Why is ATT disabling visual voicemail on Pixel phones?

First of all, the built in VVM is awful.  I hated when they included it into the phone app.  It use to take one tap or gesture to open VVM app and select the VVM I want to hear.  Now it take 3 steps to go through the phone app.  Terrible time waster, which was the reason VVM was great in the first place. 

     Second;  An iPhone is an iPhone is an iPhone and the iPhone is 60% of the US phone market.  No matter which iPhone you have the programming is the same, plus or minus features.  iPhone also have its own built in visual voicemail, it’s not using the ATT program.  

    Android is legion and no two android have the same OS programming. It’s not possible to make the hundreds of different android OS variation of visual Voicemail work with ATT.  Att can have its own branded phones set up to work, but it cannot possibly reprogram the multitude of other android phones to work with their system.

    Just be glad they let the Pixel 3 have HD voice and Wifi calling.  Too bad they aren’t letting the rest of the phones in too.

@eldaino

Its easy ATT did not give or google did not ask for the IMS config for ATT's voice mail.  Or ATT is using a system that they built and its not supported by googles system just like native RCS support..  

This is the first android phone ever to get Wifi calling on ATT period which is a win for android folks.  People tend to forget the pixel series was built with verizon's network in mind.  There are users reporting problems with it on T-mobile at this point.

This is odd to me being an iPhone user since the 3G came out 10 years ago. Never realized the disparity for this feature.   Wonder why a standardized solution such as the one in iOS hasn’t been implemented in android if helped with adoption.   I do remember some fuss about visual voicemail back in the day, getting it activated and working, but frankly boring for a long time. 

And yeah, getting the other value added features working is a huge win for android users. 

Cheers. 

@gr8sho

As I wrote VVM on iPhone is an Apple program, not ATT, Verizon, etc.  Android phones don’t get VVM on prepaid, but it works on iPhones becasue it’s built into the iOS.   

It’s  the one feature I miss on my main phone since putting it on Verizon prepaid.  But I’m very happy I do NOT get an ATT android for the line I still have on AT&T so I can use the VVM app that works on old phones and non carrier phones. 

@lizdance40

 

First of all, the built in VVM is awful.  I hated when they included it into the phone app.  It use to take one tap or gesture to open VVM app and select the VVM I want to hear.  Now it take 3 steps to go through the phone app.  Terrible time waster, which was the reason VVM was great in the first place. 

Are you talking about androids native visual voicemail on the pixel? or are you talking about the att voicemail app? because the following:

Android is legion and no two android have the same OS programming. It’s not possible to make the hundreds of different android OS variation of visual Voicemail work with ATT.  Att can have its own branded phones set up to work, but it cannot possibly reprogram the multitude of other android phones to work with their system.

    Just be glad they let the Pixel 3 have HD voice and Wifi calling.  Too bad they aren’t letting the rest of the phones in too.

 

...leads me to believe you are.

Unless you're somehow talking about your experience with an unlocked pixel on another network? Because visual voicemail on the pixel takes just as many taps as an iphone to get into: phone, hit the vm tab.

I think some of you are confused: android, and by default google's nexus/pixel phones, has had visual voicemail built in since 2015, with the marshmellow update.

I'm not complaining about not being able to use att's visual voicemail app. I'm not asking for att to enable their OWN visual voicemail app or to support a myriad of android devices: visual voicemail is part of android's OS. And it has been for the last 3 years.

If i buy a samsung galaxy from att, sure, maybe att gets to mandate that their visual voicemail app be the default because they have their fingers in those branded phone's software....but the pixel has it standard. by default.

If im with any other carrier, the built in vmm works fine. 

Att is proactively blocking it. This isnt a feature att needs to develop for or support, its part of the os. 

I understand that there are lots of iphone users. But even when there wasn't apple called the shots and didn't allow att to meddle with their software. With the pixel, att has blocked a feature, that they don't have any reason to, on the sim card level. For no other reason other than 'too bad'.

I really dunno what planet you guys are from where getting to use features built into your own device should result in gratitude on my part. Or on the users part in general. I mean...are you actually typing that out?

Your explanation is still lacking, so i'll reiterate: if i bought an iphone from apple and put an att sim in it, apples o.s. level visual voicemail still works, even if i didnt get the phone at att. Google's pixel phones and android in general, has os level visual voicemail built in and att is proactively blocking it....because reasons. 

I had a pixel 2 and had hd voice and wifi calling on it as well....so all these comments are even more strange in their certainty, because you folks have inaccurate information. and on top of that, want me to be grateful these 'first time features' even work on the pixel 3....when theyve worked on previous generations. (not the vmm, the wifi calling and hd voice.)

@lizdance40 If it’s as “easy” as providing a standard program, why doesn’t Google provide something similar as part of android instead of leaving it up to carriers.  I must be missing something obvious.  

@GLIMMERMAN76

 

Its easy ATT did not give or google did not ask for the IMS config for ATT's voice mail.  Or ATT is using a system that they built and its not supported by googles system just like native RCS support..  

This is the first android phone ever to get Wifi calling on ATT period which is a win for android folks.  People tend to forget the pixel series was built with verizon's network in mind.  There are users reporting problems with it on T-mobile at this point.

 

The first statement kinda gets closer to the truth...but again, it doesn't explain why an os-level feature is being disabled, outside of 'well because we can'. Native vvm works on every other network you use a pixel device on....and the one network it doesnt work on, is the same network whose solution a few posts above was 'just download our app!' So lets be real here...is it really google not asking for the ims or is it att being att? 

Second statement: not true. I had wifi calling (and hd voice) on my pixel 2 xl no problems. So its not the first. Also, the pixel is NOT build with verizons network in mind, its built with the most popular networks here in the US in mind; they are just their exclusive carrier partner. Its a fully unlocked phone. 

As I wrote VVM on iPhone is an Apple program, not ATT, Verizon, etc.  Android phones don’t get VVM on prepaid, but it works on iPhones becasue it’s built into the iOS

 

@lizdance40 omg. folks. Android has visual voicemail built into the OS. I don't know how many more times I can type it out. 

If att doesn't want to enable it on their own branded android phones fine. But them going out of their way to BLOCK it on an unlocked pixel (something i've already verified they are doing and that we still don't have a reasonable answer for outside of 'greed' and 'its not a phone you gave us money for!') is unacceptable. 

@eldaino

Yeah okay, that makes more sense and obvious I suppose. I don’t use Android phone, only tablet. Perhaps it’s a matter of the more open nature of android and customizations done. Perhaps more adoption will be forthcoming in the future depending on market forces. 

One thing that’s interesting though is for all the reading I do on Android phones, don’t think I ever once saw anyone mention VMM as a thing that mattered.