How to get the most out of your call features
There are lots of useful features you can set up on your home phone. Here's what they are and how to use them.
Call feature FAQs
The quickest and easiest way to add or remove call features is through your online Phone Control Panel.
We should be able to do this for you in a day, but sometimes it can take up to three. When your features show up as 'Active' on the Phone Control Panel you'll know they're ready to go.
Can't make the change online? Don't worry, give us a call and we'll get you sorted.
Whatever your phone package, you get:
- 1471
- 141
- Voicemail (1571) - you need to activate it in your Phone Control Panel
- Plusnet Call Protect - you need to activate it in your Phone Control Panel
- Caller Display - you need to activate it in your Phone Control Panel
Plusnet Call Protect and Caller Display are not available in a small number of locations, we will confirm if this applies to you after you have placed your order in your online account.
You can also use these features and pay-as-you-go:
- Ringback (20p a time)
- Reminder call (20p a time)
- Conference calling (40p a time)
Or for a set fee every month, you can use these features as much as you like. Just add any of these in your Phone Control Panel. Pay-as-you-go charges for Business call plans are confirmed in the Charges Schedule.
| Calling Feature | How much a month | Can you get it in a calling feature bundle? |
|---|---|---|
| Reminder Call (unlimited use) |
£2.50 | ✔ |
| Call Waiting | £2.50 | ✔ |
| Call Divert | £2.50, plus the cost of the onward call if chargeable | ✔ |
| Ring Back (unlimited use) | £2.50 | ✔ |
| Voicemail Extra (or Call Minder) |
£3 | ✘ |
| Anonymous Call Reject | £4 | ✘ |
For Business customers, costs are confirmed in the Charges Schedule.
Yes, and here's an idea of how much you can save. You can add these in your Phone Control Panel.
| Number of features I've chosen | How much a month | How much could I save? |
|---|---|---|
| 2 features | £3 | £2 |
| 3 features | £4.50 | £3 |
| 4 features | £6 | £4 |
Call features
This lets you find out the number of the last person to call you, as long as the number wasn't withheld, unavailable or from a switchboard extension. It comes with all of our phone packages.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Find out the number of your last caller | Dial 1471 |
| Return the call | Press 3 (this will cost 20p, as well as any other extra charges) |
| Withhold your number when making calls | Enter 141 before the number you want to call |
| Delete the last number stored by 1471 | Dial 1475 |
If a number's busy when you try to call, you can get Ring Back to keep trying it for up to 45 minutes. It's included with all our phone packages and costs 20p a time or £2.50 for unlimited uses.
You won't be able to use Ring Back on international and most switchboard numbers.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Get someone to ring you back | Press 5 when you hear the engaged tone. You'll hear a message confirming your request and you can then just hang up. |
| Answer a Ring Back call | Just pick up your handset as usual. You'll know it's a Ring Back call because it has its own ring tone. |
| Check a Ring Back call | Press *#37# |
| Cancel a Ring Back call | Press #37# |
Call Waiting lets you know if someone's trying to get through when you're already on the phone. You'll hear a beep and you can decide whether or not to take the new call.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Turn on Call Waiting | Press *43# |
| Answer your second caller | Press Recall or R |
| Go back to your first caller | Press Recall or R |
| Check if Call Waiting is turned on | Press *#43# |
| Turn off Call Waiting | Press #43# |
This lets you speak with two people on the same call.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Start a Conference Call | Dial the first number and wait for your caller to answer, then press Recall or R. When you hear the dial tone, dial the second number. When your second caller has answered, press Recall or R then 3 to start a conference call or Recall or R and 2 to talk to your two callers separately |
| Switch between your two calls | Press Recall or R. Wait for the dial tone, then press 2 |
| Switch back to Conference Calling | Press Recall or R. When you hear the dial tone, press 3 |
| End the first call but keep the second | Press Recall or R. Wait for the dial tone, then press 5 |
| End the second call but keep the first | Press Recall or R. When you hear the dial tone, press 7 |
| End both calls | Just hang up |
This is also sometimes known as Caller ID and does exactly as it says - shows you who's calling. All you need to use it is a phone that has a display to show the numbers that you're calling or that are calling you. It's kind of like a little window on your phone.
