MessageBank® Plus – a new way to dial up voicemail on Apple iPhone
Filed under: consumer, iphone, iPhone 4, lifestyle, MessageBank Plus, mobile phone
From today, customers with a compatible Apple® iPhone™ on a Telstra mobile plan can access a new and convenient way to manage their voicemail. It’s called MessageBank Plus and it allows you to quickly access the voice messages that matter to you most.
Here’s how it works. By linking up with the iPhone’s voicemail interface, MessageBank plus serves up all of your voice messages (in date order) as a list on your phone. To play back a message, you can simply browse through your list of voicemail and tap on the item you’d like to hear. There’s even a handy ‘Call Back’ button so you can return calls with a single touch.
It’s a real-time saver as you can select the voicemail that’s important to you without having to call 101 MessageBank or play through all of your messages.
We know many of you have been asking for this feature for some time, so we’re really pleased that we’ve been able to design, test and now offer this to customers.
MessageBank Plus requires an Apple iPhone running iOS4.3 or later, connected to a Telstra Post-Paid mobile voice service.
The service is charged at $5 per month and includes the delivery of voice messages to your iPhone within Australia which you can then playback at your leisure. Normal charges apply for calls made using the Call Back function and for call diversion to MessageBank and retrieval from MessageBank by calling +61101. International data roaming charges apply for delivery of messages to your iPhone using MessageBank Plus while overseas.
We hope it makes managing voicemail that little bit easier.
How to set up and use MessageBank Plus
- Contact Telstra to have MessageBank Plus activated on your mobile service
- Touch the Phone icon on your home screen and select Voicemail.
- To record your personal greeting (that the caller will hear), select Greeting and record your message and then touch Save. If you have an existing personal greeting, you don’t need to re-record your greeting.
- Touch the message you want to listen to from the list of voicemails:
- A blue dot indicates a new message.
- Use the Play/Pause button or drag the progress slider to control the playback.
- Press Delete to remove the message from both your iPhone and MessageBank.
- Press Call Back to return the call with a single touch (standard call charges apply).
So, almost three years after launching the iPhone in Australia, Telstra has finally gotten around to enabling Visual Voicemail? Poor effort really.
Simple – dont use Telstra…and stop wasting everyone’s time with stupid comments
No thanks. I already pay $129 a month for my mobile service with you guys. This should be free.
Fully agree mate. I also pay $129 p/m. An extra $5 p/m is too steep to justify. This should be included… It’s only message bank anyhow.
Agree – this should be included in your plan…..Surely Telstra would look into it.
Nice to see visual voicemail implemented at last but dissapointed to see you want to charge extra for it when other carriers do not.
Any plans to make this available on PrePaid?
And the $5/month charge is a bit steep isnt it?
Hurrah! Thanks Telstra. Will this be included free of charge in any of the current plans that include Voicemail retrieval? (i.e. the $130/mo Business Mobile Plus Plan)
Is this service available for Pre-Paid customers?
Why is Telstra charging for Visual Voicemail when other providers are offering it for free?
So the same feature as what Vodafone introduced years ago… for free. Telstra finally get round to doing it, and what $5 a month?
I can’t believe you are charging $5 per month for this service, Vodafone offered it for free for its customers. I think the plans cost enough as they are without having to be lumped with extra charges for something that is technologically available to a lot of other providers customer base without cost.
I hope the $5 a month goes toward funding other three-year-late innovations.
I love the Telstra network, but cheap nonsense like this is insulting. Why is the download of this voicemail data (that’s all it is, data) not simply counted towards your monthly data allowance? Or better still, just… included?
I have no problem with the $5 charge, but take it out of my cap like current voicemail charges! Then everyone wins!
Good old Tel$tra, they are the only company in the world that is charging for Visual Voicemail. The ironic thing is that it costs them less to deliver the message to you through data than it does for you to call the normal voicemail service.
While Telstra still have a price premium over other networks, they are getting better all the time…. BUT then charging $5 a month for this is just crap when we are already paying that premium in the first place.
$5? Should be free. Can I get a $5 discount for not using the old voicemail service anymore?
$60 a year is a bit rich – nevertheless I’ve signed up for it and will give it a shot for a month or two. It is really cool, but not so sure it’s worth an extra $5/month ontop of my current cap plan. If this was included for some plans, or at least came out of cap credit, I’d be happy with this.
Very poor form making it $5 Telstra. I’m already paying $150 a month for my plan (Unlimited $150 plan) as well as 4x$65 plans, and you still charge $5 per number regardless of plan. Shame on you
Love the feature, hate the price tag.
Can Telstra detail _exactly_ what costs are involved from their end which make it necessary to charge $5 per month for this feature?
Seriously – $5 per month? I pay $50 per month for my iPhone 4 plan, and you’re asking me to add 10% on top of that for visual voicemail? Sorry, the economics of what ask are way out of whack.
Visual voicemail was a boon when I was with Vodafone, and the only thing I missed when I switched from Voda to Telstra. But no way will I pay $5 per month for this feature, especially when by all rights it should be free.
