T-Mobile vs Callwave voicemail. The red dot of doom

[selcouth]

I was using T-Mobile voicemail after unlocking my phone. Every time I power up (from a power down or a reboot), I have the red dot (with no number) on the "Phone" icon, and on the "Voicemail" icon. If I press Voicemail, I'm connected to T-Mobile voicemail. I then hang up (as I have no messages) and the red dot disappears.

I've always hated the <Insert recorded message> "Please leave your message after the tone, press x to send a numeric page" on voicemail, so I tried out Callwave (http://www.callwave.com). Callwave is a voicemail replacement that sends you SMS/EMail notification of voicemail. I activated Callwave by dialing:
*004*17756651234*11# (change unanswered calls routing)
*5005*86*17756651234# (change iPhone's Voicemail number)

Everything works great, except the red dot always stays on the "Phone" and "Voicemail" buttons.

Can anyone propose a workaround? I'm playing with GSM codes now to see if I can figure anything out. Why would T-Mobile voicemail signal the dot to disappear and Callwave not?

[Haas_Dave]

The Voicemail 'dot' relates more or less to the carrier's voicemail notifications sent to the phone. That's why the 'dot' disappears if you hang up your voicemail call when you don't have messages. It's a GSM/SIM feature, not a text message.

Callwave's PhonePage and Vtxt systems are very much different in that it doesn't use your phone's voicemail system but its own, sending voicemails to an email account. Since it doesn't interact directly with the carrier, and in relation the SIM card, there is no way it can send a signal to your phone's SIM to turn off a voicemail notification or the 'dot' on the iPhone.

Netzero's PrivatePhone system works the same way, and I've even had one time that one person 'paged my Cingular voicemail (it left a notification on my BJ) while another left a voicemail on Netzero (I forwarded my unreachable/busy calls to PrivatePhone)... so I had to call both numbers to get both messages... that was confusing.

[selcouth]

Thanks for the response. I guess I'll have to decide whether I like more control over voicemail or the red dot disappearing. 50/50 at the moment.

[hotrod54chevy]

ok,so callwave DOES work on an iphone..i was wondering because i was thinking about using it when i get one..how do you like it?
frank

[selcouth]

I love the fact that I can record a message like "Leave a message" <BEEP> and they can record. That part of it is very nice. The Vtxt part is ok. I haven't seen it translate terribly accurately. I have noticed a decent (up to a few hour) delay between receiving a voicemail and being notified via text.

The "red dot" is driving me crazy. Crazy enough that I think I'm going to go back to T-Mobile's voicemail. I just wish I could have both.

[Chingwa]

Well, I don't know a real workaround for this, but you could always replace the red dot graphic on your phone with a blank png file...

[selcouth]

Good idea. If I can test the time between voicemail record and notification and be happy with the results, I may look into that.

[selcouth]

I was in the process of reverting back to T-Mobile voicemail by using:
##004# (unanswered calls routing to T-Mobile)
*5005*86*123# (iPhone's voicemail number)

I was testing T-Mobile's voicemail shortcut (123) to see if that had any effect. CONFIRMED! If you just dial 123, check your voicemail (always empty) and hang up, the dot disappears. AND you can use Callwave. Just leave your phone set to Callwave and dial 123 every time you reboot or power up. Thanks for the help guys.

[morgant6911]

Does your VM icon come on with Callwave? I am using it, and it doesn't seem to text message me or give me a voicemail icon. I just get emails.

[selcouth]

No, there is no voicemail icon with Callwave.