In the last few weeks I switched from an iPhone SE 2020 to a Google Pixel 5a. Both phones have an eSIM as well as a tray for a physical SIM. On both phones, I use the eSIM for a non-TMobile account (Google Fi -- which uses T-Mo’s service and towers) and the physical SIM for a T-Mobile prepaid account I have had for many years. On both the SE and the Pixel, I can make and receive calls on either line without a problem.
On the iPhone SE, voicemails on my T-Mo number would be downloaded and saved on the phone -- permanently unless I chose to delete the voicemail from the phone. The SE did not provide visual voicemail, i.e., did not translate speech into text that could be read on the phone -- but that is not a problem for me. What I care about is being able to save voicemails.
However, on the Pixel 5a, voicemails from callers on my T-Mo number are not always downloaded to the phone -- sometimes they are, sometimes they are not. When voicemails are not downloaded, there is only an icon indicating that there is a voicemail available -- but I have to call to T-Mo’s voicemail server to hear the voicemail. Perhaps more important, when voicemails from the T-Mo number do download to the Pixel 5a, they do not remain on the phone if the voicemail is deleted from T-Mo’s voicemail server. In other words: If I have a voicemail on my Pixel 5a from a caller on my T-Mo number, I *might* be able to listen to it on my phone. But, if I call in to T-Mo’s voicemail server and then delete the voicemail from T-Mo’s voicemail server -- or it deletes on its own after 30 days -- the message also disappears from my Pixel 5a. This NEVER happened on my iPhone SE 2020. On the contrary, prior to switching to the Pixel 5a, I routinely deleted voicemails from the T-Mo server, or they automatically were deleted after 30 days, but all of those voicemails are still saved on my iPhone SE 2020.
So: Does anyone know how to fix this problem so that voicemails are saved “locally” on a Pixel phone even if they are deleted from T-Mo’s voicemail servers? (All of my voicemails since switching to the Pixel 5a are lost because they were deleted from the T-Mo voicemail servers.)
There are many online discussions about this type of problem. I won’t list all of them here. Also, I don’t personally have the expertise or time to dig into the type of “programming” on my phone that some of these online discussions cover (generally websites catering to Android programmers).
But, so far as I can see from available online technical discussions, this is a problem on T-Mobile’s side -- something they need to correct internally with their systems.
Here is one link to a Reddit discussion; it deals with a Pixel 6 rather than a Pixel 5a, but the general issue seems to be the same or similar:
Any help would be appreciated.
