All about Voicemail for Digital Voice
What is Voicemail?
Voicemail is an answering service that answers calls when you're away from the phone or engaged on another call. You'll know you have a message in your mailbox if your dial tone sounds different when you pick up your phone.
The Voicemail service allows you to:
- Record your own personal greeting for callers to hear, changing it as often as you like
- Store up to 20 messages
- Store messages for 60 days, or 30 days if you've listened to them
- Link your BT Answer 1571 to your mobile - you need to set up a PIN from your home phone. Once you're set up, we'll send a text whenever you receive a voicemail
- Access your messages when you're away from home. All you need to do is set a PIN by choosing option 3 on the 1571 menu. To check your messages when you're out and about, just dial your home number, press star and then enter your PIN when 1571 answers the call
Enhanced Voicemail
While Voicemail Essential is free of charge, you can opt into Enhanced Voicemail for £4.03 a month.
The Enhanced Voicemail service allows you to:
Allocate VIP numbers
Turn on Do not disturb
Have access to a Larger mailbox
Speech recognition
Receive Enhanced message alerts
Leave longer messages
Keep messages in your inbox for longer
How do I get Voicemail?
Voicemail is pre-enabled for Digital Voice customers. The service can be accessed from any Digital Voice handset by pressing the cassette button and following the voice menu instructions.
How do I know if I have a new message?
If you have a Digital Voice handset supplied with the service, the display will indicate the number of new voicemail messages that are recorded. To listen to your messages, simply press the casette key and follow the voice menu.
If you have a phone connected to the phone socket in the rear of the hub, when you have a new message you will hear an interrupted dial tone on the phone line. You will then need to dial 1571 and follow the voice menu to listen to your messages.
How many messages can Voicemail store?
Voicemail will store up to 20 messages at any one time. The messages will be stored for 60 days or 30 if you've already listened to them, after which they will automatically be deleted.
How do I record a personal greeting on my line?
If you have a Digital Voice handset supplied with the service, you can simply press the cassette key and follow the voice menu.
If you have a phone connected to the phone socket in the rear of the hub, you can follow the below steps:
- Dial 1571 from your home phone
- Press 2 from the main menu to set a personal greeting
- Then press 1 to record a personal greeting or 2 to choose the standard greeting
- After pressing 1, you'll be able to record a greeting after the tone
- Press # to finish
- You'll be able to listen to what you've recorded before deciding whether to use it, or to record another version.
- To cancel recording and return to the greeting menu, press star (*)
How do I access my Voicemail messages?
You can access Voicemail from any Digital Voice handset by pressing the cassette button, or by simply dialling 1571 from your home phone.
How can I pick up my messages when I'm away from home?
Dial 1571 from your home phone and select option 3 to choose your personal 4-digit PIN.
When you're away from home (in the UK or abroad), dial your home number and wait for the Voicemail to answer. Then press the star (*) key and enter your PIN to access your messages.
BT Text SMS alerting feature
If your mobile is linked to Call Minder, you'll get a text message whenever someone leaves a voicemail on your messaging service.
To access your messages, dial your landline number from your linked mobile. When Call Minder answers, press star (*) then enter your PIN.
To set up or cancel this feature, call 0800 389 5660, which links to a fully automated service. You'll pay the standard rate for BT Text from landlines for the SMS message sent to your mobile.
How do Voicemail and Call Diversion work together?
When you have both Call Diversion and Voicemail and choose to activate Call Diversion, you will not hear the usual interrupted dial tone to indicate that the Diversion is active; you will only hear a change in dial tone when there is a new message on Voicemail.
What's the maximum length of time for a single message?
The maximum length of time for a single message is two minutes.
I've deleted a message by mistake, can I get it back?
Unfortunately once the message has been deleted, there's no way of retrieving it.
How does Call Waiting work with Voicemail?
If you have Voicemail and are on a call when a new incoming call arrives, an intrusion tone will advise you that a new call is waiting. The caller will hear the Call Waiting announcement, and, if you decide not to take the new call, after 21 seconds it will be diverted to the Voicemail service.
Is my alarm system compatible with Voicemail?
Some social alarm and burglar alarm equipment may not be compatible with Voicemail. Please check with your alarm supplier.
Can callers hear different personalised greetings?
No. Callers will hear the same greeting regardless of whether the line is busy or unanswered.
Can I change the amount of rings before Voicemail kicks in?
Yes. To do this, access your Voicemail service and select 4 from the main menu