As other posters have noted, surely this feature should be for free to catch up with the competition. Besides, it would encourage people to use their voicemail more (there isn’t revenue growth there) and enhance the brands image not confuse customers with more ways to over-spend.
Hi,
Charging $5 a month for this is rubbish. Everyone else in the world offers it for free.
Vodafone runs theirs through their data.. not voice so it should be the same with telstra or are you just trying to mislead your users.. fancy slugging $5 for this service you must be the only carrier in the world to charge for it!!! very greedy of you…. sure other users agree!
What a joke! This should be free. We have just returned from overseas (UK to be exact). Honestly, after going into some of the phone stores over, and viewing the television commercials there you really see how much we are ripped off here in Australia with mobile plans, home plans and internet costs.
No way known would I pay extra for a service which should be given to everyone for free.
$5/mth? What a joke!
I’ll stick with the FREE message to txt service you currently provide
Why can’t Telstra listen to its customers and deliver something that doesn’t cost extra for once? I thought you guys were mean’t to be listening to us?
We have 16 iPhone 4′s on the MobilePLUS 150 plans which includes free unlimited MessageBank or unlimited Voice2Text. Our account manager says that MessageBank Plus is not included ‘at this stage’ let’s hope that this changes soon.
I agree, $5 a month is rubbish for something that should be free. I’ll give it a go for a few months though.. Just hope they change their minds on this!
Telstra – is this a joke? It is a great feature but $60 a year! No other telco charges this. I won’t be paying at that price.
As David Flynn noted, an added 10% to my $50 plan is ridiculous! How can that possibly be justified?!
Reverse this decision now Telstra and offer visual voicemail for free before this becomes a PR disaster!
What a joke. Telstra has come miles with it’s mobile pricing in recent years and they now decide for something that is free for other iPhone users?
I’m on a business plan and I don’t even get it free….
This is a revelation. im so happy this has come out at such a reasonable price… shame optus dont have it. I think the dog breeders association of australia and new guinea will benefit ten fold
Charging for this is rubbish, agreed with all others really. Using this feature as a bonus for existing customers and enticing new customers should really be the draw – not paying for it…
Oz is One of most high payer for mobile phone in the world.
It’s unbelievable to pay over $100 for mob per month foreign contries mate.
I’ll pay for this but only because I seem to have no choice if I want this essential feature which should be free!
I know everyone has said it, but $5 a month is a bit of a joke. And Im sure they know it. I bet Andrew Volard was expecting this backlash when he posted this article. Loved the feature when it was free when I was with Vodafone (apart from standard data charges), but Ill pass while Telstra is going to try charging for it. Sorry, but I highly doubt this will be very successful while you expect people to pay for this. I love your network Telstra, but all of these extra fees and charges are what is killing your reputation – something that apparently you are working hard to repair. This doesnt help.
Why not charge say a $20 setup fee instead of $5 per month? I’d happily pay a set up fee, but not an ongoing fee for this service.
I agree, these sorts of features should be free if our competitors are providing similar features.
Pity that I’m also switching to an android based mobile when my contact expires at the end of the year. It would be great to have this on the Android platform.
Wow.. absolutely excited to see that finally Telstra has visual voicemail… but come on now… how can other providers give this service for free but Telstra need $5/month? Very greedy… It is a shame that Telstra is the only network with decent coverage… otherwise I would not be with them.
Yes, this is definitely an “old Telstra” move, I hope they see comments here and make a “new Telstra” move by making the service free.
I just have to echo everyone else here. Charging for this service is, yet again, an example of the one step forward, two steps back approach by Telstra. If Telstra didn’t stuff up things like this in the first place and then they wouldn’t have to fix it.
Think about the reception Telstra would have received if VVM was introduced and was simply billed in a similar fashion to the traditional system, or was charged via data as Vodafone/ 3 do.
I like your network but you seem to make it damn hard to like your company.
I agree with everyone else – its taken Telstra 3 years to bring this ‘feature’ to us and its going to cost us $5pm considering other telco’s don’t charge for it?? It’s a ‘nice to have’ feature but I wont be paying for it! Its just as much as a rip off as Caller ID is $6pm on their landline.. It really irks me that they can charge for ‘features’ that in this day and age should be standard!
Here’s a brilliant article on the topic:
http://www.itwire.com/your-it-news/mobility/45966-telstras-iphone-voicemail-goes-visual-customers-viscerally-annoyed
Cheers
Alex.
I think your link is broken, clicked it but couldn’t find any brilliant article on the subject
We have over 60 iPhones currently with Vodafone because of the free Visual Voicemail service, it is one of the most used features. We’ve always wanted to switch to Telstra on the $150 plan. However having to pay an extra $5 per month per phone for VVM is just a deal breaker.
The reson you would need a free visual voicemail service on Vodaphone is most calls go to messagebank because of the crap service…..
