Vodofone digital voice messaging

Having just switched my mother's phone over to digital voice from PSTN, I have just noticed that voicemail does not function. The advice from Vodafone is to use a built-in answering machine, but the Panasonic Dect phone that we are currently using does not trigger the voicemail when there is no answer. The phone base unit has a built-in answering machine. Vodafone were of no help and I cannot find anything that would enable me to change the setup that relates to digital messaging. I have ordered a Paragon 650 deskphone, which also has a built in answering machine, but I suspect it also will not work. Has anybody out there had any success setting up Vodafone Digital voicemail using a recording machine?

In reply to a post by jack_speedicut:

Has anybody out there had any success setting up Vodafone Digital voicemail using a recording machine?

Unlikely.

System voicemail and a telephone answering machine are 2 very different animals, which perform the same function. System voice mail depends on the 'exchange' detecting that a call has not been answered and switching the call from the customers line to a recording system, whereas an answering machine at the customers premises depends on itself detecting that the call has not been answered. There is no interaction between the different systems.

If Vodaphone tell you to use an answering machine, then either they do not offer voicemail or they are just too damned lazy to resolve the issue. If the Vodaphone DV and the answering machine are standards compliant, then the answering machine should work

Thanks for the response. I was actually surprised that it does not come as standard, which is surely a must in a business environment. Vodafone were adamant that they do not yet support system voicemail, but the internet seems to suggest that a recording machine should work on a digital network. This is is also what Vodafone told me, but they offer no technical explanation as to how it works. I find it hard to believe that nobody on Vodafone fibre has some sort of voicemail

Digital Voice packaged with Internet is very much a consumer product and I suspect Vodafone have probably messed up here with a late realisation that Vodaphone FTTC combined with BT landline requires a phone service to be available as Openreach convert landlines to fibre, otherwise they lose the business. With the consequence that they have not implemented voicemail. It is strange, because they have voicemail on their mobile offering.

I suppose the biggest attraction with Vodafone was their price, but by in large what they offer in terms of setup is pretty good and the router is excellent. Where they let themselves down is in after-sales service. Plusnet was definitely better in that department. I was told that they are looking at voicemail, but they could have been to fob me off. The lack of voicemail is a big miss, given that everything else is in order. I will report back when I get the new phone with an inbuilt answering machine. Somebody might find it useful.

We have a Panasonic KX-TG8424E Dect on digital voice on Vodafone FTTP, via the rectangular Vodafone Wi-fi Hub on firmware version 19.4.0551. The answering machine works as normal

I've found with Vodafone suppport that if you are lucky enough to get the one in ten call centre staff that knows what they are talking about you will get a problem resolved otherwise you have no chance.
We had problems with lack of digital voice when OR installed the FTTP. It took many phone calls and waiting for a useless digital phone adaptor before I got an agent that logged into the router and found a firmware update that was needed for digital voice hadn't been done.

There is no reason why a ‘traditional’ answer machine shouldn’t work on an IP ‘line’ provided from the phone port of the ISP’s router , it’s designed to mimic a standard POTS line ….if your existing answer machine isn’t working as expected it’s either faulty or incorrectly set up for your purposes…..if for example its set to answer on ‘no reply’ after 20 ‘rings’ , perhaps VF clear the call way before before 20 ring cycles complete , therefore your answer machine never gets the chance to answer the call ….try adjusting the setting on your answer machine to the lowest number of ‘rings’ and test that .

Obviously the benefit of a network answer service like BT 1571 rather than your own supplied answering machine , is the ability not to just answer ‘no reply’ calls but answer ‘on busy’ so messages can be taken if you happen to be using the phone either on an outgoing call , when an incoming call arrives (or possibly 2nd incoming call as you has already answered an incoming call ) but if VF don’t supply that type of network answer service on their IP telephone platform there is nothing you can do about that .

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 01-Sep-25 09:12:22)

So we currently have a Panasonic DECT phone model KX--TGCA25EX connected to Vodafone's standard Power Hub router. Although the phone works fine, it does not switch to voicemail. In addition, there is a standalone BT decor phone attached to the 2nd router phone interface. The decor phone works well, but when I tried a Paragon 650, which has built-in voicemail, the phone did not work at all. Unlike the decor, I don't get a dial tone. According to Vodafone, old phones will work if you have the digital adapter, but this is not the case with the 650. Just checked with the internet, and the BT decor phone is not supposed to work with Vodafone, but it does. What to do?

Edited by jack_speedicut (Mon 01-Sep-25 13:43:47)

I’m unaware of what VF supply for their IP phone customers , BT will provide on request a BTDV ‘adapter’ which in effect converts a corded phone into a DECT phone ….there are some issues with older phones not responding to a ringing signal on an incoming call , often overcome by using an ADSL filter (dangly block type ) between the phone cord and the DV adapter…I’ve no idea if VF supply such a thing , but no dialtone via a BT adapter isn’t really an issue and getting no dialtone on a corded phone connected to an adapter that’s connected to the hub (via DECT) would suggest the adapter is either out of range of the SH2 built in DECT basestation or just simply faulty , and if VF supply the same type of thing the issues are likely to be very similar.

If your answer machine doesn’t ’kick in ‘ after the appropriate number of ‘rings’ on an unanswered call (calling it voicemail is a little inaccurate) suggests it’s just faulty rather than any incompatibility with VF version of DV , especially if it’s connected directly to the VF hub and the telephone part of the device works (so the cordless phone part does ‘ring’ ) and it’s just the answer machine part never answers the call

FWIW , I have a BT DECT phone with built in answer machine connected to the phone port of the BTSH2 and after 4 or 5 rings it kicks in to answer calls , I have the 1571 service set to the maximum number of rings so my machine answers well before 1571 should I not be able to answer myself.

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 01-Sep-25 14:34:29)

The Vodafone Digital Voice Adaptor is an RJ11 to BT phone socket incorporating a ring capacitor.
We had a very old basic corded phone that worked OK without the adaptor (once VF had sorted out the router) so the phone has got to be pretty ancient to need it. The only other scenario where it would be needed would be if the phone cord was hard wired to the phone so wouldn't take an RJ11 to RJ11 cable.