Phone line with extension

[pauld2110]

Hi all,

I have just moved house and our new home has a granny annexe where my father lives.

What I wish to know is it possible to have a phone which can handle a 2nd extension on a single line, ie. a caller rings our number and gets a message for example "dial 1 for main house or 2 for annexe", just to avoid picking up each others calls. The annexe is close enough that a normal cordless phone has enough range to work well there while the base unit is in the house.

BT fibre broadband is being installed in the next few weeks.

Thanks for any help.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@pauld2110 

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

I am not aware of any normal phone which would do that, you would need some form of house exchange system.

Bear in mind that any phone or base unit will need to be plugged into the phone socket on the back of the BT Smart Hub 2, or a BT Digital Voice Adapter, as you will be getting BT Digital Voice.

BT Digital Voice does offer Multi Call, but there is no way to separate the incoming calls, as they are both the same number.

[Keith_Beddoe]

@pauld2110 

You might find this FAQ helpful, when it comes to your phone service.

https://community.bt.com/t5/Home-phone-including-Digital/Digital-Voice-FAQs/td-p/2207485

[36ULW]

As Keith says you couldn’t do that with one ordinary line be it on a traditional line or the new Digital Voice.

I used to work as a CSE Installing/Repairing Lines for years and never once came across anything like that.

Even on a Multi Line where you have 2 or more lines on the same Number you’d still need an internal switching system and the person calling would need to know which line to select when they called, i.e. 1 for you and 2 for your Dad. 

Unless you can find some kind of Digital Voice phone system that does that i think you’ve got two choices. 

Expensive choice is just have two lines, one to your house and one to the Annex.

Cheap choice is on the Cordless Phone save all your contacts with say maybe Dad at the end, i.e. if Margaret (Dad) rings you know if for the old man.

Only issue with that of course is if it’s from a number you specifically have saved.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Many DECT phone systems do have an intercom facility, and I know the BT4600 allows you to transfer a call to a specific handset, so that may be one solution, but its going to involve someone answering the call first, but as you would know who is calling, then that may help.

I think you can also customise the calling ring depending on the incoming number, but that does involve some work.

[HHGTTG]

My BT 'Advanced' DECT phone has intercom facility with one additional handset. If I answer the phone and it's for my partner who happens to be near the other handset I just transfer the call, according to the instructions given for that model.

[pauld2110]

Thanks for the reply Keith, I would have thought this would have been possible since it such a standard thing on business phones and especially nowadays with so many people working from home. I guess I'll have endure endless conversations about the weather from elderly relatives who really want to speak to dad.

[pauld2110]

Well that's spooky. My mum has alzheimer's and is in a nursing home, her name is Margaret....

[Keith_Beddoe]

If BT wanted to, they could convert the multi call feature into two separate numbers and charge customers for an additional phone number, similar to the old "CallSign" feature that existed on the PSTN network, but instead route the incoming call to one of the two "channels" One could terminate on the socket at the back of the home hub, and the other on the DECT handset/DV adapter.

I think a similar facility exists on the BT Business VOIP service called Cloud Voice, as it has to emulate what was available to business customers on the old ISDN30 service. That allowed a range of numbers, with specific numbers being directed by the customer PBX, to a certain extension.

There may well be a product to do what you want, you would have to search for home PBX.  I doubt it would be cheap.