A method and system of the present invention delivers a voice mail notification to a subscriber of a voice mail system to indicate that a voice mail message is waiting in the subscriber mailbox. The voice mail system cellular phone network. The voice mail notification typically includes the calling party number and the name of the calling party if available, and an index. This is forwarded through the cellular phone network to the subscriber to indicate that a voice mail message is waiting in a subscriber mailbox. Subscribers can retrieve a specific message from the Voice Mail System.