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How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack

By | June 22, 2009, 10:54pm PDT

Summary: If you took it upon yourself to install the iPhone 3.0 tethering hack you may have noticed that you have a lot less voicemail than normal — as in zero. If so, it isn’t because people are just leaving you alone — they aren’t. What happened is that installing that .ipcc (carrier settings) file that enabled [...]

If you took it upon yourself to install the iPhone 3.0 tethering hack you may have noticed that you have a lot less voicemail than normal — as in zero.

If so, it isn’t because people are just leaving you alone — they aren’t. What happened is that installing that .ipcc (carrier settings) file that enabled tethering also disabled your Visual Voicemail.

You can verify this by pressing 1 then Send in the Phone application. This should dump you into your regular old voicemail box (remember those?) and if you have messages waiting (I had 11) that means that your VVM is hosed.

But it’s your lucky day, I’ll save you the 70+ minutes that I spent being bounced around between AT&T and Apple technical support. Simply go to: Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset Network Settings. Your iPhone will reboot and all should be well with your VVM again.

Now stay away from those unauthorized tethering hacks - scofflaw!

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Apple iPhone, Voicemail, Telecommunications, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
I assumed it had been very likely to become some tedious outdated publish, nevertheless it certainly truthfully compensated nflshop for my time.
View in thread
0 Votes
+ -
There is an easier way..
crash89 23rd Jun 2009
Just go to Settings--General-Network-Cellular Data Network.
Then change the APN under Visual Voicemail to acds.voicemail. Problem
solved! Tethering still works.
0 Votes
+ -
Is anything else lost
bobiroc 23rd Jun 2009
I found myself in a situation where I could have used tethering the other day and I was just wondering if you enable tethering and apply the change to get visual voicemail back is anything else lost.
0 Votes
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Not that I have found...
crash89 23rd Jun 2009
But your mileage may vary..
0 Votes
+ -
Great tip, thanks!
t_mohajir 23rd Jun 2009
That worked like a charm for me.
0 Votes
+ -
Tried "There is an easier way"
UBZanga 3rd Jul 2009
Now Visual Voice Mail works fine (many thanks). I lost the Tethering
option, however. Any suggestions for how to restore and keep both
operational?

0 Votes
+ -
This is truly pathetic.
IT_Guy_z 23rd Jun 2009
I have been tethering a cell phone ever since I got my first Motorola StarTac in 1996! And gee whiz...the voicemail NEVER stopped working!

The fact that Apple and/or AT&T will "allow" you to start tethering sometime later this year, is a joke.

Between AT&T's restrictions on the phones capabilities...and Apple's...
I wouldn't take an iPhone if someone gave me one.
0 Votes
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@IT_Guy_z
Axsimulate 23rd Jun 2009
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Apple didn't originally include
tethering because AT&T would not allow it on their network? And maybe
Apple is pressuring AT&T to allow it, that's why they were not ready for
it?

I'm not saying that is what happened, it's just a thought.

Also, from what I've heard around the grapevine was that Verizon did not
want to allow visual voicemail on their network because it would take to
many changes and told Apple to take a hike, resulting in Apple approaching AT&T.
0 Votes
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Others have tethered on AT&T
NonZealot 23rd Jun 2009
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe Apple didn't originally include tethering because AT&T would not allow it on their network?

Interesting theory Axsimulate, thanks for the thought. However, I don't believe that this is the reason.
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/06/08/atandt-well-offer-tethering-on-the-iphone/

From one of the comments:
Sorry dude this one can't be blamed on the slow NA carriers and consumers. I've been tethering my macs to different Nokias for years now via bluetooth even on ATT via edge! It's more of an issue of ATT crappy network and Apple iron fist rules on iPhone apps and usage.

I also found many other references to people tethering on AT&T with their mobile phones.

