Does calling voicemail from your phone count as a "minute" on your plan ?

Saw below answer on Yahoo - but trying to verify.

Thanks !

--------------from yahoo---------------
You use your plan minutes if you check your voice mail during peck hours. The trick is to call your phone from someone elses once your voicemail picks up hit the * key and enter your password and you won't get charged.

Yes calling VoiceMail does cost minutes both if you call from your phone or from a landline phone, or at least this used to be the case during peak hours. You also get charged the time that people leave messages on the phone, so if they leave a 1.5 minute message, you get charged 2 minutes of airtime, then again get charged when you check it.

Now as far as calling from another mobile to your mobile, in theory you shouldn't be charged minutes, but you still might be charged.

This is just one of the many reasons I switched to Callwave for voicemail, and just have all of my voicemails sent via e-mail, and just have them pushed to my phone via e-mail. That way I just use data to listen messages and can have that "visual voicemail" feel, and select which ones I want to use.

But yes, you get charged for listening to your messages and when people leave messages.

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What I think I see from looking at bill:

No airtime charges:
- Calling from landline to check your voicemail
- Somemone calls your cell, you don't answer, and they leave a voicemail.

Airtime counted towards plan minutes:
- Calling voicemail from your cell phone to check voicemail (as many minutes as you are listening to messages, those minutes are airtime minutes

Airtime counted towards promo / off-peak:
- Calling voicemail from your cellphone after 9pm and weekends

When I look at my bill, I see:
- No record of calls from landline to check voicemail.
- "Plan Allow" for *86 calls during day (count as minutes towards plan)
- "Plan Promo" for *86 calls during day (count as nights/weekends)

So there's no "In-calling" for checking voicemail.

So when the kids call each other - I tell them don't leave a voicemail - because checking it is at least a minute each time.

I think this is correct - if I'm wrong, please let me know - Thanks !

I think the correct answer (and one that I use on my clients all the time) is... it depends! I think it depends on your plan, your carrier, and your position in the time line of the universe... I'm with Verizon and I know the rules have changed over the years... when I nailed them down on it at one point (several years back) this is what the rules were:
You don't get charged a for a call if
1) If someone calls you and it gets sent to voice mail
2) If you check your messages from a land line
You get charged for a call-per whatever your plan is
1) If you check your voice mail from you cell phone
So yes your observations from your bill match what I was told. Interestingly, There was a time that if you had mobile to mobile minutes and you called yourself via your cell phone number, the call would fall into your mobile-to-mobile allotment... however if you called *86 it counted toward your regular plan minutes...but I think they fixed that.
Mark

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