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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#412235 2-Dec-2010 19:48

lduncan: But could I ask why this wasn't implemented around more useful technologies?

I would beg to differ that SMS is not a useful technology. SMS is simple and is a service that can go across all devices (baring in mind I'm excluding GSM handsets in that statement since XT is a WCDMA network).

akia

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#412239 2-Dec-2010 19:56

keewee01: 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?

Yep - give 123 a call from after 10am and they can sort you out. Any problems let me know :)

Shock

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#412244 2-Dec-2010 20:10

akia: Hey guys!

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

So now when I ring you there is really no excuse to not return my calls / messages. I appreciate the effort you have put in to address this issue.

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exportgoldman

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#412279 2-Dec-2010 21:48

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 ;)

Very interesting history thanks fretisam - I'll haul myself along to the next geekzone catchup and buy you a beer :-) Well done on such a good system

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lduncan

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#412315 3-Dec-2010 00:23

exportgoldman:
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 ;)

Very interesting history thanks fretisam - I'll haul myself along to the next geekzone catchup and buy you a beer :-) Well done on such a good system

Hold up, don't Unisys also handle Vodafone NZ and AU voicemail systems too? ;-)

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lduncan

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#412321 3-Dec-2010 00:42

akia:
lduncan: But could I ask why this wasn't implemented around more useful technologies?

I would beg to differ that SMS is not a useful technology. SMS is simple and is a service that can go across all devices (baring in mind I'm excluding GSM handsets in that statement since XT is a WCDMA network).

Ignore me while I proceed to rant :-)

I'm just miffed that finally when a telco does something with their voicemail systems, it's so limited in potential that it's unbelievably frustrating.

How many years have we put up with crap VM interfaces?
How many years has unified messaging been around (ie vm delivered to email inboxes)?
How many years has Apple had their visual voicemail system implemented?

There are successful existing models to follow. Don't get me wrong, this is an improvement, but feels frustratingly like a dead end improvement, rather than a radical change in interface improvement, which is what is really needed.

I don't want to trivialise the work involved in putting something like this into production. I just think this SMS solution is the wrong approach. Take a simple solution like delivering the vm as an audio attachment to a customer defined email address. By having just that feature, the scope is wide open for 3rd parties to create some awesome interfaces for VM, given Telecom or VF simply don't have the capability or interest in doing any real consumer focused software. This is the age of the smart phone, SMS is dying legacy tech.

End rant.

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richms

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#412323 3-Dec-2010 00:49

Cant charge for that as easily as charging for people calling a number to check messages. Can you imagine prepay users having a charge for someone leaving a voicemail when they are the tight type that put $10 on to use $10 text and nothing else?

Richard rich.ms

freitasm

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#412343 3-Dec-2010 07:45

lduncan: Hold up, don't Unisys also handle Vodafone NZ and AU voicemail systems too? ;-)

Unisys never provided services for Vodafone New Zealand.

Unisys did provide the voice mail for Vodafone Australia until last year or so, on a platform similar to what was provided to Telecom, without the redundancy.

Unisys wrote a complete custom protocol to implement visual voice mail for Vodafone Australia. That's why Vodafone Australia customers have visual voice mail and Vodafone New Zealand customers don't.

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lduncan

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#412345 3-Dec-2010 07:57

freitasm:
lduncan: Hold up, don't Unisys also handle Vodafone NZ and AU voicemail systems too? ;-)

Unisys never provided services for Vodafone New Zealand.

Unisys did provide the voice mail for Vodafone Australia until last year or so, on a platform similar to what was provided to Telecom, without the redundancy.

Unisys wrote a complete custom protocol to implement visual voice mail for Vodafone Australia. That's why Vodafone Australia customers have visual voice mail and Vodafone New Zealand customers don't.

Ahh, right. Thanks for clarifying that. I knew they did the visual voicemail integration for AU and heard they were involved with VF NZ voicemail systems too. That bit was obviously wrong.

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steve98

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#412361 3-Dec-2010 08:58

Just activated this morning and am gutted to find that, while it works as advertised, this new system is instead of the voicemail icon completely. So once you have read the text, there is nothing to continue to remind you that you have a message to listen to. With the voicemail icon it stays on the screen until you have cleared the message.

Akia -- is there a particular reason that we can't have both the SMS and the voicemail icon?

Steve

akia

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#412381 3-Dec-2010 09:35

@steve98 - at the moment it's one or the other

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steve98

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#412393 3-Dec-2010 10:02

akia: @steve98 - at the moment it's one or the other

Yes I realise that, but what I meant was -- it there a particular reason? Is it a technical limitation or just a business decision? Also did you know that if you switch to this service while your voicemail icon is displaying from a previous message there is no way to get rid of the icon (on handsets that don't have a 'clear icon' option)?

ARF1

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#412404 3-Dec-2010 10:39

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

You'd better share.

chrhodes

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#412410 3-Dec-2010 10:54

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 ;)

Sorry but I have to say this, but the Unisys wasn't the original voicemail system as there was the Octel system that was deployed before it.

This was part of the 025 TDMA network. This is the same type of system that Telstra Clear still uses today for their PSTN voicemail.

FYI I used to support this from the UK.

Do i win a prize?

Chris

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#412417 3-Dec-2010 11:15

freitasm: when they decided to deploy four mainframes in order to get resilience.

FOUR mainframes?

//Me blinks. We're by no means the biggest operator in NZ (yet!) but I can't see us ever requiring FOUR mainframes!

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