New bt phone

[#1]

Please can someone help me, a complete nitwit. I bought a BT8600 call blocker phone because the bell was not working on our bt landline phone and I assumed, wrongly, that it was a fault with the phone. As it turns out, there appears to be a fault with the line (still waiting in a long queue to report that). So, having bought the phone, my queries are: can I use my new phone on a Plusnet line? Also, apparently I have to contact BT so that I can get the call blocker function; do I pay for that separately? Any advice? Please keep in mind that I am not techno savvy, so use words of two syllables at most!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

In order for the phone's call blocking feature to work you need caller ID enabled.

This is the feature that shows you the number of the caller when you receive a call.

If you pay Plusnet for your landline you can buy this feature from them for 99p/month.

If your landline is with another provider, for example BT, you pay them.

I use a BT8600 and my line is with Plusnet.

[#3]

Hi,

Your loss of incoming ringing could be caused by a faulty or missing micro filter.

If you do not have a micro filter fitted then try adding one, if you are using one try replacing it.

The ringing on many phones requires a third cable connected via a ring capacitor to one side of the telephone line pair.

A missing or failed capacitor can cause a loss of ring.

ADSL microfilters contain the required capacitor.

Richard

[#4]

It is quite possible your 8600 has a built-in ring circuit as my elderly BT2100 cordless has. It also has a 2wire cable, so unplugging the cable from your base unit may give you a clue about the 8600, which may help fault finding.

Phil

[Strat]

Hi there, welcome to the community forums.

As Strat has advised, your BT8600 call blocker phone should work fine with Plusnet. I can see you have caller display enabled on your account so you should be able to use the phone with minimal setup.

It also looks like an engineer investigated the line fault earlier today, let us know if it's still not working?

Anoush

[#6]

Thank you so much for replying - and in language I could understand! As it turns out, there were a few problems, all now sorted by Openreach, so I can now crack on and set up my new phone. Your information about caller ID etc was very helpful. You stopped me from ripping out my hair!

[#7]

No problems good to hear the line fault is sorted.

Let us know how you get on with your new phone.