"Jon" <spam@jonparker.plus.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.24b701c238f064949896e2@news.eternal-september.org...
> In article <7b3qtrF21pb0aU1@mid.individual.net>, jb@invalid.com says...
>> In the latest MSE e mail, there's a bit about roaming charges and that
>> you
>> will get charged to *receive* voicemails and then again to listen to
>> them.
>>
>> I've never been charged to receive a voicemail on my Orange contract
>>
>> Is he wrong, (which is unusual)?
>
> Worth explaining a bit about how voicemail works - basically it's a call
> divert. When you divert a call your handset pays for the diverted leg of
> the call, but when you're in the UK you don't get charged for diverting
> to voicemail.
>
> When you're abroad you do get charged for the diverted leg of the call,
> including if it gets diverted to voicemail. Hence a call coming out to
> you in France which you divert to voicemail will then go back to the UK,


That is completely wrong. The voicemail handling and diversion is handled
in the UK, so when there is no answer abroad, the system in the "UK"
diverts to the "UK" voicemail. If you are claiming a company in France then
charges for the call from the UK to France to be diverted back to the UK
then this is a con. It doesn't work like that !

> hence you are getting charged while that call is in progress and the
> person is leaving a voicemail message.
>

So a company in the UK that can not get any answer abroad is charging
for a call to divert to the UK answering system!

> If you actually want to listen to that message you make a call back your
> voicemail number, which is a UK number, so you pay again.
>

Which makes a nonsense of what you have said already, I am glad you
agree that the voicemail is in the UK.

> The lesson here is disable your voicemail service before you leave the
> UK.

No, the lesson is to learn how it works and how to challenge mobile
companies that attempt this con in order to get money from customers
that (like yourself) do not fully understand what happens.

> --
> Regards
> Jon