Using my service with a ZTE WF721

[CountyDownIeUk]

Our land line is a ZTE WF721 on the $15 plan plus $5 500 minute add ons when needed. 

I have 2 question and an observation. 

Observation. 

We get a beep or two while talking and assume that is some one calling. Once call is completed we can see who it was on our Panasonic set using the CID button. (No voicemail was left)

1. We get a beep or two while talking and assume that is some one calling and then we get regularly loud double beeps throughout the call only heard by us and not the caller. The ZTE box showed voice mail had been left on the PM system. While still on the call I called our voicemail and retrieved and deleted it. The 2 loud beeps remained. Is there a way to stop the beeps while on a call OR prevent from happening all the time? 

2. You can set up call forward on the ZTE box that would be handy when away. Does the inbound or outbound part of the call forward count against our 100 minutes? Can you remotely set up or remove the call forwarding on the ZTE box?

[CountyDownIeUk]

@Nezgar 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. 

You said:

I think you mean call waiting? If you don't wan't to be notified of an incoming call while already on a call, you can have those callers immediately diverted to voicemail or whatever you have configured your call forward-busy (*67).

Perhaps 

When I bought my second hand WF721 I just plugged it in and put it to use. But now I am thinking that if there was any programming done to it......it is still there. 

Is there an out of box refresh or should I do all the # (turn off commands) to it? So we are back to out of box condition.

The call we were on was for about an hour. We do know if we get some low volume beeps that it means some one is calling us. But that just happens once. And some one did and left a voicemail on the VM at PM. But as well, in regular intervals, we had 2 loud beeps that only we could hear and would drop a few words from being heard. What is that? I doubt if some one was making repeated calls and My Usage showed nothing just the one call that went to VM. 

All all of our voicemail goes to our Panasonic  hand set when the phone is not is use. That is controlled by setting the Panasonic answering machine to answer after 4 rings which beats out the PM voicemail from answering.  

[Nezgar]

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@CountyDownIeUk wrote:

1. We get a beep or two while talking and assume that is some one calling and then we get regularly loud double beeps throughout the call only heard by us and not the caller. The ZTE box showed voice mail had been left on the PM system. While still on the call I called our voicemail and retrieved and deleted it. The 2 loud beeps remained. Is there a way to stop the beeps while on a call OR prevent from happening all the time? 

I think you mean call waiting? If you don't wan't to be notified of an incoming call while already on a call, you can have those callers immediately diverted to voicemail or whatever you have configured your call forward-busy (*67).

You can disable call waiting by dialing #43# and enable it again by dialing *43#

With the ZTE 721, just listen for a long beep tone a few seconds after dialing those tones to confirm the command was accepted.

2. You can set up call forward on the ZTE box that would be handy when away. Does the inbound or outbound part of the call forward count against our 100 minutes? Can you remotely set up or remove the call forwarding on the ZTE box?

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Call forwarding of any kind with all currently available plans does not consume minutes, especially from the $15 plan in your case. You can program the call forwards using the standard call forwarding codes and listen for the long beep tone afterwards on the ZTE device, ie:

*21*xxxxxxxxxx# to set unconditional forward, ##21# to undo

*61*xxxxxxxxxx# to set conditional forward on no answer, ##61# to reset back to default Public Mobile voicemail

*62*xxxxxxxxxx# to set conditional forward on offline/no network, ##61# to reset back to default Public Mobile voicemail

*67*xxxxxxxxxx# to set conditional forward on busy , ##61# to reset back to default Public Mobile voicemail

The last one being what will be triggered if another call comes in with call waiting disabled via #43#.

Lastly, there is no way to "remotely" call forward your line, unless you are home to set those forwards before you leave... You could be creative and utilize voip.ms, freephoneline.ca, fongo mobile, or TextNow account for voicemail service, which can also be used to remotely set forwarding elsewhere if a call arrives and noone answers at home... (except TextNow, I think forwarding is not included for free with that one, but their mobile app is the most stable for actual mobile voip calling)

[Nezgar]

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@dust2dust wrote:

For whatever this random dudes opinion is worth, I agree with darlicious. User Nezgar has analysed this all over the place. The $15 plan does not eat minutes with any of the call forwarding options, all or conditionals. The $10 plan eats minutes with all but does not with conditionals.

Whether this could end up not working at some time is up to Public.

I sometimes call forward using *21 etc from the same box. But I have that box with Telus.

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Indeed conditional call forwards do not consume minutes on this plan, otherwise I guess technically their system would end up deducting minutes when people are leaving you voicemail, probably why this quirk exists.

The $10 (soon $13) plan is a funny one... Another quirk is you have a limit of 50 sent (or received?) text messages, but unlimited MMS. 😉

[popping]

I remember that there were thread(s) discussed about the conditional call forwarding.  The conditional call forwarding does not use any plan minutes.  PM is using conditional call with no answer to forward your call to PM voicemail number.  

[dust2dust]

For whatever this random dudes opinion is worth, I agree with darlicious. User Nezgar has analysed this all over the place. The $15 plan does not eat minutes with any of the call forwarding options, all or conditionals. The $10 plan eats minutes with all but does not with conditionals.

Whether this could end up not working at some time is up to Public.

I sometimes call forward using *21 etc from the same box. But I have that box with Telus.

[CountyDownIeUk]

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@Community_QA wrote:

Hey @CountyDownIeUk   you cannot do much with your $25 ZTE

I can do a lot more with my $100 OBI/Polycom box.  LoL

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That’s a no brainer and not an Apples to Apples comparison. 

