same way 20c is still the "standard" price for a SMS.

I don't pay it on Vodafone because I just call my number using included minutes to check my voicemail. I don't know if the same trick works on Telecom.

2degrees just takes one of your included minutes from your $19 plan for example.

Which is how it should be done. If 2D can do it why not the rest unless 2D has an old desktop PC as their voicemail system..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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heavenlywild

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#1015311 30-Mar-2014 09:30

Checking voicemail is free on the $69 plan.

quickymart

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#1015318 30-Mar-2014 10:32

I just changed to that yesterday. Both the rep and sales rep I spoke to told me that calls to Australian mobiles were free on that plan as well...but that plan description sort of says otherwise. I hope it's covered!

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#1015345 30-Mar-2014 12:32

heavenlywild: Checking voicemail is free on the $69 plan.

It's been free (well, included) in a number of VF plans for the past couple of years.

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#1015686 30-Mar-2014 21:28

old3eyes:
Yabanize:
sbiddle: Right now Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees all charge 20c for no reason other than that's the price of the service - in much the same way 20c is still the "standard" price for a SMS.

I don't pay it on Vodafone because I just call my number using included minutes to check my voicemail. I don't know if the same trick works on Telecom.

2degrees just takes one of your included minutes from your $19 plan for example.

Which is how it should be done. If 2D can do it why not the rest unless 2D has an old desktop PC as their voicemail system..

2degrees reduces costs by deleting your mailbox every 60 days.

old3eyes

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#1015804 31-Mar-2014 09:10

Kyanar:
old3eyes:
Yabanize:
sbiddle: Right now Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees all charge 20c for no reason other than that's the price of the service - in much the same way 20c is still the "standard" price for a SMS.

I don't pay it on Vodafone because I just call my number using included minutes to check my voicemail. I don't know if the same trick works on Telecom.

2degrees just takes one of your included minutes from your $19 plan for example.

Which is how it should be done. If 2D can do it why not the rest unless 2D has an old desktop PC as their voicemail system..

2degrees reduces costs by deleting your mailbox every 60 days.

Most company voicemails I setup we kill them in 30 days.. I think Skinny has a very short retention time as well. There's nothing to stop Telecom and Vodafone from setting the new message "grim reaper" from deleting them at 60 days or less. Unless your have your fone turned off even after 7 days it's usually too late to act upon the message..

Plus in Telecom's case the same voicemail is used on homelines but you are not charged for access to clear messages..

Regards,

Old3eyes

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1101

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#1015857 31-Mar-2014 10:34

Presso: cheers guys I was just interested to where the cost came from.

In the real world..... :-)

You are not paying to cover another companies 'costs'
You are paying for a service. They are in business to make profits, not to cover 'costs'
What it costs them is irrelevant, even if it cost them nothing.

Peppery

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#1016234 31-Mar-2014 21:22

We do a lot of service jobs at work, most of the time it's easier to try later than to leave a message since nobody ever checks the damn things.

Best thing I did was set my voicemail number to ring a 2talk 029 number on our Asterisk system. Sent as email messages and uses up all of my otherwise unused minutes.

Bung

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#1016283 31-Mar-2014 23:08

I have landline and mobiles sharing 1 mailbox. I was checking something on Telecom's site today and discovered that

"One Voicemail is no longer available for purchase. If you already have One Voicemail, you can continue to use it. We'll be contacting you in the coming months about the future of this service."

If anyone else is using this service have you been contacted yet?

surfisup1000

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#1016294 31-Mar-2014 23:47

SteveON: It costs money for servers, power, people ... You know the normal stuff that costs money to provide a service.

Sure, but given the huge drops in price for cpu/harddrives you'd think it would be much cheaper to run than 10 years back.

And, this is old technology now so I'd have thought those costs would have dropped too.

But, telecom still have to make some money i guess-- it's a tough old world out their in the big old tri-opoly.

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