Jake wrote:I have to admit, this system sounds all very strange. And if this is how many systems out there work, there is a HUGE gap in the market for something better.
Why it does not 'POLL on demand' is a little mind boggling. Even if it was to simply put a flag against the accounts where activity has happened (new voice mail, or deleted voice mail) then just POLL those on it's run would make a lot more sense to me.
Any idea of the name of the somewhat backwards system?
My assumption is that this is a consequence of the low-cost operation they run in order to provide us with virtually free phone service.
Jake wrote:On a side note, have you noticed how many people listen to the whole message, then just leave a 1 second silent message? It makes me think they are leaving it as long as they can just in case you 'pick up'

They're probably just making sure that they don't miss any important information from the message, like: "Hi this is Laurent. I'm sorry I cannot take your call right now. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Tomorrow's winning lottery numbers will be 4, 7, 12, 16, 34 and 41. BEEP"