Voicemail wav files as email attachments - A possible workaround

**Quintus** · 10/02/2009, 10:10 AM

I know that some people have been having issues with the Pre's ability to play certain wav files from automated voicemail services which forward voicemail messags by e-mail to your server.

I've had a different sort of problem. When the Pre picks up the emails from my webmail server (IMAP) it does not recognize the existence of an attachment. Someone has already reported this as a problem and released a patch which might resolve it. It has something to do with the email's MIME configuration whereby the Pre does not recognize the existence of an attachment. I'm not about to try the patch as this is way beyond my comfort level unless WebOs Quick Install does all the heavy lifting and adds it as an available tweak.

In any event, if you are having this problem, I have found an interesting workaround. I configured my webmail server to auto-forward a copy of my e-mails to my gmail server account. When the Pre picks up the exact same email from the gmail server account, the wav attachment magically appears and is playable on the Pre! When I reported this to our IT department, they figured that the problem is in the way the attachment is configured in the original email from the voicemail provider (in my case Mitel). When the email is forwarded by another system, i.e. my webmail server, the email attachment is reconfigured properly so that the Pre can read it.

Thought I would let everyone know in case this proves helpful.

P.S. To further tweak the workaround, I created another gmail account and configured the first account to auto-forward only voicemail messages to the new gmail account. This way I could filter the voicemail messages and not have to duplicate all of my work emails. This was necessary because my webmail server account does not have a filtering system, i.e. it can only be configured to auto-forward all emails or none. The gmail server has much better filtering options. It works great for me until the problem is formally resolved by our voicemail people at Mitel.

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/04/2009, 03:55 PM

New to the forum. Just got the pre a few days ago and am loving it. I am seriously considering ditching my iToy and pay ATT the cancellation fee. My biggest problem with the pre is I am unabe to listen to emails with voicemail attachments. This is really important to me as I receive my voicemails via email from an answering service. The iToy handles this like a charm but not the pre. Is there a work around? How do you configure your webmail to forward only voicemail messages to gmail? I did forward my webmail email with a voicemail attachment to my gmail address but the pre won't play it. Is there any way to resolve this? Please help!

**Quintus** · 12/04/2009, 04:12 PM

You need to break this down a bit. Is the Pre receiving the attachment, downloading it but unable to play it? Or is the Pre not receiving the attachment at all? If it is the latter, does my workaround help? If it is the former, then it is a codec issue with the type of file that your answering system is using and unfortunately I can't help you with that although maybe someone else can.

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/04/2009, 04:34 PM

It appears that the Pre receives the attachment and it recognizes it as a sound file (.wav) but don't know if it has downloaded it or not. When I press the play button, nothing happens. Thanks for your help.

**DJeremyC** · 12/04/2009, 04:40 PM

I have the same problem, and am not quite sure I understand your workaround so I will explain my situation and see if you can help a bit.

I use the MagicJack as my VoIP solution. Everytime I get a voicemail it shows up in my GMail account. GMail is pushed to my Pre as it is the ONLY email I use. So when the files shows up I see the .wav file, tap it and it shows it playing but nothing comes out of the phone?

Is there a solution to this like you mentioned above that will allow it to be recodeced to play this type of .wav compression file?

Mainly I am just needing a way to get this from GMail to my Pre in a workable fashion.

**Quintus** · 12/04/2009, 07:59 PM

It sounds like your problem is the codec. Unfortunately I can't help with that. My workaround is strictly to resolve the failure of your ISP to attach the wav file in such a way as to enable your Pre to download it.

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/04/2009, 08:45 PM

If I don't get it to work somehow before the 30-day trial period, I will just give up on the pre. How come Palm hasn't addressed this issue in the last 6 months? Almost every smartphone (including my old Teo) lets me play voicemail attachments in emails. I can live with the other problems like the battery life, lack of visual voicemail, and the daily freezes but voicemail attachments I can't do without. Anybody else aware of a workaround for this problem?

**rlanza1054** · 12/04/2009, 09:01 PM

WebOS does not support WMA.

So are you sure your are not getting WMA instead of WAV?

And a possible reason that the Pre does support WMA is that Palm might not have wanted to pay the licensing fees.

Rob

**paulflory** · 12/04/2009, 09:01 PM

You seem hooked on and trust Google. Have you embraced the joys of Google Voice? If so, consider a completely different angle to tackling your problem -- redirect your calls to your gvoice number and manage voice mail (and SMS and much more) that way. I tested voice messages with GDial Pro (free app) just now and the audio plays just fine. Plus you get a transcript of each voice message on your phone and even texted if you like.

Considered this?

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/04/2009, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by paulflory

You seem hooked on and trust Google. Have you embraced the joys of Google Voice? If so, consider a completely different angle to tackling your problem -- redirect your calls to your gvoice number and manage voice mail (and SMS and much more) that way. I tested voice messages with GDial Pro (free app) just now and the audio plays just fine. Plus you get a transcript of each voice message on your phone and even texted if you like.

Considered this?