Thanks for your input though, it was a good read.
0 Votes
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Thanks Jason, very helpful!
NonZealot 23rd Jun 2009
This is very helpful information for those new to the iPhone who expected tethering to "Just Work". I must say that the iPhone community is really good about helping iPhone owners out with all the problems that pop up with their iPhones. Keep up the great work!
0 Votes
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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
lock7 23rd Jun 2009
But does that restore the whole system or just the Voicemail settings??
0 Votes
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Voicemail restore
lock7 23rd Jun 2009
The question here is does that remove the hack or any other setting??
0 Votes
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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
Masari.Jones 24th Jun 2009
I tired both suggestions but neither has helped me restore
visual voicemail. Still not working.
0 Votes
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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
jsosb1969 5th Jul 2009
That would be great - but my phone (for some unknown damn reason) doesn't SHOW cellular data network in network settings...is anyone else having this problem?
0 Votes
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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
lee777 7th Jul 2009
Tethering stops for me when I change these settings...
0 Votes
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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
KarlMessner 8th Jul 2009
I've reset the network settings and still don't have visual
voice mail sad
0 Votes
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RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
KarlMessner 8th Jul 2009
DIdn't restore, until I found THIS article:

The new iPhone 3.0 software comes with the ability to
tether your phone to your laptop via Bluetooth or USB so
you can use it to get on the internet, but for subscribers in
some countries the feature comes disabled when you
upgrade to the 3.0 software version. However, some
people discovered a way to supposedly use Beta 4 of
iTunes for Windows (specifically version 8.2.0.10) (I hear it
works on any iTunes version on the Mac) and a special
carrier update file ending in the .ipcc file extension to
enable the tethering option on their iPhone 3G units now.

The problem that some people didn?t realize at first when
they posted this update method, was that the .ipcc file also
changes an option that disables Visual Voicemail and
Missed Calls, at least in some cases. I don?t recall which of
the many sites it was where I read this, but the solution is
quite simple for anyone out there who might need it. From
the Home screen, navigate to Settings->General-
>Network->Cellular Data Network. The section called
Visual Voicemail has a field called ?APN? and if it?s set to
?wap.cingular? and you use the US iPhone carrier, that
appears to be what?s causing problems. The ?APN? field
should read: ?acds.voicemail? (without the quotes).

Note that this is for informational and troubleshooting
purposes only and changing any of the settings or files
here is not something I endorse. Tethering is a service that
you may or may not be allowed to do and is between you
and your service provider; please refer to their agreement
terms for details and specifics. I didn?t come up with the
solution above, I just happened to read it somewhere and
I?ve been contacted by a couple of people who mentioned
they had problems that were fixed when I pointed out the
above change that I read about somewhere.
0 Votes
+ -
My Network Screen is Different
SleepingCat 8th Jul 2009
I don't have anything called Cellular Data Network in my Network options. I have, in order:
Enable G3
Data Roaming
Internet Tethering
VPN
Wi-Fi

I have reset my network preferences twice (the second time brought back my voicemail that disappeared a full 10 days after I turned on tethering).

Any ideas why my screen is so different?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
robfo0 10th Jul 2009
I'm having the same issues:
-installed the .ipcc hack, tethering works great, visual
voicemail dies
-reset network settings has no effect
-editing the voicemail apn to acds.voicemail fixes visual
voicemail, but then as soon as I try to connect internet
tethering, it disappears
I can get one or the other, but not both sad Any ideas?
0 Votes
+ -
RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
toddhd@... 10th Jul 2009
Thank you for that fix!!! Not only did this kill MY VVM, but it killed the VVM on my wife's phone as well, and she didn't install the tethering patch!!!! Fixing the ACN as noted above fixed both phones. I guess the AT&T network somehow picks up on that wrong setting and just shuts it all down.
0 Votes
+ -
RE: How-to: Restore Visual Voicemail after iPhone tethering hack
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
I assumed it had been very likely to become some tedious outdated publish, nevertheless it certainly truthfully compensated nflshop for my time.

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