Turn your house phone into an alarm clock by setting a reminder. Reminder Call comes with all our phone packages and costs 20p a time or £2.50 for unlimited uses.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Set a reminder | Press *55*(Time)# (When you're setting the time, use a 24-hour clock, like 1600 for 4pm) |
| Cancel a reminder | Press #55# |
| Check your next reminder | Press *#55# |
You can use this to block calls from withheld numbers. It won't block calls if the incoming number is 'unavailable', as the caller hasn't made any attempt to hide the number they're calling from. There are a few reasons this might happen, like if the person's calling from another country.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Block calls from withheld numbers | Press *227# |
| Allow calls from withheld numbers | Press #227# |
| Check Anonymous Call Reject is turned on | Press *#227# |
Divert your calls to your UK landline, mobile and most international destinations. If a diverted call is included in your call plan, it won’t cost you anything extra. If it's not part of your call plan, you'll be charged the standard rate for that call.
Using Call Divert
There are three codes you can use, depending on what you want to do:
- 21 diverts all calls
- 61 diverts calls you don't answer in 15 seconds
- 67 diverts calls when you're on another call
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Set up Call Divert | Press *(Code)*(Number to divert to)# |
| Check Call Divert | Press *#(Code)# |
| Turn off Call Divert | Press #(Code)# |
Voicemail makes sure you never miss a call. It's basically like an answering machine, only you don't need the machine bit. You can:
- save messages for 20 days
- record your own greeting to people calling you.
Standard Voicemail comes with all our phone packages, we’ll add it automatically when you sign up, unless you tell us not to. If you want to turn Standard Voicemail or Voicemail Extra off, just go to the Phone Control Panel.
Voicemail Extra does everything that standard Voicemail does, but you can also:
- choose how many times the phone rings before a call goes to Voicemail
- check your messages from any phone (using remote access PIN)
- link to your mobile and get texts to let you know you have a new voicemail (these cost 10p a message)
- save messages for 30 days
- find out the last three callers who hung up without leaving a message (as long they haven't withheld their number).
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it |
|---|---|
| Access the main Voicemail menu | Dial 1571 |
| Check your messages | When you hear the main menu, press 1 to start playing your messages
|
| Record a new Personal Greeting | When you hear the main menu, press 2 to go to Personal Greeting and then 1 from the next menu Press 1 again and when you hear the tone, you're ready to start recording When you're done, press #
|
| Use the standard Personal Greeting | When you're on the main menu press 2 Press 2 again to use the pre-set standard Personal Greeting |
Using Voicemail Extra
Your remote access PIN
To check your messages from another phone, you'll need to set up a PIN using the steps below. If you ever forget your PIN, use the same steps to change it. You can only change your PIN if you call from your own phone line.
| If you want to... | Here's how you do it: |
|---|---|
| Check your messages from another phone |
|
| Set up or change your PIN |
|
| Change how many times the phone rings before Voicemail Extra answers |
|
| Link to your mobile |
|
| Remove or change your linked mobile number |
|
| Check messages from a linked mobile |
|
| Check callers who hung up without leaving a message |
|
Plusnet Call Protect catches nuisance calls on your landline and sends them straight to junk voicemail, where they belong. You can:
- Catches all calls from Plusnet’s list of known nuisance callers, which is updated regularly to send as many of those pesky nuisance calls as possible to junk voicemail
- Create your own personal list of up to 100 nuisance numbers that you can select and maintain
- Choose to divert specific types of numbers to junk voicemail, such as international numbers, withheld numbers and unavailable numbers Additional features
- VIP list. This allows you to select up to 50 numbers to override your diverted list. For example, if you’ve blocked international numbers but have family abroad, you can add them to your VIP list, so they’ll still get through to you.
- Do Not Disturb (DND). This means that all calls will either be sent to your normal 1571 voicemail or your 1572 junk voicemail if they feature on your diverted list. For those times when you really want some peace and quiet! If you don’t have 1571 activated, callers that don’t feature on the diverted list will receive a DND message and will not be diverted to voicemail.
| Call Protect Menu | Dial 1572 |
|---|---|
| Main Menu |
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