What is Call Answer?
Call Answer takes messages when you’re on the line or away from the phone. You can access your messages from anywhere.
Visit MyBell to add Call Answer to your monthly calling features.
How to use Call Answer on my Bell Home phone
What is Call Answer?
What is Call Answer?
Call Answer takes messages when you’re on the line or away from the phone. You can access your messages from anywhere.
Visit MyBell to add Call Answer to your monthly calling features.
Setting up Call Answer
Setting up Call Answer
- From home, dial *98 . If away from home call 1-877-235-5777 and when prompted for your mailbox number, enter your 10-digit home telephone number.
- When prompted to enter a temporary password, enter your 7-digit telephone number (no area code)
- Follow the prompts to change the temporary password to a new one. It should be 4 to 15 digits and cannot start with 0.
- Follow the prompts to record your name or telephone number as a personal identification.
- Follow the prompts to record a personal greeting that callers will hear or select the pre-recorded greeting.
- Press the * key to exit. Your Call Answer is now activated.
Good to know
- Avoid passwords that are too simple, such as 1234 or the last four digits of your phone number.
- Regularly change your password to prevent unauthorized access to your voicemail. Do not disclose your password to anyone.
- If you lose or forget your password, you can contact us to reset it.
Accessing Call Answer
Accessing Call Answer
You have a message when:
- You hear an intermittent dial tone from the receiver
- Your phone’s message indicator is flashing (some models/most areas).
To retrieve messages from home:
- Dial *98 .
- Enter your password.
- Follow the prompts to retrieve your messages.
To retrieve messages from another phone within your area code:
- Dial your telephone number.
- When you hear your greeting, press 9 immediately.
- Enter your password.
- Follow the prompts to retrieve your messages.
To check messages while outside your area code:
- Dial 1 877 BELL-777 (1 877 235-5777) from anywhere in Canada or the U.S.
- Select your language preference.
- Enter your 10-digit Bell Home phone number when prompted for a mailbox number.
- You will then hear your recorded name.
- Enter your password if prompted.
Call Answer allows you to save messages for up to 21 days.
Customizing Call Answer settings
Customizing Call Answer settings
| Change the number of rings |
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|---|---|
| Change your personal greeting |
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| Change your pre-recorded name or phone number |
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| Change your password |
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| Skip to the end of your message |
Press 3, 3 to skip to the end of the message. Then you can reply, forward, erase or save. |
| Start message over |
Press 1, 1 while listening to a message to return to its beginning. |
| Know who called and when |
Press 5 during playback or at the end of the message for time, date, length of message and caller's number (if available). |
| Skip another Call Answer subscriber’s greeting |
Press # during their greeting and leave your message after the tone. |
| Change your message to another Call Answer subscriber |
When you finish recording a message for another subscriber, press 1 and follow the prompts. |
Turning Call Answer on and off
Turning Call Answer on and off
To have Call Answer take messages when your line is busy:
- Dial * 90 to turn it on.
- Dial * 91 to turn it off.
To have Call Answer take messages when you don’t answer:
- Dial * 92 to turn it on.
- Dial * 93 to turn it off.
Setting up an Extension Mailbox
Setting up an Extension Mailbox
With extension mailboxes, you can have up to 3 additional private voicemail boxes in addition to your host mailbox for different members of your household. Extensions can be added to your service free of charge by contacting us
- Dial *98 and enter your password.
- Respond to the voice prompts by pressing 4, 9.
- Enter the extension mailbox number (1, 2, or 3). The system will assign a password, which you can keep or change by following the voice prompts.
- Record the extension mailbox user name. Press #, #.
- Follow the prompts to select or record a greeting.
- Press * to exit.
Note: If necessary, record the main mailbox greeting, making sure to mention each user's name and mailbox number.
Retrieving messages from an extension mailbox
Retrieving messages in a mailbox
- Dial *98 and enter the password for desired mailbox.
- Follow the prompts to retrieve your messages.
If you want to check another message without hanging up:
- Press * to return to the main menu.
- Press 5, followed by #.
- Enter the mailbox number and your password.
Troubleshooting
Customizing Call Answer settings
| Issue | Troubleshooting |
|---|---|
| I forgot my Call Answer password | To reset your password, simply contact us by dialling 6-1-1 from your Bell home phone. |
| My Call Answer is not picking up. |
If your Call Answer doesn’t pick up, it may not be set to take messages. To reactivate Call Answer to take messages when you don’t answer, dial *92 (or 1192 on rotary phones). To reactivate Call Answer to take messages when your line is busy, dial *90 or (or 1190 on rotary phones). You will hear a confirmation beep followed by the dial tone to let you know the change was made. |
| There’s no intermittent dial tone or flashing light when I have Call Answer messages. |
Your Call Answer message notification function has been turned off. To reactivate this feature:
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| I don’t hear Call Waiting beeps before Call Answer picks up |
If you’re on the phone and don't hear Call Waiting beep before Call Answer picks up, ensure that you subscribe to Call Waiting. Without Call Waiting, Call Answer will pick up immediately if you’re on the line or dialling. Also check that Call Answer is set to at least 4 rings. To do this:
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| Call Answer indicates a new message but I can’t access it |
If you hear an intermittent dial tone and have Extension Call Answer, it means there are messages in an extension mailbox. To find out whether you have an extension mailbox message:
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| The light on my phone is flashing but there are no new messages | Check your equipment (i.e., unplug the adapter for a few minutes or check your user manual on how to reset the light options). |
| No Call Answer prompts to save, change or erase my messages | If you subscribe to Call Answer Plus or Call Answer Message Manager, you may have activated the auto-play option which automatically saves your messages. To deactivate the auto-play option:
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| No Call Answer prompts to save, change or erase my messages |
If you subscribe to Call Answer Plus or Call Answer Message Manager, you may have activated the auto-play option which automatically saves your messages. To deactivate the auto-play option:
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