Old Phone

[John_N]

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?

[jac_95]

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

[imjolly]

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

[iniltous]

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 

[licquorice]

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.

[chrisjp]

"...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.

[John_N]

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?

[licquorice]

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