Aim of this article
This article describes some of the features available on the Zen Broadband Voice Service when used with the SpeedTouch 780wl.
Life line Failover
If your SpeedTouch 780wl should fail due to power failure or loss of internet access you can still make calls over your BT line.
NOTE: The phone line must be connected to the PSTN port on the back of the SpeedTouch 780wl.
Routing a phone call over the BT line and not the VoIP
By dialling *9* (star nine star) before any phone number it will be routed over your BT line and not through the Zen VoIP service.
eg.
*9*08450589009 - Will call Zen Technical Support but the call will show up on your BT phone bill (or telephony provider) and not your Zen phone bill.
Fax Machines, BACS and dialup systems
Most fax machines should have no problem transmitting faxes over the Zen VoIP system, however some issues have been seen with more modern equipment. In such cases you should redirect the fax transmission over your BT line by preceding the phone number dialled with *9*.
BACS and dialup systems are known to fail when used over the VoIP system and therefore these numbers should be dialled with a preceding *9* to route via the BT line.
Phone Services
Multiple Lines
If you plug two telephones into your SpeedTouch 780wl (via the two phone ports) you can make up to two simulatneous calls provided at least 1 is over the Zen VoIP system.
Caller ID Withheld
You may withhold your number when you make a call by dialing 141 before making your call.
Call Hold
If you have initiated a call over VoIP you may place the call on hold by dialling R. You can retrieve the call again by dialling R 1.
Enquiry Call
You may place a call on hold, make another call and then retrieve the 1st call back again.
Make call to Person A.
Place call on hold by dialling R, wait for dial tone before dialling Person B.
You may now switch between Person A and B by dialling R.
Complete your call with either Person A or B by dialling R 0, this will reconnect you with the other call.
3 Party Call
You can initiate a conference call with 2 people.
Make a call to Person A.
Place call on hold by dialling R.
Wait for dial tone then call Person B.
Now dial R 3 to connect both calls together.
You may place Persons A and B on hold by dialling R and retrieve both calls by dialling R 3.
Voicemail
You can connect your existing answer machine to the service to receive voicemail. Alternatively, you can use Zen Broadband Voice in conjunction with BT’s 1571 service.
- Dial **61* on your connected telephone handset
- Then enter your complete telephone number with area code (please omit the first zero from your area code and replace it with a 7 – for example 0161 becomes 7161)
- Dial # to finish
Now that you have set-up the Voice mail service you will need to activate it so that messages are left on your current answering service.
- To activate the voicemail feature you will need to dial *61.
- To deactivate the voicemail feature you will need to dial #61.
- If you de-activate the Voicemail service then your on-net callers will never reach voicemail.
Points to Note
- If you have your own answer machine then you will need to plug your PSTN line into the answer machine and then the answer machine into the SpeedTouch 780WL to ensure that calls to all phones are picked up.
- You would need to set up the 1571 service with BT, or have your own answer machine.
- The change in ring-tone to denote a message has been received via 1571 is not currently available. You will proactively need to check for messages.
Bandwidth Usage
When you make a phone call over your VoIP service you will use a portion of your available bandwidth.
The bandwidth used during a call is 82kbps (kilobits per second). Therefore a 10 minute call would use approximately 6MB (MegaBytes). When you are not making a call the VoIP equipment will need to contact the VoIP server every so often to confirm connection and be prepared to accept incoming on net calls therefore a small amount of data is transfered even when a call is not in progress. This equates to approximately 3kb (kilobits) per 2 minutes or approximately 8MB (MegaBytes) for 30 days (1 month).