Need help understanding your bill?
sundaysprinkler's profile

Contributor

 • 

1 Message

Tuesday, June 13th, 2017 7:55 PM

Is Visual Voicemail an additional charge?

How do I cancel this feature called visual voicemail which I am pretty sure am not using? I have an iPhone 7.

Accepted Solution

Official Solution

ACE - Expert

 • 

64.7K Messages

7 years ago

You are not paying for visual voicemail. The $40 line fee is for unlimited talk and text, visual voicemail is included for free. You can get visual voicemail removed but the $40 charge will remain. You can't remove it.

ACE - Professor

 • 

3K Messages

7 years ago

This line item is part of your plan. The $40.00 charge is for your device that includes visual voicemail.  I have copied my plan breakdown.  Item 1 is the data plan entry and item 4 is the cost of the phone (device).  Mine has the entry for my phone that includes visual voicemail (w/VVM).  Visual voicemail comes with all smartphones.

 

  1. AT&T Unlimited Plus One Line 

  2. Discount for unlimited single line AutoPay 

  3. Discount for Military 

  4. Access for iPhone 4G LTE w/ VVM 

  5. International Roaming - Expanded 

  6. See News You Can Use 911 TTY Message 

  7. NumberSync 


ACE - Expert

 • 

16.5K Messages

7 years ago

@sundaysprinkler When you buy an "iPhone 64GB Red for $649" is it the "red" that is $649? No it's the phone, the color is "free".

 

The VVM is not the $40 part, the $40 is the line cost, the VVM is the type of free Voice Mail that you get on that line.

 

 

ACE - Expert

 • 

14.1K Messages

6 years ago


@MarkLeavenworth wrote:

There is a kind of cost for Visual Voicemail if you manage your data usage, because you have to turn data ON to get Visual Voicemail messages. This can be a serious problem if you need to receive massages immediately at anytime for job applications or if you have a family member in the hospital. 

 


Hopefully, neither of those are frequent situations. If those circumstances arise, you could just leave data on. 

Contributor

 • 

2 Messages

5 years ago

I had the exact same experience, and our bill jumped up an additional $40/month.  This is an incredibly substantial amount and not to disclose to new customers switching to AT&T is inexcusable.  I'm currently debating paying the remainder of my new phone just so I can cut ties with such deceit.  What disappointment we have in this company.

ACE - Sage

 • 

116.6K Messages

5 years ago


@kellympulver wrote:

I had the exact same experience, and our bill jumped up an additional $40/month.  This is an incredibly substantial amount and not to disclose to new customers switching to AT&T is inexcusable.  I'm currently debating paying the remainder of my new phone just so I can cut ties with such deceit.  What disappointment we have in this company.


(SMH).  Who didn’t read the thread?  @kellympulver    You aren’t paying for VVM.  It’s free.    Wait for your bill, not the customer service summary.  The service summary doesn’t include your line discounts and taxes are wrong. 

 

Master

 • 

3.5K Messages

5 years ago

@lizdance40 My online bill shows it, formatted correctly:

Monthly plan charges for Mar 00 - Apr 00$35.00
Access for Smartphone 4G LTE w/ VVM
$35.00
International Roaming - Expanded
$0.00
 
I think the VVM portion just confuses people, it's the last thing on that line, and the thought is, "why am I paying $xx for VVM???".

ACE - Sage

 • 

116.6K Messages

5 years ago


@pgrey wrote:

@lizdance40 My online bill shows it, formatted correctly:

Monthly plan charges for Mar 00 - Apr 00$35.00
Access for Smartphone 4G LTE w/ VVM
$35.00
International Roaming - Expanded
$0.00
 
I think the VVM portion just confuses people, it's the last thing on that line, and the thought is, "why am I paying $xx for VVM???".

I maintain the line should be changed to:

Access for Smartphone 4G LTE w/ free VVM
$35.00
But then it’s not the first time I thought the billing information was uninformative. 
The ‘discount for access’ should have been worded as ‘out of contract discount’.  
 

New Member

 • 

1 Message

Everyone says vvm is free but why is my bill $40 more 

ACE - Expert

 • 

64.7K Messages

@Chew No one here can see your bill. $40 more than what? Whatever it is, you are not paying for vvm.

Award for Community Excellence Achiever*
*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

ACE - Sage

 • 

116.6K Messages

@Chew

Read the thread. 

The advertised price for your plan is exactly what is on the bill.  It's just in 2 parts.

1 line:

Starter $65

Extra $75

Elite $85

 

🐾 I don’t work for AT&T or any carrier. Never have, never will. My replies are based on experience and reading content available on the website. If you posted personal information, please edit and remove.

Award for Community Excellence Achiever*
*I am not an AT&T employee, and the views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

Contributor

 • 

2 Messages

5 years ago

My complaint is not about VVM.  It's the additional $20/line that our sales representative failed to mention would be charged monthly.  He explained in detail our data plan charge of $40/line plus $25/month installment for new phone and stated our total bill for 2 lines would be around $135 plus taxes.  Neglecting to explain the additional $40 access charge is in my mind, inexcusable.  We would have thought twice about switching to AT&T if we had known.

ACE - Sage

 • 

116.6K Messages

5 years ago


@kellympulver wrote:

My complaint is not about VVM.  It's the additional $20/line that our sales representative failed to mention would be charged monthly.  He explained in detail our data plan charge of $40/line plus $25/month installment for new phone and stated our total bill for 2 lines would be around $135 plus taxes.  Neglecting to explain the additional $40 access charge is in my mind, inexcusable.  We would have thought twice about switching to AT&T if we had known.


Wait, $20 or $40?  And for what plan?  And how does the $135 not have charges for each line since every plan works this way?  

You added a new phone and line?   Or new customer with 2 new lines?  On what plan?   Again, if you are looking at the service summary, it doesn’t include discounts.  Your quote is very likely correct.  

EVERY line pays an access fee. Every.   Single.  Line.   

Every plan.  Every carrier.     Prepaid pays a lump sum which includes data and talk and text.  Postpaid prices it ala carte.   

I have challenged everyone to name a carrier that doesn’t charge for each device connected.   One person took up the challenge claiming t-mobile doesn’t.  Took a full minute to prove him wrong.  

 

Not finding what you're looking for?
New to AT&T Community?
New to the AT&T Community? Start by visiting the Community How-To.
New to the AT&T Community?
Visit the Community How-To.