Quite a few people are blissfully unaware of something that most phone service providers (landline) offer - a 1571 (dial 1-5-7-1) service.
The 1571 service is basically a voicemail system. It will take calls when you’re out, on the phone, or any other reason that you’re not able to take a call.
Because the system is able to take a call for you when you’re on the phone, it beats any answerphone hands down. Even if you already have a standard answerphone machine on the line, that can still be used as well (but why bother is what you may think to yourself after you have read this).
Above all else, most telecoms (telephone companies) won’t charge you to use the service, or for having it active on your line even if you don’t use it, yet few people seem to know about it.
Something that I do occasionally find myself pointing out to people is the pulsating tone alert. This is where you pick-up your handset and before you dial any numbers you will hear a tone going up and down in pitch. It means you have a message waiting, and again few users seem to know this. If you do have a dial-up modem (not broadband) this will be unable to recognise the interrupted dialling tone as a dialling tone, and this will result in the computer refusing to dial for the dial-up connection, reporting being “unable to detect a dialling tone”.
On top of the free Answer 1571 service, BT users can get an additional service (at an extra charge), such as the 1571 Text Alerts service, which sends a text message to a designated mobile number whenever a calling party leaves a new message, and 1571 Online, which allows customers to retrieve their stored messages via the World Wide Web.
How do I activate the 1571 service?
Simple – dial 1571 from the landline phone number you want it enabled on. If need be, you will be prompted via an automated system to set it up, or if it is all ready active on your line you will be told “there are no new messages”, but you will have a list of options such as set-up a personalised greeting for your callers if you’re unable to take a message.
