1-5-7-1

Last updated

1-5-7-1 is the name of a family of calling features in the United Kingdom, for residential and business telephone lines and for mobile telephones, that are provided by BT Group and several other telephone service providers. The family is named after the telephone number 1571, the special service number that is used to access it. Call Minder is the name of BT's highest level of 1571 service.

Contents

Land lines

The 1571 feature was introduced by BT Group to the UK in the 1990s after they digitised all the telephone exchanges. As of 2006 several other telephone service providers in the British Isles also provided 1571 answering services, including One.Tel, [1] Platinum Telecom, [2] Kingston Communications, and Manx Telecom. [3] Most such providers rely on a local loop that is owned by BT Group. However, it is also available from providers that have their own local loops, such as Virgin Media. [4]

In 2001, BT Group launched its Answer 1571 service as a free service, available at no extra cost to its existing telephone line customers. In 2007 a charge of £1 was introduced for any month in which two chargeable calls are not made on the line (this might apply, for instance, to people who have Carrier preselect with another telephone company). [5] In 2014 a monthly charge (£2.25 as of 2016 [6] ) was introduced for all residential users of the service, and the charge for not making two chargeable calls in any month (which had increased to £2) was removed. [7] The Answer 1571 service, a cut-down version of BT Group's Call Minder service, allows a calling party to leave messages when the called party is engaged or does not answer within a fixed number of rings. The system allows for the storage of up to 20 messages, each of which can be up to 2 minutes long, for up to 60 days (or 20 days once they have been heard). To indicate to called parties that they have waiting messages, the exchange sends an interrupted dialling tone to them when they take their telephone off-hook. The called party can retrieve the messages by dialling 1571. [8] [9]

A significant advantage of 1571 answering services over answering machines is that messages can be recorded when the called party is engaged on another call, in addition to when the call is not answered. This is particularly useful when long calls are made, e.g., on long dialled-up Internet sessions. [9]

Disadvantages of Answer 1571:

To supplement the Answer 1571 services, BT provides additional services at an extra charge: the 1571 Text Alerts service sends a text message to a designated mobile telephone number whenever a new message is left. Another service was withdrawn in March 2009: 1571 Online allowed customers to retrieve their stored messages via the World Wide Web. [12] [13] [14]

A problem with the 1571 Text Alerts system that was not stated on BT's website as of 7 June 2007 is that if a mobile phone number is transferred from another provider to either Virgin or T-mobile, the alert system will not work; phone messages will be stored, but text message alerts will not be sent[ citation needed ].

As of December 2016 BT offers two services accessed by dialling 1571. Messages can be accessed by dialling in with an identification number, and a personal greeting can be recorded. Neither of the services can be disabled or re-enabled by the user, but must be cancelled or ordered, with a lag of several days.

The number of rings before answering is not guaranteed, and may vary to some extent. This can be a problem if an answering machine is used on a line with a 1571 service (which cannot be temporarily disabled), with the intention that messages will be recorded on the machine; it is necessary to ensure that the machine answers before 1571 does.

Mobile telephones

To its mobile telephone business customers BT Group provides a 1571 Voicemail service, which is similar to the service provided to landlines. Calling parties can leave messages when the mobile telephone is switched off, when it is in an area of reduced coverage, when it is on another call, or when the call is not answered within a fixed number of rings. [16]

Related Research Articles

Enhanced 911 is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known as E112 and known as eCall when called by a vehicle.

Plain old telephone service (POTS), or plain ordinary telephone system, is a retronym for voice-grade telephone service employing analog signal transmission over copper loops. POTS was the standard service offering from telephone companies from 1876 until 1988 in the United States when the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Basic Rate Interface (BRI) was introduced, followed by cellular telephone systems, and voice over IP (VoIP). POTS remains the basic form of residential and small business service connection to the telephone network in many parts of the world. The term reflects the technology that has been available since the introduction of the public telephone system in the late 19th century, in a form mostly unchanged despite the introduction of Touch-Tone dialing, electronic telephone exchanges and fiber-optic communication into the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Caller identification is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is being set up. The caller ID service may include the transmission of a name associated with the calling telephone number, in a service called Calling Name Presentation (CNAM). The service was first defined in 1993 in International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation Q.731.3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">999 (emergency telephone number)</span> Emergency number in several countries

999 is an official emergency telephone number in a number of countries which allows the caller to contact emergency services for emergency assistance. Countries and territories using the number include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, Poland, Qatar, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Answering machine</span> Telephone answering device

An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine in the UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone, or telephone answering device (TAD), is used for answering telephone calls and recording callers' messages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voicemail</span> Voice message storage and retrieval

A voicemail system is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to individuals, organizations, products, and services, using an ordinary phone. The term is also used more broadly to denote any system of conveying a stored telecommunications voice messages, including using an answering machine. Most cell phone services offer voicemail as a basic feature; many corporate private branch exchanges include versatile internal voice-messaging services, and *98 vertical service code subscription is available to most individual and small business landline subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone call</span> Connection between two or more people over a telephone network

A telephone call or telephone conversation, also known as a phone call or voice call, is a connection over a telephone network between the called party and the calling party. Telephone calls started in the late 19th century. As technology has improved, a majority of telephone calls are made over a cellular network through mobile phones or over the internet with Voice over IP. Telephone calls are typically used for real-time conversation between two or more parties, especially when the parties cannot meet in person.

A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.