Telstra you’ve been doing such a good job with PR lately, with decent plans, superb coverage and data speeds. Your reputation was actually improving dramatically.
Now you go and stuff it up by ripping us off with an IMAP based feature that would cost next to nothing to implement and run.
I already pay $50 a month and you want an extra 10%? No way.
I’m disappointed in you David Thodey.
Really? $5 a month to download your own voicemail when i already pay extra for a download pack.
You should make it free to lure customers over to you.
Never play with a wasp if all they do is keep stinging you.
What a joke.. time to go back to Vodafone!
Dear o’h dear… What was Telstra thinking?? I hope David Thodey reads these comments. Recently, I have been very surprised with the steps Telstra has taken to improve all aspects of its customer service. There have been some real wins, not to mention they have the best network by a mile. So, its no surprise that alot of my friends are starting to move back to Telstra.. And then THIS….
Telstra, you seem to have a habit of going one step forward and two steps backwards.
Move with the times – this should’ve always been a FREE service.
Mr Thodey,…. its not too late.
Agree with other comments here.
I won’t be getting it for $5 extra a month (despite having loved it when I was previously with vodafone). I would be happy to get it if Telstra could take it out of my cap so I have less calls and/or data available.
Why isn’t this available on prepaid?
Any plans of bringing this feature to Android?
Visual voice mail is great, but why don’t you use it as a way to compete with your competitors instead of another way to charge your customers. Adding more features such as this may sway people toward your service which would well and truely outway the amount you will get charging $5 for it.
Hi all,
Thanks for your feedback.
Regarding pricing, we’ve tried to make this feature affordable for customers – while also meeting the costs associated with setting it up and running it reliably. While a competitor charges data rates for this service, we have elected to offer a simple-to-manage subscription that includes all data needed to access the service in Australia.
Kind regards, the mobile products team
“Regarding pricing, we’ve tried to make this feature affordable for customers”
Well it’s safe to say you’ve failed.
$5 is 10% of my $49 plan. That is not affordable in my books.
Mmmmm…what you seem to forget Telstra, is that most iphone users already have data included in their plans that they can use to access this service. Your comment above about competitors charging data rates for the service and you guys electing to offer a “subscription” fee for the service is laughable! No one here wants to pay extra on top of the plans they are already paying for. We would be more than happy to use our existing data allowance to access the service.
About time you really read the comments. If by the end of the day you offered the service for free you just might be able to salvage your reputation a bit.
umm with the recent increase in all your data plans, I’d rather it came out of my data pack than charge me $5pm..
Given every single comment here has been negative about the pricing, you may want to rethink it
Hi Mobile team,
Honestly I’d rather be charged in data especially when I’m already on a 3GB data plan for an extra $29/month…
OR
at least allow the $5 to be put against our cap credit….
“We have elected to offer a simple-to-manage subscription that includes all data needed to access the service in Australia”
Hold on, that would be in the unmetered zone wouldn’t it, just like Bigpond, as it doesn’t cost Telstra a penny.
You know what. Charging for a product that should be free is bad.
But do not insult my intelligence with this rubbish.
Affordable for customers? Well your customers don’t think so. More so for customer on unlimited plans.
Simple to mange? How so? What is simple to manage about this?
I have never met a Vodafone customer who said “I love Visual Vioce Mail, but I wish it cost me $5 a month as that would make it simple to manage”.
Really @ $5 a month?
If you made it $1 a month id more thank likely give it some more thought. But $5 a month? $60 a year? and for two mobiles thats $120 a year.
@ that price ill do with out voice mail.
‘Affordable’ does not guarantee that customers will find the pricing palatable, or that the uptake rate will allow costs to be fully recouped. Nevertheless, at least there is now some basis on which to gauge commercial demand from the customer base – instead of operating blindly on individuals’ varying ideas of ‘should’ – and make pricing adjustments accordingly to maximise return.
Great you’ve finally caught up to a competitor – but you failed in pricing
Voicemail falls within a CAP. Data falls within a cap. Yet you’ve decided to charge $5 OUTSIDE the cap for “Data based Voicemail”. Basically an email service. Not good.
From these comments you can surely see that your competitor got it right by charging “data rates for this service”. Hopefully you fix your mistake.
Hi Mobile Products Team,
Glad to see that we responded given the overwhelmingly negative customer response and didn’t just ignore it, but was disappointed to see a response from a generic team name rather than an individual. If we believe strongly enough in our decisions then we should be prepared to defend them in person rather then what may be seen as hiding behind an anonymous group name. As a customer I would like to see that my comments have been read and understood by someone with a name as it makes it feel more personal.
From an employee viewpoint it’s also disappointing to see that we could misjudge the likely reaction of our customers so badly. A truly customer-centric organisation probably wouldn’t have made the decision to charge $5 per month in the first place, but more so would have anticipated the likely negative response and tempered the release message accordingly to explain why the price is a fair representation of our costs to develop, deploy and maintain our service, and not just an arbitrary price that we thought people would see as value for money.
Matt.