Question about Ring Back service

[Beaselwood]

Hello. My elderly Mum has a BT Decor 2500.  As is often the case these days, when she is put on hold she is given the option to get a ring back when the line is free.  However when she presses 5 she gets a message to the effect that this function doesn't work (I can't get the exact wording from her.)  This is really frustrating when she is trying to get in touch with the GP for example.

My research shows that ring back requires tone dialling, and that the Decor 2500 has this.  Can anyway shed any light on whether ring back SHOULD work with the Decor 2500, or what the problem might be?  Many thanks in advance!

[Keith_Beddoe]

@Beaselwood 

Many numbers, especially GP surgeries, do not support ring back. Its a feature that only works on some numbers, usually those which have a number of incoming lines.

All she can do is to keep re-dialling the number.

[licquorice]

If the number didn't support ring back why would it give the option?

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@licquorice wrote:

If the number didn't support ring back why would it give the option?

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Perhaps  the number could not hold any more in the ringback queue?

[iniltous]

For clarity, is your relative a BT Consumer customer ?
The  brand of phone is irrelevant , so the fact it’s a BT branded phone doesn’t matter.

A ‘ring back’ service is either a network service offered by your provider from their telephone exchange equipment, or something supplied by the ‘equipment’ of the party you called.

You state ‘ put on hold , given the option for a ring back when the line is free’ that is almost a contradiction, if the call is answered and put on hold , then the line was already ‘free’ when it was called ,  that isn’t what an exchange network ring back service does, that typically would be if you called a number and were listening to busy tone, and the number was compatible with BT’s exchange architecture, the ‘exchange’ may offer to ‘monitor’ the called line, and when it’s free, start ringing it , and also call you back, ( a chargeable service ) if the call has already been answered , that option won’t be offered.

If the phone system of the party you called offers to call you back ( strange that any company would offer this given that the call costs are now with them and not you)  unless of course the incoming call would have presented a sales opportunity, in which case it’s presumably worth the expense of them calling you back.

If this is the case, presumably they capture your number when they answer your call, and then ask if you want to continue to hold or want a call back , if you select the  call back , they call you when they have the resources to do so , in which case whatever ‘number’ they ask you to press , obviously requires a touch tone phone ( any brand ) and has nothing to do with who provides your relatives phone service and is the responsibility of the called party to follow up with the callback. If , when you press whatever number they ask ( for a call back ) an announcement says ‘sorry, than cannot be done ‘ , then either the phone isn’t producing the correct tone ( not likely as the phone would presumably never be able to make any call that contained the same digit ) or the called party’s system is faulty

[Beaselwood]

Thanks Keith. In this case it was the GP surgery she was calling (she had had a bad turn) so it seems they do offer this service.

[Beaselwood]

Thank you Iniltous, appreciate the explanation.  Yes Mum is a BT customer.  Perhaps I didn't describe the process correctly.  It was one of those situations where you make the call and get a recorded message along the lines of "our lines are very busy at the moment.  You can continue to hold, or press 5 to get a call back when the line is free."

[Beaselwood]

Which would suggest, from your explanation, that the GPs system is faulty, or as mentioned previously, they are at capacity. Which wouldn't be surprising really.

[iniltous · Accepted solution]

Yes, the call was answered, so the ‘BT’ part is now effectively done , and is a completed call and billed for if appropriate, ( when the caller hangs up ) so pressing any key on the phone , apart from ‘recall’ doesn’t get any response from the BT exchange, however the called party’s phone system that is playing the ‘we are very busy’ message is primed to accept responses from you ( key 5 for a ring back or whatever ), as already stated, chances are that so many people have done that , and the doctors phone system  ( or staff ) are unable to cope with demand, there will probably be many like your mother, simply never rang back even though they pressed the appropriate key on the phone.

Its probably the doctors policy that anyone not called back after the ‘surgery ‘ open time has been reached is simply removed from the call back list, and they assume you will try again if needed and continue to hold next time 

[Beaselwood]

Thank you, yes that all makes perfect sense.