Call forwarding, or call diversion, is a telephony feature of all telephone switching systems which redirects a telephone call to another destination, which may be, for example, a mobile or another telephone number where the desired called party is available. Call forwarding was invented by Ernest J. Bonanno. In North America, the forwarded line usually rings once to remind the customer using call forwarding that the call is being redirected. More consistently, the forwarded line indicates its condition by stutter dial tone. Call forwarding typically can redirect incoming calls to any other domestic telephone number, but the owner of the forwarded line must pay any toll charges for forwarded calls. Call forwarding is often enabled by dialing *72 followed by the telephone number to which calls should be forwarded. Once someone answers, call forwarding is in effect. If no one answers or the line is busy, the dialing sequence must be repeated to effect call forwarding. Call forwarding is disabled by dialing *73. This feature requires a subscription from the telephone company. Also available in some areas is Remote Access to call forwarding, which permit the control over call forwarding from telephones other than the subscriber's telephone. VOIP and cable telephone systems also allow call forwarding to be set up and directed via their web portals.

In telecommunications, directory assistance or directory inquiries is a phone service used to find out a specific telephone number and/or address of a residence, business, or government entity.

Phone fraud, or more generally communications fraud, is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.

Last-call return, automatic recall, or camp-on, is a telecommunication feature offered by telephony service providers to subscribers to provide the subscriber with the telephone number, and sometimes the time, of the last caller. The service may also offer the facility to place a call to the calling party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom</span>

In the United Kingdom, telephone numbers are administered by the Office of Communications (Ofcom). For this purpose, Ofcom established a telephone numbering plan, known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, which is the system for assigning telephone numbers to subscriber stations.

In telephony, an automated attendant allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator/receptionist. Many AAs will also offer a simple menu system. An auto attendant may also allow a caller to reach a live operator by dialing a number, usually "0". Typically the auto attendant is included in a business's phone system such as a PBX, but some services allow businesses to use an AA without such a system. Modern AA services can route calls to mobile phones, VoIP virtual phones, other AAs/IVRs, or other locations using traditional land-line phones or voice message machines.

Prepaid telephone calls are a popular way of making telephone calls which allow the caller to control spending without making a commitment with the telephone company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in the Republic of Ireland</span>

Numbers on the Irish telephone numbering plan are regulated and assigned to operators by ComReg.

Ringing tone is a signaling tone in telecommunication that is heard by the originator of a telephone call while the destination terminal is alerting the receiving party. The tone is typically a repeated cadence similar to a traditional power ringing signal (ringtone), but is usually not played synchronously. Various telecommunication groups, such as the Bell System and the General Post Office (GPO) developed standards, in part taken over by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other standards bodies. With modern cell phone and smartphone technology ringing tone can be customized and even used for advertising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in New Zealand</span> New Zealand numbering plan

The New Zealand telephone numbering plan describes the allocation of telephone numbers in New Zealand and the Pitcairn Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Voice</span> Telecommunications service by Google

Google Voice is a telephone service that provides a U.S. phone number to Google Account customers in the U.S. and Google Workspace customers in Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the contiguous United States. It is used for call forwarding and voicemail services, voice and text messaging, as well as U.S. and international calls. Calls are forwarded to the phone number that each user must configure in the account web portal. Users can answer and receive calls on any of the phones configured to ring in the web portal. While answering a call, the user can switch between the configured phones. Subscribers in the United States can make outgoing calls to domestic and international destinations. The service is configured and maintained by users in a web-based application, similar in style to Google's email service Gmail, or Android and iOS applications on smartphones or tablets.

Call whisper, otherwise known as call screening, is a calling feature that often appears on non-geographic telephony systems and hosted inbound call handling software. It involves the playing of a message to the called party when they have answered a call, during which time the calling party continues to hear ringing. The called party can then decide whether to accept the call or to reject it. They can also identify the caller by their caller ID number or answer the phone in an appropriate manner for the number that has been dialed.

References

  1. ↑ "Voicemail". OneGuide (PDF). One.Tel. 31 October 2005. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2006.
  2. ↑ "Questions and answers". Platinum Telecom. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  3. ↑ "Access Codes and Short Codes (convention B11)". Archived from the original on 6 March 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  4. ↑ "Other telephone features" (PDF). Telephone price guide. NTL. 20 October 2006. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  5. ↑ "Section 2:Call Charges & Exchange Line Services Part 21:BT Messaging Services Subpart 3:BT Answer 1571". BT Price List. BT. 11 January 2008. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008.
  6. 1 2 "About BT Answer 1571 voicemail phone service". BT. Retrieved 29 December 2016.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ "Section 2:Call Charges & Exchange Line Services Part 21:BT Messaging Services Subpart 3:BT Answer 1571". BT Price List. BT. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Tim Richardson (29 June 2001). "BT to offer free voicemail from Monday". The Register . Archived from the original on 28 November 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  9. 1 2 sit2020 (15 July 2006). "Nothing in life is free". dooyoo.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  10. ↑ "What does the error "No dial tone detected" mean?". BBC Webwise: Ask Bruce. BBC. Archived from the original on 5 October 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  11. ↑ "Tips and Benefits". The Gosport and Fareham branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. 26 July 2009. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
  12. ↑ "BT 1571 Text Alerts". BT Calling Features. BT Group.[ dead link ]
  13. ↑ "Free Features: 1571 Added Features". BT at Home. BT Group. Archived from the original on 18 December 2006. Retrieved 19 December 2006.
  14. ↑ "1571 Online withdrawn". Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  15. ↑ "BT Answer 1571 FAQ" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  16. ↑ "How do I use Voicemail 1571?". BT Business Shop. BT Group. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.