Visual Voicemail

[Ted Lemon]

On Jan 19, 2007, at 9:20 PM, Austin Taylor wrote:
> Think like a hacker. Why couldn't we scrape it?

Think like a developer: how can we make it work?   Think like an  
entrepreneur: is there a solution here that we can offer?   Can we  
transform GSM-as-usual into a transport?   If GSM is just the tube  
you use to get to the mobile device, and the number that you call  
isn't the GSM number, then you can intercede if the call isn't  
answered and capture the voicemail, perhaps in an Asterix PBX.   Once  
you have the voicemail, the phone can download it next time it has IP  
connectivity.   Voila: visual voicemail, no scraping needed.

The question is, is this a service anyone would go to the trouble to  
use?   In some ways it would suck - no way to notify the phone that  
the voicemail is present if you're off the IP network.

I think it's a ripe place to do some research, but whether it is  
actually useful, we'd have to see.   Personally, nothing against  
Cingular, but if I have to switch to them to get this feature, it's  
not worth it to me - I quite like t-mobile as a carrier in general.