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No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

mgelder
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎06-11-2011

No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Only just transferred to the mobile service. But really surprised to discover that Plusnet Mobile don't offer call forwarding, eg divert on busy or divert on no answer. Typically its the **61* and **67* services on other networks.

 

Any suggestions - or is leaving Plusnet the only option ?

21 REPLIES 21
RebekaPreston
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 929
Fixes: 31
Registered: ‎25-11-2016

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Hi mgelder,

Thanks for getting in touch with us. We do offer the call forwarding feature at a charge of 40p per minute and a full list of these forwarding numbers are as follows: 

  • 074061 075891 0775530 078745 075377 077448 078227 074062 075892 0775533 078921 075590 077449 078730 074063 075893 077554 078922 075595 07755 078744 074065 076660 0775544 078930 075597 077552 079780 074068 077001 077555 078931 075598 0775520 079781 074181 07744 0775555 078933 075718 0775522 079788 074577 077442 078220 078938 075890 077553 079789 075201 077443 078221 078939 078229 079784 075371 075207 077444 078223 079112 078360 079785 077447 075208 077445 078224 079118 078644 079786 078226 075209 077446 078225 0795398 078727 07978620000

If you pop over to https://www.plus.net/help/legal/mobile-price-guide/, you can check out our full mobile price guide which will also include any other out of bundle charges.

Hope this helps!

- Rebeka Smiley

 
 
mgelder
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎06-11-2011

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Thanks for the reply Rebeka, but that doesn't look like the service I was asking about. I guess that forwards all calls, not just the ones that aren't answered or when busy ?

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

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Hi  mgelder,

Call forwarding services aren’t included in your minutes because we don’t count them as a standard UK landline call. If you wish to edit your forwarding options to unanswered or when busy, this will be a feature of your handset itself.

My advice would be to turn on call forwarding on your handset and then if your handset supports, these options should become available to edit.

- Rebeka 

 

mgelder
Dabbler
Posts: 14
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎06-11-2011

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Thanks Rebeka, I've checked and my phone doesn't support that on your network. The last two networks I was on offered forwarding as **61* and **67* services with included minutes.

Do you know what phone models support call forwarding options on your network?

Thanks

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

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Hi mgelder,

I'm afraid we don't have a list of handsets that support certain call forwarding features. Our network provides the use of forwarding similar to that of tethering, if the handset supports this, then the forwarding numbers we provide on the website, will be charged at 40p per minute.

- Rebeka 

Haydon
Dabbler
Posts: 20
Thanks: 6
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

To clarify, call forwarding requests by means of Supplementary Service Codes are implemented by a global standard, and present on essentially all mobile handsets.

However, when you enter one of these codes on a handset, you are dependent on this request being honoured by your network provider.

It seems that Plusnet do not support this at a network level. This means that any attempt to set up conditional call forwarding (e.g. on busy, if no answer etc.), whether via a phone's menu system or by explicit use of the standard GSM codes, will fail.

Services such as Hullomail (a cross-platform visual voicemail system), which relies on this global standard, cannot therefore be used on Plusnet.

This is a pity.

pkw
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 222
Thanks: 40
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎14-04-2017

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Can someone explain this to me. Call forwarding shouldn't work, except to the numbers given, and then it's charged 40p/min - right?

 

Well, it seems through some weird glitch (?) that my phone is able to forward to any number. I still get a network error when I try to disable forwarding to a particular number, at which point it reverts back to the voicemail number. I don't think it worked before, but I used forwarding recently when I had the issue of not being able to receive calls/texts (see my post about a problem in Cardiff). I simply enabled forwarding when not available. Not that I'm complaining, but it's strange.

Haydon
Dabbler
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

The 40p/minute charge to "call forwarding services" is entirely unrelated to the question of the call forwarding that we are discussing. This is an unfortunate confusion of terminology that I was hoping to clear up by my earlier post.

 

Essentially, various companies provide services accessible from what appears to be an ordinary mobile number, which one might expect would be chargeable as inclusive minutes in mobile phone contracts. Many mobile network operators have taken the view the some of these services have the potential to erode too much of their revenue - for example by allowing very cheap international calling via a dial-through service. They therefore try to exclude calls to these numbers from their customers' inclusive minutes, and to impose a penalty rate for calling these services.

 

This is entirely separate from "call forwarding" calls that have been made to your own telephone number, which you might wish to divert to a voicemail service, or as in your case to a different mobile number that you also control. The ability to issue service requests for this type of call forwarding is baked in to a global standard and is present on almost all mobile phones. Often there is an interface for this within a phone's menu system, and you will typically see all the options to divert, which are "on busy", "if out of reach", "if no answer after [n] seconds" and "unconditional divert" (i.e. all calls). However, all of these options can be expressly requested by dialing special codes, which you can enter as if making a telephone call, e.g. "*67*[phone number]#" to divert on busy.

