No Voicemail Notification S8 and Note 8

[DrCarl]

We have two devices. Samsung S8 and Note 8.
Both do not display a notification in standby (locked, dark screen) mode when a new visual voicemail is received. No sound. No LED. We have to use our psychic powers to guess if there are any new VMs. Voicemails do pop-up about 15 seconds after we check for them.

The voicemail app is Xfinity Mobile Voicemail, ver2.10.0.006
Android software updated, ver. 9
Provider: Xfinity Mobile

I have (but not in this order)...
Cleared phone and voicemail data and cache, and Android cache
Disabled Do Not Disturb
Disabled voicemail and phone from battery saver and optimization functions
Disabled 'put app to sleep'
Enabled LED indicator
Enabled notifications wherever I could find them
Allowed app while data saver is on
Enabled notification reminders
Reset VM (*86)

Consulted chatGPT for a long list of anything to check. (Good list, BTW)
Asked chatGPT for more (and I got more)

Spent the better part of 5 hours both with "chat" and then a Tier 2 Xfinity agent

The agent advised me that I have an old phone and the new technology utilized by Xfinity Mobile is not compatible with such old tech.
Suggested changing to Samsung's Visual Voicemail (wherever I'd get that) and that I would lose all previous VMs.

Really? Xfinity's upgrades disable VM notifications?

I'm betting on 'user error' of some sort, although it's interesting that both phones have lost notifications.
SMS notifications work.

I'd love to learn any additional steps I might take, short of a new $1200 Samsung S23 Ultra.

TIA

DrCarl

 

[Thomas_George]

Is it still Android 9 Pie on your two Samsung devices?
Maybe it's really because the phones are too old, and the VM app doesn't work well on the devices based on so old Android system.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Are your phones Verizon branded? Xfinity Mobile uses Verizon's network. If the phones were originally from another carrier then there may be issues. Additionally, sometimes certain features don't work properly with MVNOs.

 

[SpookDroid]

Unfortunately they MAY be right on this one. Visual voicemail is carrier-dependent, so if the app they developed did not take into account older OSs, the way they handle data and notifications my be an issue (and only they can fix their app). Samsung Voicemail app, if I'm not mistaken, was only included in newer OSs and only if your phone was unlocked AND if your carrier supports it (again, Voicemail and Visual Voicemail are 100% carrier-dependent).

 

[DrCarl]

Are your phones Verizon branded? Xfinity Mobile uses Verizon's network. If the phones were originally from another carrier then there may be issues. Additionally, sometimes certain features don't work properly with MVNOs.

Brought my phones to Xfinity from Verizon