Thank you Braincraze - I know one can retrieve voicemail messages from a landline (I even do it over Skype phone when I'm in a wifi zone abroad ...) but the issue during the O2 technical failure is that anyone calling my number would just hear "there is a fault - there is a fault ....", rather than being diverted to my voicemail. And given the system was down, there is no display of any missed calls. So basically I cannot know who tried to call me during the almost 18 hours during which my phone was incommunicado. Not the end of the world, I know, but as mentioned in earlier messages, what annoys me immensely is that there was no contingency plans, whereas technical failures are inevitable over time. It seems O2 have a good record in terms of reliability, but one day they will experience another glitch, and that day they had better be prepared. Demonstrating one can put things right again and alleviate the inconvenience for customers when a problem occurs is the greatest demonstration of competence which can build enormous trust in the customers' minds.
