Voicemail indicator gone, and how to turn off "Visual Voicemail"?

[GayzeStarr]

I have had no problems on my old phone with basic voicemail. I'd get a message indicator every time someone left a message, dial *86 to call in, pick up the message, no problem. I recently got a Samsung Galaxy j7v (2017 model). Since then, I have no voice mail indicator at all. I didn't know I had messages until someone contacted me the other day, angry that I was ignoring them. I called in to my voicemail to find a number of messages waiting that I didn't know I'd received.

I have followed every suggestion in the forums. The "turn message indicator back on" instructions in the FAQ on Verizon's website are wrong ... the key press combination they give are for a pager indicator (who uses a pager these days? We all have cellphones!), and there is no option to turn on the voice mail indicator.

I had opted not to set up visual voicemail when I got the phone, as it requires the mobile data to be on (according to the the store clerk), and I have a very small shared data plan with my whole family. I keep it off all the time, and only access data services through wifi (which visual voicemail does not use). However, after everything I tried to get my regular voice mail indicator back failed, I tried turning it on yesterday, and turned on my mobile data.

It connected *once* last night. After that, it has been hit and miss. Most of the time, it spins the "refreshing" indicator and sends me a message saying it can't connect, and to tell customer service the error code is "9001".

Today, I was also able to get it to connect once, but had to turn OFF my wifi completely for it to work. (Last night, both wifi and mobile data were on when it connected). After that one connection success, again, I'm getting the spinning indicator and 9001 error.

My preference would be to get my old voicemail back, get rid of visual voicemail, be able to turn my mobile data back off so I don't waste my family's little 2G of data, and actually know when someone has left me a message when they leave it, and not accidentally stumble across it many hours later when I can finally get the app to connect. (Or a week later when a friend or colleague tells me they're angry at me for ignoring them!)

PLEASE tell me a new solution to this problem of the message indicator has been found, and there's a way to turn off visual voicemail, return to basic, and actually have my notifications working again!

[Elements]

Most modern phones use Visual Voicemail by default, and it does normally need to use mobile data, though only a very insignificant amount of it. If you absolutely want to keep your mobile data disabled at all times, and want to switch back to only using *86 to reach voicemail, then you usually can, but you'll likely need to reach out to Verizon Customer Service to have them change the voicemail type on your line.

[lukevinyl]

Luckily this is an easy fix if you are preferring to go back to basic voicemail. Call customer service (*611 from your cell phone, or 1-800-922-0204) and tell them you decline visual voicemail and would like the basic/enhanced voicemail feature instead.

[GayzeStarr]

Thank you. I see it can be "blocked" through the My Verizon website, too. I'll probably call customer service as you suggest to be sure.

Will blocking visual voicemail on my line get me back my voicemail indicator, though? I'm not getting notices for voicemail through visual voicemail, either, and that it the most important part of the problem. I had two messages waiting today, again, that I had no idea had come in, because I've stopped getting notifications at all on this phone. Having any kind of voicemail without notifications is problematic.

Again, thank you for your replies!

[Elements]

The message indicator should automatically be enabled when you're back on basic voicemail, but if you have any problems with it, you can dial into your VM, press '4' for Personal options, and then press '1' to turn the message indicator on or off.

[GayzeStarr]

So, the reason that option was not present when I tried to do that, was that there is visual voicemail active on my line (even though I hadn't turned it on yet when I first tried the *86 - 4 - 1 instructions? I got a "forward to pager" setting instead.

[Elements]

Yes, the message indicator option is only available if you have basic voicemail on your account. if you have visual voicemail, then you would normally get notifications through the badge icon on the Visual Voicemail app, though the app normally needs a mobile data connection to recognize that there are new messages.

[GayzeStarr · Accepted solution]

I feel silly replying to myself. 🙂 I thought this might help others, though.

In sifting through my phone's settings just now, I found a feature for "Data Saver" that was turned on. I clicked through the options on that screen, and found a section that listed each app and what their settings are for background data, etc. Under Voicemail, there was a slider to allow unrestricted data use if Data Saver was turned on. That slider was in the Off position. I slid it to ON, and "Voilà!" I have my voicemail notifications back and can access visual voicemail without turning off wifi! (Well, so far, anyway.)

Since that was my main issue, I may leave it like this for a while and see if it continues to work.

I am very grateful for all your help.

[Frank_the_Lawyer]

Exact same problem with my S7 Edge.  Once I declined visual voicemail after the trial, now I get no notice at all that someone has left me a voicemail

[Ann154]

You probably only declined the premium visual voicemail. You still have the basic visual voicemail on the line unless you specifically ask for the Block Visual Voicemail feature. You can only request this feature by calling customer service at 1-800-922-0204 from a landline or *611 from your phone.