This topic

Old Phone

John_N — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:09:55 GMT

We have (and still use) a BT6500 phone. We've been switched over to digital voice some time in the last 4 months or so (can't remember when). We don't use the messages much but someone said they left a message the other night, however we don't have it. Would the switchover affect the messaging function or is the phone dying?

Re: Old Phone

jac_95 — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:15:18 GMT

Have a check dialling 1571 to see if there's any answer phone messages there.

Checkout the FAQs if you want to use your own device answer phone system: https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-FAQs/td-p/2207485

Re: Old Phone

imjolly — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:15:48 GMT

DV comes with 1571 active and unless you have changed anything then that may well be where you message and not on 6500

Re: Old Phone

iniltous — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:18:07 GMT

With DV , there is an included voice mail service, so if your own telephone also has an answer machine built in and there is no message left on that , it could be that the BT DV 1571 message service took the message before your own phone ( it’s not a good idea to have both ) , if BT 1571 has the message, the dialtone is modulated ( two tone dialtone ) to indicate a message has been taken , so if you pick up the handset and hear modulated dialtone , call 1571 to retrieve the message

Re: Old Phone

licquorice — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:19:16 GMT

You need to configure 1571 for maximum number of rings and your answering machine to fewer if you wish that to answer rather than 1571.

Re: Old Phone

chrisjp — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:33:18 GMT

"...it could be that the BT DV 1571 message service took the message before your own phone ( it’s not a good idea to have both ) "

Actually, it's perfectly OK to have both your own answering machine and the 1571 service on DV.
I have my own answering machine set to answer on less rings than the 1571 service. When I'm at home, with my phone/answering machine powered on, I use messaging on that. When I'm going to be away for a while, I power down my phone/answering machine so that the 1571 service takes any messages - that way I can access these messages remotely.

Re: Old Phone

John_N — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:56:10 GMT

Thanks everybody.

We don't move around this ol' house so quick these days so I've set the 1571 to a long ring before it picks up. We also have a long period on the handset so we might have to shorten that but we'll see.

Is it possible to disconnect from the 1571 service?

Re: Old Phone

licquorice — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 16:01:47 GMT

It is, but it is a bit of a faff. You can do it via MyBT