Hi everyone! I just joined the forum specifically to share my experience solving this problem and thank people on this thread, without whom my problem wouldn't have been fixed. So THANK YOU EVERYONE! Here goes:
The Short Version
traciefly is a lifesaver and her(?) solution worked like a charm. If you're experiencing this annoying problem, just like I did since getting my new Evo Design on Boost and until last night - do exactly as that post says (or keep reading).
The (Slightly) Long, Detailed Version
I'm a Boost Mobile customer (was on Sprint until about half a year ago). Last week I made the upgrade from the Juno (don't ask, I'm not proud of it) to the Evo Design. Everything was marvelous except - well, you know what. VM Icon would NOT go away. Incidentally, it reported TWO new messages.
A list of things that didn't work:
-Resetting the phone
-Resetting the VM message counter (under "Settings"/"Call")
-factory-resetting the phone (twice, thank you very much. Deleted everything. Utterly useless.)
-4 hours on the phone with Boost Mobile customer service, who tried their best, but couldn't come up with anything other than resetting my voicemail from their side - which didn't work either (obviously, in hindsight).
-Swapping ESNs at my nearest Best Buy to a brand new Evo Design. Phantom Messages came back as soon as the phone was activated - actually before the PRL activation was complete.
The one solution that worked:
1. Going to a Boost Mobile store, getting a basic phone (their dumbest one, cost $40 I think - which I can now get a rebate for after returning the phone)
2. Having them activate it in-store (not that it matters, but saves time).
3. Setting up voice mail (not necessarily important, but maybe inevitable)
4. Calling my own number from a different phone and leaving a message
5. Calling VM from my phone and deleting that message (FWIW, that was the only message that showed up)
6. Calling boost mobile from a different phone and asking them to re-activate the previous phone (the Evo Design). They were very cool about that.
As soon as the phone came back to life it showed two voicemails, and instantaneously they disappeared. It's been almost 12 hours, they haven't been back since (despite multiple resets, tests, in-and-out-of-airplane mode which triggered that before, etc.). In short, Hasta la Vista, annoying phantom voicemail.
Sorry if this was overly long - I'm not a pro myself and thought some other frustrated person might find a detailed step-by-step description useful. Ironically, the salesperson at boost mobile has the same problem and doesn't know how to deal with it except hoping that "BM will patch it soon" - that's the level of incompetence we're talking about here. So I wanted to chime in to show my gratitude and support, and in hope that this solution solves it once and for all. Here's hoping Boost Mobile (and the rest of them) stumble upon this thread.
Best from phantom-free-land,
Desertsky
PS - feel free to pm me or ask anything on this thread. I'm feeling immensely grateful - as I said, wouldn't have solved it without you guys! Thanks again!