cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Call Forwarding - How to disable

nanos
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎07-02-2017

Call Forwarding - How to disable

Hi,

 

since switching to Plusnet call forwarding is active on my mobile. I'm trying to disable at least the "Call forwarding when busy" part as I much prefer to be given the option the take the call.

 

I tried to contact Customer services, but they were entirely incapable. They insist they don't offer call forwarding, and cannot switch it on or off and I have to refer to the device manufacturer for help.

 

This is obviously rubbish, as I never had call forwarding active on my phone until I inserted my plusnet sim and cannot now disable it, so it is clearly something that only plusnet if control.

 

Just to be absolutely clear I'm attaching a screenshot of the call forwarding I'm referring to.

 

Any advice?

10 REPLIES 10
MarcJohnson
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 56
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎16-12-2016

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

Good morning, nanos!

We don't offer direct support for Call Forwarding services. These are handset, application or other third-party features which, in most cases, will work correctly on our network as a chargeable service - but we won't be able to offer assistance with the set-up, or any guarantees about the service, of your Call Forwarding.

We do offer a voicemail service, and the number your handset is forwarding to is the long form of our voicemail service number. Now, your handset's settings will control when your calls are forwarded to this voicemail, so you may want to change the configuration on your phone until it behaves the way you would like it to.

As another option, what we can do from our end is to disable voicemail services on your account. If you'd like me to do that for you, please send me a private message with your account details and we can have that switched off for you within a couple of hours.

Hope that clarifies things for you! Thanks for getting in touch. Smiley

nanos
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎07-02-2017

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

Why is that so hard to understand? To quote myself:

 

I never had call forwarding active on my phone until I inserted my plusnet sim and cannot now disable it, so it is clearly something that only plusnet if control.

 

It is simply incorrect that my handset set this, or controls this. It was set by the network after inserting the SIM card. I never activated this. I have used this handset for many months, and never had call forwarding active. 

 

I did not activate this, did not wish for this to be activated, and I cannot deactivate this. The attached screenshot is what it tells me when I try.

I just went ahead and inserted a Three prepaid SIM into the same handset, and the call forwarding is disabled after rebooting the phone. After re-inserting the plusnet SIM and rebooting the phone it's enabled again. So it clearly is connected to this SIM card, and out of my control.

MarcJohnson
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 56
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎16-12-2016

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

Hi again, nanos.

In this case, we're talking specifically just about our network's voicemail service, which does requires these particular divert options on your handset and those can't actually be toggled or changed further while the network keeps your voicemail active.

Depending on what you need, we can switch-off voicemail entirely on your account, or leave it as it is - active in all situations. Smiley

Call Forwarding services, such as those offered by some third-parties, aren't directly supported by us, and their configurations aren't something we'll be able to help with.

Don't hesitate to get in touch again if you've any further questions or requests we could help with!

nanos
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎07-02-2017

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

OK, so it's just a question of terminology then. You might want to train your staff to recognize the terminology most handsets use (I have only ever seen this called "Call forwarding" or "call diverting" on any of the handsets I've used since my Nokia 3310 days, including Symbian, Windows Mobile, iOS and Android)

A couple of questions:

 

 - Is it possible to enable voice mail/call forwarding only when unavailable at all?

 - If voice mail is disabled, what happens when I don't pick up? Does it ring indefinitely/until the caller hangs up? If it closes on the caller: How long does it ring before it does so?

 - Do you charge for diverting to mailbox when I'm abroad/roaming?

MarcJohnson
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 56
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎16-12-2016

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

@nanos wrote:

 

 - Is it possible to enable voice mail/call forwarding only when unavailable at all?

 - If voice mail is disabled, what happens when I don't pick up? Does it ring indefinitely/until the caller hangs up? If it closes on the caller: How long does it ring before it does so?

 - Do you charge for diverting to mailbox when I'm abroad/roaming?



I'll keep things brief. Smiley

-No, it's all voicemail diversion on our network disabled, or it's all enabled.

-The ringer duration is a little over 25 seconds.

-Yes. The charge cost will vary by location as detailed here

Let me know if there's anything else!

nanos
Hooked
Posts: 9
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎07-02-2017

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

OK, thanks. I'll have to consider my options then.

