But afaik you can also see them directly in the google voice app? I fail to see the difference aside from that you need a data connection to get notifications? I mean its just different apps, not hardware. You just change where your calls is redirected when you are not answering to your google voice number?

I consider visual voicemail to be obsolete at this point. Making voice calls using packaged minutes is a sop to the carriers. I prefer to pay for data only (though this is not possible everywhere) and use SIP for all incoming/outgoing calls, paying for each call in 6 second increments. Then you can have a single (or multiple, if you want) voicemail for all numbers (landline, mobile 1, mobile 2..) and control voicemail the way you want - I get all my voicemails delivered to as many email addresses as I want as audio attachments, complete with info regarding who left the message, at what time and date, which of my numbers they called, how long the message is, etc, all instantly viewable.

Seems to me that visual voicemail was another invention designed to keep people addicted to the "packages" and other products carriers use to try and extract more money and keep you loyal to their particular brand. It's high time for carriers to realize they're nothing more than data pipes and act accordingly...

WTF is visual voicemail? Do you get to see a cute little waveform as you listen to the message?

Or do you see a cutie reading your voicemail to you for some visual eye candy?