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BT4600 Phone

Farider74 — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:46:52 GMT

I have an issue with a BT4600 twin phone set.

Call blocking is activated and there are a set of contacts loaded on the phone. However a call from one of these contacts cannot be answered on either of the two phones. If the call comes from a number not in the contact list, the caller normally (but not always) get to leave their name but again the call cannot be answered. Out going calls are fine.

I’ve tried using a different base stations and different handsets (from someone who had the same phone system) but it makes no difference.

Does anyone have any idea on what the problem is? I could try buying a new BT4600 set but have no confidence that it would be any different. Or the BT Premium perhaps.

There is no WiFi/broadband/internet in the house where the phone system is located, it is plugged into a normal phone socket but it is digital and not analog/copper as the area code has to be used when dialing a local number

Re: BT4600 Phone

imjolly — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:52:33 GMT

Are you a BT broadband and phone customer?

Re: BT4600 Phone

Farider74 — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:26:44 GMT

It is phone only

Re: BT4600 Phone

iniltous — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:49:51 GMT

If this is a standalone phone line (no broadband from anyone on this ‘line’) just because the full national number needs to be used doesn’t necessarily mean it’s no longer on the publicly switched telephone network (PSTN) and now on PDPL , if it were switched , then you would be notified by BR , but as you seem to be posting here because it’s a BT branded phone not necessarily because BT are the provider , so who is the provider of this phone service ?
As far as what the problem could be , it could be the phone , if it’s out of warranty then repair of something this inexpensive never makes sense , so replacing it is probably necessary.
https://www.bt.com/help/user-guides/phones/landline-phones/cordless-phones-with-answer-machine/bt4600

The usual way to prove a fault to the equipment or the ‘exchange’ is to try a different standard phone and see if it demonstrates the same behaviour , so if calls from a blocked number don’t get to leave a message (if that’s what should happen ) try a different ordinary phone, if you can answer the call on this ordinary phone then it’s your equipment that needs repair or replacement.

Re: BT4600 Phone

Farider74 — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:35:20 GMT

Thank you for your reply

BT is the service provider and the person concerned had notice of switching to digital 6 months ago. Now, all local calls have to have the local area code added whereas they didn’t before so this indicates to me that the switch away from PSTN has been done.

I have a complete substitute identical BT4600 system (not new but working satisfactorily) that i have installed in place of the original set but the same symptoms remain, you cannot accept incoming calls. If a replacement main base unit and handsets don’t cure the problem what confidence is there in a new system? Maybe I’ll just need to get a set and try it.

Re: BT4600 Phone

iniltous — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 20:58:03 GMT

I’m not sure what you are actually saying, that the change to PDPL from PSTN has affected incoming calls negatively, and you think the issue is with the actual incoming call rather than the BT4600’s ….as stated the normal way to establish if the customers own equipment is at fault or the telephone service itself is to try an ordinary telephone , preferably one with a standard display so the CLI (calling line information) presented by the exchange in advance of the ringing ‘signal’ can be displayed, if you do and that works from any number presenting a CLI , including any from numbers that were previously in some sort of blocked list on the BT4600 then clearly the telephone network is fine, if a regular telephone connected has problems with some incoming calls (possibly from numbers that were flagged on the BT4600 ) then clearly some network issue exists, but it’s difficult to imagine a problem that affects only some incoming calls and not all incoming calls .

Because the BT4600 ‘true call’ facilities are built around the CLI , it’s possible that it needs to be reset to factory setting and then numbers added to the vetting system as and when they arrive, if the PDPL version of CLI is being misinterpreted by the BT4600 .