topic Re: Answer machine not working in Home Phone

Answer machine not working

Martin3780 — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 10:18:32 GMT

We moved to Fibre 150 in November last year and we connected our landline DECT phone as instructed. We have the Eero & Grandstream hardware and BT cordless phones with an answering machine. It all seemed to work OK. We can call out and receive calls OK. BUT now we have discovered that external callers cannot leave a message on our answering machine. The call is answered and the outgoing message is played OK, but the caller does not hear the tone to invite them to leave a message and they immediately get cut off.

I'm wondering if the answering machine's tone signals something to Digital Voice that triggers it to cut the call off.

Has anyone come across this? and is there a work around?

Thanks.

Re: Answer machine not working

fr8ys — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 10:32:03 GMT

Hi,

A quick Google search shows this to be a common problem and usually associated with another voicemail service from the phone provider.

Reducing the number of rings on your answer phone may work.

Do you have a TalkTalk voicemail set up? Maybe worth turning this off, or, as BT customers can do increase the time before it kicks in (I don't know if this is possible with TalkTalk).

Failing that try a Google search with your issue and phone model. You may find a solution.

Hope this helps

Re: Answer machine not working

Martin3780 — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 10:46:09 GMT

Thanks for your reply and helpful suggestions. We do not have TT's voicemail system turned on, and we have never used it simply because we have our own answer machine. So sadly that is not the cause of our problem. I will try to hunt for a specific solution for our type of phone, but I am not hopeful.

Re: Answer machine not working

fr8ys — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 10:48:04 GMT

Try reducing the ring times and check that answerphone mode, not answer calls only, is turned on.

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 10:53:37 GMT

Hi Martin,

Does your phone have multiple handsets connected? Does it also happen with just the one handset connected to the digital voice adapter?

Michelle

Re: Answer machine not working

Martin3780 — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 11:14:38 GMT

Thanks everyone! The answer machine has three settings : Off; Answer only; Answer with ability to leave a message. It's currently set on the last option.

There is only one thing plugged into the phone adapter. This is the DECT base station for a set of 3 cordless phones. The base station has the built-in answermachine. So there is nothing else we can unplug.

I've been googling and some people find their answer machines work normally, and some do not. It seems some customers of most ISPs are having this problem with digital voice. There seems to be no pattern. There is some discussion about certain ISP's digital voice systems have a problem detecting an "end-of-call", which (apparently) has an effect on answer machines. So far I have found no new things to try.

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 11:19:43 GMT

Hi Martin,

Thanks for confirming. I've asked my colleague from our Devices Team if he has ever come across this before and I'll post back as soon as I receive a reply.

Michelle

Re: Answer machine not working

Martin3780 — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 11:22:16 GMT

Michelle, Thanks! I look forward to hearing the response.

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 06:32:16 GMT

Hi Martin,

I'll chase my colleague for an update now.

Michelle

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 07:19:16 GMT

Hi @Martin3780

Our tests are showing that the phone is not connected at the moment. Is the phone connected to the digital voice adapter and the eero at the moment? Can you make and receive calls ok?

Michelle

Re: Answer machine not working

Martin37801 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:57:40 GMT

Michelle,

Thanks for following up. I've spent the last 30 minutes trying and failing to connect to the community with my current username of Mart3780. The system tells me that my account and my community account are "linked already" but it doesn't let me into the comunity! I've been round and round in circles. Have tried deletting cookies and clearing cachges. Very frustrating. If there's a solution, I'd love to know it.

So I am replying to your recent posts using another user name that I have just created : Mart37801.

We have now done some testing and almost everything is working! The landline phone has always been connected and we have always been able to send and receive calls. But (unlike yesterday) the answer machine now works and we can leave messages OK. Something has changed at your end (since we have done nothing new). The only thing that seems not to be working reliably is caller display which seems not to be showing our number when we call out when using 1470 to reveal our number. This last issue is no big deal.

So I think big thanks are due to you and your devices team. They seem to have solved the problem by magic?? We'll keep testing from time to time.

Thanks again, Martin

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:01:29 GMT

Hi Martin,

Thank you for the update. Can I just check that the phone is connected to the DVA which is connected to the eero please?

Michelle

Re: Answer machine not working

Martin37801 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:03:44 GMT

Yes. The phone is connected to the DVA and to the eero. Fascinating to hear that your tests show it is not connected!

Martin

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:06:56 GMT

Hi Martin,

Great, thanks for confirming. I'll let my colleague know now. If it does happen again then please let us know.

Michelle

Re: Answer machine not working

Martin37801 — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:28:19 GMT

Michelle,

Kudos to you and the community support team. I have come here several times for help and everyone has been great. Well done!

Martin

Re: Answer machine not working

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 09:31:05 GMT

Thanks Martin 🙂

Michelle 🙂