[dishe]

Voice Mail is stored on Sprint's server, and there's currently no standard way (such as an API or something) to access this information with an application.

In fact, the iPhone's visual VM system is propietary- it needs a special plan with AT&T to feed it the VM information since this can't be done normally. If you activate the iPhone on someone who doesn't carry them (like t-mobile), the visual VM feature won't work.

Sprint didn't have any special system in place for visual VM until the Instinct came along. I think the instinct, like the iphone, needs a special service plan. This special plan includes whatever extra protocols are needed to feed the visual VM info to their propietary application on the phone.

Perhaps if you had an instinct plan and swapped ESN to a Mogul, then someone could theoretically write an app to show you your messages and access them (if they could hack the protocols the instinct program uses).


There are alternatives, however. Some services, like GotVoice, will call your voice mail for you, record the messages as mp3's, and serve them to you via a mailbox. Then you could call this inbox "voice mail", and check all your voice mail like that.
There's also forward your voicemail to Skype since the WM skype has a visual voice mail system as well.
I don't think any of these are optimal solutions however, and will cost you a monthly fee.