I've never been charged for misseed or unanswered calls in the past with TELUS or any other carrier. This changed in November when a couple of our family lines started seeing a bunch of 1 minute incoming calls charged on our bill. Looking at the iPhone call logs, non of these calls were answered. Most appeared to be telemarketing calls.
While TELUS happily refunded the charges as a one-time gesture, no one could tell me why I was suddely being charged for missed calls or offer any assurance that it wouldn't happen again in the future. The only solution I was offered was an upsell to a plan with more minutes. I delined and the charges for missed calls continued.
I've now concluded my own testing and have found what changed. Apple rolled out Live Voicemail in the fall where voicemail is transcribed while the message is being left, giving you the option to screen calls and pick them up mid-message, similar to how you could with an old school answering machine. This feature was turned on by default during the iPhone software update.
It appears the TELUS billing system was not ready for this feature, as every call which goes to Live Voicemail now counts as used or chargeable minutes. When I turn off Live Voicemail (under Settings/Phone), missed calls are no longer billed.
I'm not sure if this is system-wide or unique to the plan which I'm on. Check your bills for extra charges or deductions from your monthly minutes. If you are seeing similar behaviour, turn off Live Voicemail and post something to this thread.