I sure am hooked. I am running most of my Palm OS applications in Classic. I even ditched the laggy webos calendar and am using the super fast Palm OS calendar. Everything else works incredibly well for me except this voicemail attachment thing. I really don't think Google Voice (which I have) would do the job for me. I have a small business and use an answering service. When I am unavailable, the "receptionists" transfer the calls directly to their voicemail and it gets forwarded to me via email. I don't see how Google Voice can do that. I know I will miss the Pre but will never go back to iPhone. Webos has been such a liberating experience.

**paulflory** · 12/04/2009, 10:46 PM

Yea, google voice can send you mail/SMS and do 100 other things. Quite incredible if you don't mind google managing all that personal/business info -- Google Voice Check out the vids.

I haven't tried Classic, but agree webos calendar and a few other things are pokey (for now). Gonna give it a few more months.. the horsepower is definitely in the hardware, they just have to make it available to developers (gradually and carefully) or else lose customers like you.

**Quintus** · 12/05/2009, 06:18 AM

Originally Posted by DJeremyC

I have the same problem, and am not quite sure I understand your workaround so I will explain my situation and see if you can help a bit.

I use the MagicJack as my VoIP solution. Everytime I get a voicemail it shows up in my GMail account. GMail is pushed to my Pre as it is the ONLY email I use. So when the files shows up I see the .wav file, tap it and it shows it playing but nothing comes out of the phone?

Is there a solution to this like you mentioned above that will allow it to be recodeced to play this type of .wav compression file?

Mainly I am just needing a way to get this from GMail to my Pre in a workable fashion.

When you say it is "playing" but no sound are you sure it is not "downloading". The attachment needs to fully download before you can play it.

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/29/2009, 11:24 AM

Seven months after launch and several updates, there is still no way to listen to .wav email attachments. Shame on Palm!

**Quintus** · 12/29/2009, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by mikeoleleforpre

Seven months after launch and several updates, there is still no way to listen to .wav email attachments. Shame on Palm!

Not sure I understand your gripe. I've been listening to voicemail wav files since I discovered this workaround. The problem is with the MIME protocol used by my voicemail provider being out of date which is not Palm's fault.

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/29/2009, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by Quintus

Not sure I understand your gripe. I've been listening to voicemail wav files since I discovered this workaround. The problem is with the MIME protocol used by my voicemail provider being out of date which is not Palm's fault.

Didn't you also post this? "It sounds like your problem is the codec. Unfortunately I can't help with that. My workaround is strictly to resolve the failure of your ISP to attach the wav file in such a way as to enable your Pre to download it."

Which means your workaround does not work in all cases. The question is why doesn't the Pre play .wav attachments while all other smartphones (including Treos!) do? By the way, I tried your workaround and it didn't work for me.

**Quintus** · 12/29/2009, 10:54 PM

Right...sorry about that. My workaround is only for those not receiving the attachment.

What exactly happens when you press play? Does the Pre give you an error message or just no sound? Can you take a screenshot of the Pre trying to play the wav file?

**mikeoleleforpre** · 12/29/2009, 11:07 PM

The Pre recognizes the file as .wav and shows it but when you press the play button, nothing happens. This is all I ask from this phone: PLEASE ALLOW ME TO LISTEN TO MY MESSAGES! I have no other problems and actually love the Pre.

**dlovely** · 12/29/2009, 11:12 PM

I have VOIP at work and when someone leaves a VM on my desk phone, it sends a .wav (64kbps) file as an attachment in email form and works just fine when I'm on the pre.

**Quintus** · 12/30/2009, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by mikeoleleforpre

The Pre recognizes the file as .wav and shows it but when you press the play button, nothing happens. This is all I ask from this phone: PLEASE ALLOW ME TO LISTEN TO MY MESSAGES! I have no other problems and actually love the Pre.

I have attached four screenshots. (1) the original email before downloading the attachment by pressing the down arrow on the left hand side. (2) downloading the .wav attachment (3) the email after download of .wav attachment is complete with play button on right hand side and (4) the .wav attachment in play mode with a pause button on the right hand side.

Are you able to get through all four screens? Still no sound? Does your speaker work fine with the music player?

If you still can't get any sound, PM me and I will give you an email address to send one of your wav files to. I will then forward it to my Pre and see if I could listen to it and maybe help you troubleshoot the problem.

**jrhackworth** · 12/31/2009, 08:23 AM

I'm having the same problem as Mike. I too receive voicemails from MagicJack as wav email attachments.

I get all 4 screens you posted. When I press the play button on the screen, I get the same as your 4th screenshot with the pause button, but I get no sound. It does everything it's supposed to do, except no audio. Volume is all the way up.

One other piece of info. I can open the same email on my desktop computer and the wav attachment plays fine (my Pre does not delete emails from the server).

I'm going to create an email with my own wav attachment and send it to my Pre to see if it will play. I'll also USB a wav file to the Pre to see if it will play. If I can verify that the Pre won't play any wav files (and that it is not some strange way MagicJack is formatting their wav files), then I can go at the problem from that angle.

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