New voicemail notification via SMS on Telecom XT

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › New voicemail notification via SMS on Telecom XT

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#412187 2-Dec-2010 17:45

freitasm:

Come on, ask for Visual Voicemail... I know you want to ask.

Yes... asked and waiting... I use Visual Voicemail when in Aussie and find it hard going back to the clunky system here (although this will make it slightly better).

D.

nate

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#412189 2-Dec-2010 17:47

If someone at Vodafone could print this out and staple gun it to johnr's head, that'd be appreciated.

oldmaknz

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#412190 2-Dec-2010 17:48

Don't touch the Voicemail on my prepaid iPhone on XT, please. It's great as is.

Damager

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#412192 2-Dec-2010 17:50

Great innovation! Beats having to through several voicemails to get to a specific one.

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exportgoldman

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#412196 2-Dec-2010 18:04

magu: Wow. It sounds amazingly similar to Vodafone's system. Innovative, huh?

Actually talking about the Vodafone Voicemail system (when I was on VF) it really irked me how the options made no sense.

On Telecom it was 1 to replay, 2 to save and 3 to delete. Oh Vodafone it was something like 1, 5 and 6. What happened to options 2,3 and 4? or whatever - I forget the exact numbers.

I could never figure out why they didn't make the most common options the first three, as I believe that more options were enabled for special customers, or advanced features no one used etc.

And just before anyone complains - 2 Degree's is the same way as well...

But at least they give you two weeks before they just delete your messages, unlike Vodafone. Telecom never do, they just bug you until you do.

I always took Telecom's voicemail system for granted before I used everyone elses - if I ever meet the guy which designed it I'll buy him a beer

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akia

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#412198 2-Dec-2010 18:09

Hey guys!

So this is my little baby, I'm the engineer across this.

Just to answer a few questions:

1. Can you reply 'delete' to delete the voicemail
Answer: No

2. Does the text message come in from the user's number
Answer: Yes it does. This means that if that user is in your contacts, depending on your handset (but most do it) it will match the number in your contacts to a name. So will say "From: Bob" and then give you the information within the text.

As Mauricio has said there is a direct link to that very voice message which saves you listening to the whole menu and having to listen to all the voice messages prior to the one you want to get to!

Damager

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#412200 2-Dec-2010 18:11

akia: Hey guys!

So this is my little baby, I'm the engineer across this.

Just to answer a few questions:

1. Can you reply 'delete' to delete the voicemail
Answer: No

2. Does the text message come in from the user's number
Answer: Yes it does. This means that if that user is in your contacts, depending on your handset (but most do it) it will match the number in your contacts to a name. So will say "From: Bob" and then give you the information within the text.

As Mauricio has said there is a direct link to that very voice message which saves you listening to the whole menu and having to listen to all the voice messages prior to the one you want to get to!

Great stuff. I'm going to find this very convenient

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freitasm

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#412201 2-Dec-2010 18:11

exportgoldman: I always took Telecom's voicemail system for granted before I used everyone elses - if I ever meet the guy which designed it I'll buy him a beer

Ok, send me the beer. Seriously though, I didn't design it, but here is a bit of history.

Telecom's original voice mail was based on Unisys UVMS, a voice mail service developed in the U.S. and heavily customised here for Telecom's requirements. I started working on UVMS in 95, and moved to New Zealand to be part of the Unisys/Telecom VSP team from 97 until recently, and was responsible for the voice message reconciliation feature implemented when they decided to deploy four mainframes in order to get resilience.

IIRC we managed to get 100% uptime for a few years after we deployed those four machines.

Telecom then migrated to another platform, as part of cost reduction efforts, but decided to keep the menu structure and options the same, to avoid causing confusion.

So, yes, I'd get the beer award on behalf of the team ;)

richms

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#412203 2-Dec-2010 18:17

After listening to the message, do you get to listen to others or does it hang up?

Richard rich.ms

akia

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#412207 2-Dec-2010 18:23

richms: After listening to the message, do you get to listen to others or does it hang up?

Runs through the other messages, or you can hang up

keewee01

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#412210 2-Dec-2010 18:30

Sounds like a seriously good system - there are a few of my XT users who'd find it very useful. Is there the ability to migrate people to it from tomorrow?

As others mentioned, it's great that Telecom have kept the voicemail option keys the same all this time.

keewee01

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#412211 2-Dec-2010 18:32

freitasm:
magu: Wow. It sounds amazingly similar to Vodafone's system. Innovative, huh?

I thought the Vodafone system only notify you of missed calls. Or does it let you access the specific voice mail directly, like this one?

+1 - takes what VF has to an entirely new level and then some!

Very innovative!

lduncan

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#412225 2-Dec-2010 19:03

akia: Hey guys!

So this is my little baby, I'm the engineer across this.

Just to answer a few questions:

1. Can you reply 'delete' to delete the voicemail
Answer: No

2. Does the text message come in from the user's number
Answer: Yes it does. This means that if that user is in your contacts, depending on your handset (but most do it) it will match the number in your contacts to a name. So will say "From: Bob" and then give you the information within the text.

As Mauricio has said there is a direct link to that very voice message which saves you listening to the whole menu and having to listen to all the voice messages prior to the one you want to get to!

Excellent! Voicemail systems are unbelievably painful to interact with. Anything to improve it is helpful.

But could I ask why this wasn't implemented around more useful technologies? For example voicemail audio attached and send to a user defined email address? SMS and voice circuits seem such a typical old school telco solution.

richms

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#412227 2-Dec-2010 19:15

Or send the voicemail as an MMS?

Richard rich.ms

old3eyes

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#412231 2-Dec-2010 19:37

freitasm:
exportgoldman: I always took Telecom's voicemail system for granted before I used everyone elses - if I ever meet the guy which designed it I'll buy him a beer

Ok, send me the beer. Seriously though, I didn't design it, but here is a bit of history.

Telecom's original voice mail was based on Unisys UVMS, a voice mail service developed in the U.S. and heavily customised here for Telecom's requirements. I started working on UVMS in 95, and moved to New Zealand to be part of the Unisys/Telecom VSP team from 97 until recently, and was responsible for the voice message reconciliation feature implemented when they decided to deploy four mainframes in order to get resilience.

IIRC we managed to get 100% uptime for a few years after we deployed those four machines.

Telecom then migrated to another platform, as part of cost reduction efforts, but decided to keep the menu structure and options the same, to avoid causing confusion.

So, yes, I'd get the beer award on behalf of the team ;)

Wasn't the 1,2,3 system called VMIUF?? Pity it wasn't taken up by more vendors but they all seemed to have their own version of it. It seems peculiar to carrier mails though NZs IPFX and Zeacom have got close to it. Some like Centigram and Activevoice make sense when you have the Alphanumeric prompts turned on.. P to Play, D to Delete etc

Regards,

Old3eyes

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