Why is ATT disabling visual voicemail on Pixel phones?

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@DrewLucey wrote:

Objections to the AT&T VVM app? 

 

1. It's a separate app (it's a gripe, but any company that ignores user preferences will, in the long run, fail).  Or change.  Hopefully.  

2. The interface is dated and slow to load. It looks like something designed for the iPhone 3G.  Dates and unattractive yes.  Slow, no.  It comes up instantly on my oneplus 6t.  

3. All messages stop playing after 3 seconds and then must be resumed   Your phone must be buggy.  All my messages play perfectly.  

4. Transcription accuracy is horrendous.  Always has been.  Same on built in.  The option has been removed on the Samsung s10 series. 

5. iPhone and Windows Phone users can get this feature integrated on unlocked devices not sold by AT&T, but Android BYOD customers can't?!    You can’t equate iPhone and android.  VVM is built into iPhone, it’s not a carrier feature.  

6. Notifications only provide message counts as opposed to the individual messages.   Not sure what that means?  

7. Notifications do not consistently pop when there are new messages.  Works on my phone 

8. It's needlessly substituting system functionality with a poorer experience than the stock experience. It depends on if the stock experience is easy to access and satisfactory.    It’s not on Samsung.  Rather than one touch, you have to open the phone app, then select VVM.  

 

You're not required to agree with those of us who want AT&T to get out of our software and just focus on being a competent service provider, but you're just trolling if you can't understand why we would so adamantly want AT&T to give us the option to use a feature that is built in to stock Android (not just Pixel phones)

No one is asking you to agree with me either.    But I want the phone I want and for it to work the way I want.  I’ve bern using non carrier androids along side carrier branded for 5 years.  I find a lot of fault with a lot of things, this just isn’t that big a deal.  

@ATTCares does not care, so I will be surprised if this does ever get addressed, but that won't stop me from campaigning to not be saddled with subpar experiences. Yes, I could jump ship and go with another carrier, but I've been with AT&T for nearly 2 decades and have a billing plan that works far better for me than anything I can get as a new customer with another company. So until I get truly fed up with AT&T (which I have come very close to over the past year or so), I am going to keep pushing to get the best experience I can out of them. 

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At&t doesn’t care.  They are intent on selling branded devices and continue to ignore customer input.  Truly I think we are a smaller segment than we think.  Not enough customers realize they can save money and get excellent devices by purchasing non carrier devices.  The more than 50% of Apple users who are price fixed and hypnotized are driving the entire market.  I don’t think any android brand counts enough to any carrier (although T-mo gets kudos for open mindedness).  I also have a bill for 5 lines that even t-mobile can’t beat.  But if T-mo improves coverage where I live, At&t and Verizon can both pound sand.  

@DrewLucey   

https://youtu.be/YxW2x__9KHs

YouTube clip of play back from AT&T VVM.  App opens instantly and plays full message.  I suggest you clear cache or delete and re download the app.  It’s always worked perfectly for me.   (Transcripts aside). 

@GLIMMERMAN76 I don't know, VVM is VERY handy, say if you're trying to check messages, in a meeting or something, you can just "glance" at your phone to see if it's urgent/whatever.  
Using the "dial-in" is a pain, you miss a couple of words, end up scrolling back/forth in the message, or have to just replay it, if it's short.

VVM worked *perfectly* on all my WinPhones, in the native dialer app, just like a branded device, and it does spoil you, IMHO.

I'd liken it to say a "poorly performing auto-complete keyboard"; once you have a great one, a poor one is a terrible customer experience, and you think of (the good one), every time you're struggling to make the bad one work, the way it should.

@lizdance40 Do you actually get this (the buggy VVM app) to work consistently?  I bet it works perfectly 10% of the time for me (non-branded Android 9), and another 50%, if I refresh 1-3 times, it'll finally translate it.  The other 40% are a loss, I have to call in to get the message, it simply won't trigger "visually", in the app, ever.

A little consistency goes a long way, again IMO...

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@pgrey wrote:

@GLIMMERMAN76 I don't know, VVM is VERY handy, say if you're trying to check messages, in a meeting or something, you can just "glance" at your phone to see if it's urgent/whatever.  
Using the "dial-in" is a pain, you miss a couple of words, end up scrolling back/forth in the message, or have to just replay it, if it's short.

Yes it sure is.  I miss VVM on my Verizon line so much.   But it’s not worth $40 to me.

VVM worked *perfectly* on all my WinPhones, in the native dialer app, just like a branded device, and it does spoil you, IMHO.

I'd liken it to say a "poorly performing auto-complete keyboard"; once you have a great one, a poor one is a terrible customer experience, and you think of (the good one), every time you're struggling to make the bad one work, the way it should.

