I'd say this is certainly part of the problem; roaming issues are a big problem with message delivery, and the continuously changing PRLs and whatever with modern phones and carriers only exacerbates the issue. Bell Atlantic Mobile (digital choice) messaging was never perfect; when it first started it was flaky and slowly got better, but with the additional A-markets and the NYNEX Mobile merger in the mid-1990s, the integration of the A-side markets, and the GTE/Airtouch/Primeco mergers, things only got worse. Now you have people driving around not knowing who they are on (Sprint, Alltel, whatever) and often there is no notification at all, which adds even more to subscriber confusion as to when they can expect to receive notification and when not. I've also noticed that in differing markets, the VM notification works differently; ie, sometimes ex-GTE accounts show new messages on as both "Voicemail" and "New Message" (e-mail, text, etc.), in others it is just the voicemail indicator, and in others you get neither and just the notification tones when you place/receive a call. So expecting the *delivery* of messages (VM notification, text) in all markets all the time is, apparently, something beyond what the network of Verizon systems can do at this point, and there seems to be little standardization between the various markets in terms of message delivery. They make a decent effort, granted, but when you are expecting an important message "decent" is often not good enough. The *really stupid* thing which Verizon did in many markets is getting rid of the audible/tone notification when you place/receive a call. This seemed to be the most accurate indicator if a new message (voicemail-wise) was present. I will agree to an extent with what Verizon cust. service said about registering in a new market -- often, the phone is "lost" to the (home and/or messaging gateway) switch as you roam, and if you dial a normal call and stay on for more than 30 seconds (even to a non-supervising number) you can often force a re-registration of all the elements required to deliver messages. (It appears that registration for call delivery does not always mean that you will get message notification in markets where these features are available; 611 will not always do this and Verizon techs has said as much and asked that I place a regular call or they call me to force an update/registration for the given mobile having the problem.) Interestingly, the lower-end carriers like Sprint and to an extent Nextel tend to have better delivery stats, as, IMO, they are built as one large system with the same equipment in all markets and thus don't have the disparity problems which Verizon, ATTWS, Cingular, et. al., do. (Nextel is segmented, but they seem to have fewer *messaging* problems than Verizon, ATTWS, Cingular, etc., and are taking steps to further reduce the service/billing segmentation). It's unfortunate that these problems still go on, but when you consider that Verizon has many more serious problems (like blowing a phone's NAM/ESN combo into a denied list when roaming in a given market [00428 roamer in the 00486; they can't figure out what is wrong, other NAMs on the same ESN from other markets don't show this problem], lack of handoffs along key corridors (I-5 at the Grapevine, I-84 at the NY/CT border, NY/NJ-440 driving along the Outerbridge Crossing, I-78 between the 00022 and 00008 markets, etc., "next generation"/1XRTT service drops along otherwise well covered routes, etc.), then the messaging problems subsume into an overall pattern of networking/handoff problems amongst their disparate markets, so it's not unexpected. What really makes no sense is how Verizon and the rest of these carriers intend everyone to "one day" use 3G data services seamlessly when they can't even get messaging to work well or handoffs between markets to function. Although VM notification is not directly related to any of the 3G services, it indicates, to me at least, that the structural *foundation* is so lacking that expecting any newer more advanced services to work properly is, at this point, still way beyond what the carriers can achieve with the service base they currently have in place. (This post and SID list are also available at http://www.wirelessnotes.org) Regards, Doug d2@interpage.net Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net Fight the proposed New Jersey Cellphone ban! Send a fax to Gov. McGreevey for free! See http://www.wirelessnotes.org/cellphone-ban-nj http://204.75.164.43/cellphone-ban-nj "Dan Albrich" wrote in message news:gsDE9.117970$WL3.51777@rwcrnsc54... > As we all know, Verizon is a company formed from mergers. Depending on > where you are, and which system Verizon inherited, you will see differences > in service. > > Here in Eugene Oregon, the former airtouch system does a great job of > informing you. It even sends text notifications while you are in analog > mode. In addition, our voicemail can be configured to dial out anytime you > have a message waiting. This enables me to receive messages even when I'm > roaming in analog mode where no indicators are present. > > I can't say I've never had this type of thing happen, but it's very rare for > me. It may have happened once or twice in the past two years... > > -Dan > > -- > Eugene, Oregon -- Pacific Northwest > "james keegan" wrote in message > news:uu5op9nd9gvgaa@corp.supernews.com... > > yesterday, 11/24 at around 5pm, my phone showed a missed call from an > > unknown caller. at 1:46am my voicemail indicator rang informing me that > > i had received a message. > > > > so, i called voicemail and was told that i had received a message at > > 5pm. > > > > so, it took 8 hours and 46 minutes to deliver a message when i was > > ALWAYS in a good coverage area (milwaukee). > > > > during a break in some meetings today, i called CS but, as i only was on > > the line for 20-minutes, i never could get connected to anyone who > > understood how the voicemail system worked. > > > > when sprint wireless came to new your state in the mid 90s, they had > > this same voicemail problem (apparently with the management of their > > distributed database). back then in the old days, i took a business trip > > only to arrive at my destination and discover that my meeting had been > > canceled the previous day, but i had never been notified by voicemail > > indicator. i know sprint corrected the problem many years ago. > > > > sprint was very aggressive in keeping customers in those days. after my > > bad experience with their voice mail so many years ago, they gave me a > > free phone and three months of service for free. > > > > > > > > [posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]