Does your $100 OBI/Polycom box do more than my $25 Linksys PAP2T box..?

[Community_QA]

Hey @CountyDownIeUk   you cannot do much with your $25 ZTE

I can do a lot more with my $100 OBI/Polycom box.  LoL

[CountyDownIeUk]

@Community_QA 

Just to warn others reading. 

My brand new UNLOCKED ATA box was $25. 

ATA boxes can be carrier locked. 

ATA boxes can be pre programmed and may not be programmable. 

A $100 value box I would think was overpriced but makes it more of an enticement  to sign up with the service. 

[Community_QA]

@CountyDownIeUk 

I remember the DDOS last year with voip.ms.

I had freephoneline.com too. Get a $100 ATA box and the service is free forever. It was fun.

But I think paying $5 for Fongo and cutting the hazzle is still a good deal.

[CountyDownIeUk]

Long story. 

I am always looking for cost reductions. 

I had Telus TV, INTERNET and PHONE, years ago. I cut costs by going to voip.ms and to surfnet for TV.  My preference was to keep reliable Internet. I kept Telus and they gave me a discount. The  TV was a mess., so I cancelled it and went back to Telus TV as is more reliable. But I don’t feel TV is a good product any more, not a Telus issue. My voip.ms had a DDOS attack and was without phone for 2 weeks. So I was disgruntled about it and moved on. My voip phone was $14 a month and our average use was 300 minutes outbound. So I decided to go with a PM $15 plan and buy the add on minutes once I see the pool running low. Had the intention to drive cost down with referrals. So if my average with PM is $18 a month and once I receive 4 or more referrals I am back where I was, and reaching my goal of cost reduction once I go past 4 referrals. And then there is the no brainer effort of $2 off for autopay plus $5 off for loyalty. Goal is zero per month. So it boiled down to 2 options....

1. Buy a ZTE box or

2.  Buy another iPhone and a link2cell Panasonic set.

Both giving service with battery back up during internet or power outage. 

Voip.ms requires an ATA box and programming skills online and on the ATA box. Was fun for me to program and do some incredible things with phone service. Loss of power or internet = no phone service. 

Panasonic link2cell was ok to buy as our phone set is well used and owes us nothing. It did not pair by bluetooth using an iPhone  8 .... so it went back to Costco. Our Panasonic phone set has battery back up...most newer ones do. 

ZTE WF721 was $20 second hand and has battery backup. Was on Telus, so works for PM. PM has given me the unlock codes. There are newer ZTE box models that I will always be looking for one if at a good price. 

I could have gone with Telus wireless home phone but too expensive. Better to have gone with Koodo wireless home phone (Canada Wide only) for a year....but no wonderful  non expiration of add ons thus the way I went with the ZTE box with a PM SIM. 

Everyone has there  comfort level and does read reviews, thus no Fongo or Ooma for me. 

[Community_QA]

@CountyDownIeUk  What's the advantage of using PM with a box like this at home? Is it $15/month? Why not go with service like  Fongo Home phone for only $5, easier and unlimited calling. 

[darlicious]

@CountyDownIeUk 

Take the SIM card out of the ZTE and put it in your phone. Call forward the ZTE number to your pm phone. Remove the ZTE SIM card and set aside. Take the ZTE out of the equation if you are worried about it. But I still believe either way there are no minutes charged as call forwarding is done thru the network the phone is just the instrument.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account in your private messages only include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #

[CountyDownIeUk]

Hmmmmmmm it makes sense to be charged for one outbound call. 

Now confused as @darlicious is saying what I have heard before. 

If @darlicious is correct I can see some savings potential here....but no for me right now. 

We have ill MIL and we may go to Victoria for a few days so the call forward would be handy. 

[softech]

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@CountyDownIeUk wrote:

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Outbound call out of ZTE box is a deduction against my 100 minutes.

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I think this part is the only questionable one in the whole process.  and YES, I think this is counted towards the minute bucket because the forward is set on the ZTE box itself not a setup on the PM System.  ZTE box sees no pickup of the call and the forward the calls out, effectively the box makes an outgoing call to another number.  So, it should be a calls counted towards the 100 minutes bucket 

[darlicious]

@CountyDownIeUk 

No both should be free calls. Of course you can test it out and confirm it.

Edit:

It's all free. I was thinking you were doing a double call forward...but regardless no minutes should be deducted.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account in your private messages only include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #

[will13am]

From what I know of call forwarding, it is treated as if it is a separate call.  The original call is to your number.  This is the inbound part.  You then forward that call to a different number which is then treated as if it is a separate call.  This is the outbound part.   

[CountyDownIeUk]

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@will13am wrote:

Yes it does.  There really is only one direction for call forward. 

Right....outbound. 

And the inbound is “included” in the unlimited inbound. 

But I thought I had read hear that there were no deductions  on a call forward. 

Perhaps...I do not have a use for it until now and just don’t get it!!

The call is forwarded to the specified number.

Right 

If you need to call that number to retrieve anything, that is another call. 

Can you explain? 

I assume this is your question.  

So so I call forward my ZTE box to my cell phone. Both using PM and on $15 plan. 

Call to ZTE falls under inbound unlimited calls. 

Outbound call out of ZTE box is a deduction against my 100 minutes.

Receiving the forwarded call on my cell phone falls under inbound unlimited calls. 

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Correct?

[will13am]

Yes it does.  There really is only one direction for call forward.  The call is forwarded to the specified number.  If you need to call that number to retrieve anything, that is another call.  I assume this is your question.