Patent attributes
An advanced message waiting indication system includes the ability to provide message waiting indicators for a plurality of voice mail (“VM”) systems. When a message is left on a remote VM system, a message waiting notification is passed to a centralized VM system. The centralized VM system can connect to the remote VM system, authenticate as the user, download the messages and accompanying data, and then disconnect from the remote VM system. The message and accompanying data can then be used to determine a message waiting indicator (MWI) that is then passed to an electronic device for display. The MWI can inform a user about many aspects of the waiting messages.