Prioritizing voice mail

A voice mail node of a wireless communication system, comprising:

• a communication interface to receive a first voice mail message based on a first phone call from a caller to a recipient, the first voice mail message comprising caller information and chronological information, and a second voice mail message based on the second phone call from the recipient to the caller;
• and
• a processor configured to
• match the caller information to a contact entry of the recipient to generate a matching criteria,
• locate the caller information in a call history of the recipient to generate a call history criteria,
• compare the chronological information to a first time period to generate a chronological criteria,
• generate a frequency metric based on the call history of the recipient and a second time period,
• create a missed call value associated with the voice mail message,
• associate a first voice mail priority with the first voice mail message based on the matching criteria, the call history criteria, the chronological criteria, and the frequency metric,
• order a voice mail list comprising the first voice mail message according to the voice mail priority,
• increment the missed call value when the recipient places a second phone call to the caller based on the first voice mail message wherein the caller does not answer the second phone call,
• increase the first voice mail priority associated with the first voice mail message based on the missed call value, and
• associate with the second voice mail message a second voice mail priority based on the increased first voice mail priority.

A method of prioritizing a voice mail message, comprising:

• receiving at a voice mail node in a wireless communication system a first voice mail message based on a first phone call from a caller to a recipient, the first voice mail message comprising caller information and chronological information;
• matching the caller information to a contact entry of the recipient to generate a matching criteria;
• locating the caller information in a call history of the recipient to generate a call history criteria;
• comparing the chronological information to a first time period to generate a chronological criteria;
• generating a frequency metric based on the call history of the recipient and a second time period;
• creating a missed call value associated with the voice mail message;
• associating a first voice mail priority with the first voice mail message based on the matching criteria, the call history criteria, the chronological criteria, the frequency metric, and the missed call value;
• ordering a voice mail list comprising the first voice mail message according to the first voice mail priority;
• incrementing the missed call value when the recipient places a second phone call to the caller based on the first voice mail message wherein the caller does not answer the second phone call;
• increasing the first voice mail priority associated with the first voice mail message based on the missed call value;
• and
• reordering the voice mail list comprising the first voice mail message according to the increased first voice mail priority.