 

Are there any plans to change this behaviour so that either the user can control this, or to increase ring-time, or to selectively disable parts of the voicemail, etc.? Are the "higher ups" open for suggestions?

MarcJohnson
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 56
Fixes: 5
Registered: ‎16-12-2016

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

Hello nanos!

I've passed on this thread through our internal suggestions. We're aware our voicemail service is a simplified and 'no frills' service, but at present, no plans regarding changing the voicemail have been passed down to us. If that changes in the future, we'll be sure to post announcements in these forums and/ or through the main website. 

Thanks for getting in touch, we do appreciate all the feedback we get as it all contributes in the long run. Smiley

markcoley
Dabbler
Posts: 18
Thanks: 8
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎30-09-2017

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

I too am having this problem.

See https://community.plus.net/t5/Mobile/Voicemail-settings/td-p/1481157

If voicemail is turned off by plusnet's staff, the diverts (as listed in the image above) remain active (this defies common sense). All that happens is as the divert occurs, to the voicemail number, as it's been turned off at source, or perhaps barred, the line is dropped. So if online, the phone will ring for 20 seconds (the default divert time) then the line will be dropped. If the phone is off the line is dropped immediately without any warning. There is certainly no message saying the mobile is off or out of coverage.

This appears to be a serious fault. Given is has possibly been going on for months it may be that no one technical has actually been made aware of it. Could it be escalated please?

Something in plusnet's system reactives the call diverts every time an attempt is made to remove them, either via the handset menus or the GSM codes. What I don't know is whether the SIM card can automatically do this is whether it is the network that is doing it. Either way it is very odd behviour and suggests a system fault that has perhaps not been noticed.

RebekaPreston
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 929
Fixes: 31
Registered: ‎25-11-2016

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

As advised in my other post here: https://community.plus.net/t5/Mobile/Voicemail-quot-OFF-quot/td-p/1403636, we wouldn't be able to adjust the Voicemail settings to allow for customers to manually turn on and off the various types of conditional divert, as this is a service we don't support.

Although we use the EE network, we are an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), and not an MNO (Mobile Network operator). This means we simply don't have the same functionalities that are available to the bigger networks such as 3, EE, O2, etc... It is a basic Voicemail service that we provide.

Rest assured though markcoley, I will make the relevant Team aware of this. We really do appreciate all feed back put forward to us from our Customers. 

- Rebeka

markcoley
Dabbler
Posts: 18
Thanks: 8
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎30-09-2017

Re: Call Forwarding - How to disable

After some more experimentation I think I have a working solution so my calls don't go to voicemail after 30s, they don't go to voicemail if I reject the call, but they do go to voicemail if my phone is off or out of coverage, meaning callers don't get a number unobtainable tone and think my phone number no longer exists.

Plusnet refuses to allow you to turn off any of the conditional diverts. They all default to 07870020555 with a delay of 20s. If you try to clear them with ##004# they will reset to these defaults. What you then can do is attempt to divert to a landline the conditional diverts for busy and no answer. Plusnet won't do the divert and will drop the call, but it means you won't have your call sent to voicemail!

Dial
**61*01xxxxxxxxx*11*30#
replacing the 01xxxxxxxxx with a landline of your choice and this will attempt to divert a ringing call after 30s. The divert fails, the call ends, and it doesn't go to voicemail, so it is like turning it off. The *11*30 bit means voice calls divert after 30s. The number 30 could be 05, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 for that number of seconds.
Dial *#61# to check.

Then do the same for divert on busy.
Dial
**67*01xxxxxxxxx#
replacing the 01xxxxxxxxx with a landline of your choice and this will attempt to divert a ringing call the instant you press the reject or hang up button. The divert fails, the call ends, and it doesn't go to voicemail, so it is like turning it off.
Dial *#67# to check.

The divert on unreachable should stay as it is. If your phone is off it'll go to voicemail. If you were to set this to a landline (**62*01xxxxxxxxx) you'd get a number unobtainable tone if someone tried to ring you and your phone was off. You can check this by dialing *#62#.

Hope this helps.
It'd be so much easier if plusnet simply allowed you to turn off diverts like every other mobile phone company.