 

@lizdance40 Do you actually get this (the buggy VVM app) to work consistently?   It’s not the least bit buggy.  Transcript is trash, but that’s not “VVM”, that’s transcription.   I’ve been using it since 2014, when it was the standard on AT&T phones too.  

 

I bet it works perfectly 10% of the time for me (non-branded Android 9), and another 50%, if I refresh 1-3 times, it'll finally translate it.  The other 40% are a loss, I have to call in to get the message, it simply won't trigger "visually", in the app, ever. 

Huh.  Never had any problem on any of my phones.  Works perfect on the 6t.  

A little consistency goes a long way, again IMO...

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Compared to the built in to the phone app VVM, while it was slightly more aesthetically pleasing, it was a 2 step process to access.  Not a fan.  Neither ran better or worse.  And again, Samsung and at&t removed transcription from the s10 series phones.  But the app still has it.  (If you’re into gibberish)

There is absolutely hostility intended! AT&T is just being a bully. If ever a competitor was able to take them down a peg, they would rush to include any possible service they could. I just suggest to anyone living in an area served by T-Mobile to run immediately to the nearest store and switch today. 

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@UnlimitedLies wrote:

There is absolutely hostility intended! AT&T is just being a bully.  Lotta drama. 🎭.   

The pixel 3 is the first non carrier phones to get close to equal treatment.  If customers don’t insist on using non carrier phones on At&t, At&t has no inventive to change.    

If ever a competitor was able to take them down a peg, they would rush to include any possible service they could. I just suggest to anyone living in an area served by T-Mobile to run immediately to the nearest store and switch today. 

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Since t-mobile doesn’t work everywhere, that wouldn’t be good for everyone.    The At&t VVM app works just fine on non carrier phones.  

So I just bought a pixel 3a; prior to that, I had an iPhone SE. Same as you there was no VVM on my new phone. I downloaded the app, follow the setup instructions, and it did not work.  So I called ATT tech support and they "reprogramed" my phone on their end and then had me set up my VM by dialing 1 (voicemail was already set up) so it seemed I wasn't getting anywhere.  The technician connected me to his supervisor for more help and I suggested that maybe I should try and re-download the app, so I did.  I went through the same setup steps as the first time I downloaded the app and them boom! it worked!. I now have VVM with my pixel 3 a. 

I think the problem was because ATT was still seeing my phone as my old phone, When I called, they were able to correct this. The system is now seeing my phone as the Pixel (even though "my ATT" still says "unknowen device" next to my device).

So I think the fix was for them to have me shut off my phone then they "reprogramed" my phone.  I then re-installed ATT Visual VM from the Google Play store and set it up.  To be clear there are two ATT VVM apps in the app store, I went with the one that had a higher approval rating. 

The ATT people had no idea how to fix the VVM problem but we figured it out.  

Bottom line, VVM does now work on my Google Pixel! YAY. I am sure the ATT people are just learning and figuring it out.  I am sure that since they do not sell this device they do not have all of the documentation and procedures they would with a phone they do sell. 

@memden  the app named” At&t Voicemail viewer” is for home phones.  

I like the AT&T app fine.  Works on my non carrier androids beautifully.  

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@memden wrote:

So I just bought a pixel 3a; prior to that, I had an iPhone SE. Same as you there was no VVM on my new phone. I downloaded the app, follow the setup instructions, and it did not work.  So I called ATT tech support and they "reprogramed" my phone on their end and then had me set up my VM by dialing 1 (voicemail was already set up) so it seemed I wasn't getting anywhere.  The technician connected me to his supervisor for more help and I suggested that maybe I should try and re-download the app, so I did.  I went through the same setup steps as the first time I downloaded the app and them boom! it worked!. I now have VVM with my pixel 3 a. 

 

I think the problem was because ATT was still seeing my phone as my old phone, When I called, they were able to correct this. The system is now seeing my phone as the Pixel (even though "my ATT" still says "unknowen device" next to my device).

 

So I think the fix was for them to have me shut off my phone then they "reprogramed" my phone.  I then re-installed ATT Visual VM from the Google Play store and set it up.  To be clear there are two ATT VVM apps in the app store, I went with the one that had a higher approval rating. 

 

The ATT people had no idea how to fix the VVM problem but we figured it out.  

 

Bottom line, VVM does now work on my Google Pixel! YAY. I am sure the ATT people are just learning and figuring it out.  I am sure that since they do not sell this device they do not have all of the documentation and procedures they would with a phone they do sell. 

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Your problem with VVM was because you had a iPhone and they needed to remove it before it would work.  They are coded different in the billing and setup systems.