On a standard mobile phone, retrieving a voice mail message requires you to call the message bank centre which costs $$$.

A few meg of memory onboard the phone would save the phone user money (but the phone companies would lose an easy revenue source).
-- xaviergisz, Jul 02 2004

"but the phone companies would lose an easy revenue source"
Good luck convincing them to do it then!
-- MikeOliver, Jul 02 2004


No so: the phone companies don't make the handsets.

However, the bigger issue is why the calls were missed. If it's because the phone was switched off, out of range, or on another call, then the messages won't reach the handset in the first place.
-- DrCurry, Jul 02 2004


No, but they buy them, and pass them on for massively subsidised prices!
Why would the phone manufactuters make phones that cost their customers (the networks) money?
-- MikeOliver, Jul 02 2004


//[calling] the message bank centre ... costs $$$//
Not on any U.S. mobile carrier that I am aware of. I'm guessing you live in the U.K.?
-- krelnik, Jul 02 2004


If he lived in the UK, it wouldn't cost $$$!
-- MikeOliver, Jul 02 2004


if your voice mail could be downloaded then this would be useful, besides a lot of phones these days have reasonable amounts of memory on them.
-- engineer1, Jul 02 2004



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