 

However, these codes actually just create a standardised request to the network on which your phone is registered. Some networks, in particular some of the "virtual" networks that are marketed to people who want to pay a bit less for their phone service, have chosen not to support these requests. For example, for many years this was the case for Tesco Mobile, although they did eventually implement this service.

 

Why they do this is presumably to differentiate (make worse) their product from that of the "premium" full service network on which the virtual operator is running. As a profit-maximising business strategy, this may make sense, although it is very frustrating for customers, especially as it is often not very clear whether this support is offered or not.

 

The way that support responses on these forums have claimed that this service is "handset dependent", and gone on to mention the completely unrelated question of external call forwarding services is another frustration.

 

I have not tried to use conditional call forwarding on the Plusnet network, because I am reluctant to join Plusnet unless I know the service is supported. I use Hullomail for voicemail, and this won't work without this support. I posted my earlier clarification after researching the question on these forums, and in a way was hoping to provoke responses either from Plusnet or from customers such as yourself to settle the question of support for this service, and maybe to discover whether there might be hope for a change of heart from Plusnet.

 

I am intrigued that you managed to get this to work, but on the other hand other people on these forums have reported that it did not work. As it is a global standard, really it ought to work by default, and it would only be as a result of deliberate action by Plusnet and BT/EE to interfere with normal network function that would prevent it from doing so. It is therefore possible that whatever hack has been used to disable this service has some kind of intermittent failure mode that has allowed your request to slip through!

Starmans
Grafter
Posts: 82
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Registered: ‎03-03-2015

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

I joined PN Mobile this week and have just tried the call forwarding option. I enabled divert all calls to my work mobile and dialled from my land line. My work phone starting ringing and even had the call forwarded symbol displayed. Now my work phone is on EE direct so I'd wonder if this would be the case if you diverted to a non-EE based network.

Starmans
Grafter
Posts: 82
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Registered: ‎03-03-2015

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Just to confirm the facts - I just spoke to PN chat and obtained the full Voicemail number which is: 078700 20555.

 

I enabled forwarding for other options on my personal phone which worked fine to PN VM.

 

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Haydon
Dabbler
Posts: 20
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Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Interesting, but I would just observe that unconditional divert (i.e. divert all calls immediately) might work even if conditional diverts do not.

 

Furthermore, a conditional divert to Plusnet's own voicemail service might work even though a conditional divert to another number might not.

 

Therefore, the more interesting test would be to try a conditional divert on "no answer" to any phone number other than Plusnet voicemail.

 

To do this, dial **61*[a phone number]**15# , which should divert after 15 seconds to the number specified.

 

To get back to normal (in the event that the earlier command actually works), dial **61*07870020555**[preferred number of seconds]# . The delay in seconds must be specified in multiples of 5 up to a maximum of 30. This command assumes the PN voicemail number is as you have stated, which I don't know.

pkw
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 222
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Registered: ‎14-04-2017

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

Haydon, thanks for clarification.

 

I've done an experiment and discovered something really weird - I still CAN enable forwarding - tried all three codes for busy, unreacheable and not answered and enabling forwarding worked - and wait for it - calls are forwarded to GiffGaff  voicemail!!! ShockedShockedShocked What's going on? I ported from GG to PN originally. Could it be that it wasn't ported fully somehow? Weird also that last time I tried, forwarding worked as you'd expect (the other phone rang). And I'm still getting the error when I disable it (disabling forwarding not supported by network).

 

 

Haydon
Dabbler
Posts: 20
Thanks: 6
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎05-02-2013

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

It is a bit surprising that calls were forwarded to GiffGaff, but one explanation may be that you used your phone's menu system, and the phone itself may have stored the GiffGaff VM number as the number to which calls will be forwarded as and when the menu items are activated.

 

Alternatively, depending what codes you use, there is a concept of "registering" a default number, which enables you to switch forwarding on and off without specifying the destination number, which can be more convenient. I was under the impression that such registration occurred at the network level, but it is possible that it is actually just a variable stored in the phone or SIM, and then applied to every forwarding request that does not explicitly specify or register an alternative destination number.

 

Or maybe you specified unconditional divert as well as all the conditional diverts?

pkw
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 222
Thanks: 40
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Registered: ‎14-04-2017

Re: No call forwarding on Plusnet Mobile !?

This is what I'm doing:

 

enter the code **62*PhoneNumber# in the dialer

"Call forwarding: Registration was successful" appears on screen

verify in the call settings the following:

Always forward: disabled

Forward when busy: set to PN voicemail

Forward when unanswered: set to PN voicemail

Forward when unreachable: set to the number I entered - exactly as if I did it through the menu

 

Testing - enabled airplane mode, on calling my number, I was going to say here forwards to GiffgGaff but it's forwarding now correctly to other number!! Honestly I did the same an hour ago and it went to GG. There are no GG settings or numbers in my phone. I'm lost.

 

I've contacted the PN staff about this. I hope I'm not hijacking this thread with my issues, but I think it's helpful to investigate to answer the original question of whether PN supports forwarding or not.