topic Re: Message waiting notification in Home phone

Call Answer - Message notification not working

mvic — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:50:44 GMT

Bell recently managed to mistakenly disconnect my services, and my voicemail service has now re-set various options. Have so far been able to restore the number of rings, which it had pushed to two, but can find no way to turn the message waiting indicator back on. (For two weeks, I had Bell picking up calls after two rings and not letting me know there was a message 8-0.) Any instructions I've found say choose 4-Personal options and then 1. I can also see this on two different pdf manuals. But when I press 4, the first option mentioned is 2-Administrative Options, and if I press "1", it tells me it's not a valid choice. Help! 😉

Re: Message waiting notification

BellPatricia — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 20:57:52 GMT

Hi @mvic. Thanks very much for reaching out, and welcome to the Community. 🙂

It sounds like you are reviewing support articles specific to your Home Phone device. Is that correct?

Check out How to use Call Answer on my Bell Home phonefor more tips on how to use Call Answer.

- Patricia

Re: Message waiting notification

mvic — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 20:39:00 GMT

Yes, it's about my home phone, this being the home phone forum. And yes, I know how to use Call Answer, as I've been using it for 25 years or more. Bell shut off my service, which re-set many settings. I cannot get message waiting notifications (rapid beeps) back on; I'm not getting option 1 in Personal Options. All explained above.

Re: Message waiting notification

CanadianGal — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:12:00 GMT

Hi MVIC,

Sounds like you found the right steps (4-1-3). Took a look at the site, only thing I can think of that might help is to "reactivate" before doing the rest. But if someone calls you and your voicemail picks up, then that isn't the solution.

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).

I did send an email over to someone at home phone to test to check the (4-1-3) instructions are still accurate or if they have any other ideas. Will update when I hear back.

Re: Message waiting notification

mvic — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 18:10:07 GMT

Thanks, will try those and do some tests. I do want it to be taking messages when I'm on the line, and have it currently set to answer after five rings.

Re: Message waiting notification

Jazzeyman — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 11:04:24 GMT

I have the same issue with the HH4000 but I don't get the light or special dial tone. My sister down the street also has an HH4000 and she says she gets both the light and dial tone notification.

Re: Message waiting notification

Jazzeyman — Sat, 22 Oct 2022 22:16:34 GMT

A Bell tech was able to get this to work for me by resetting the message notification option. I now get the special dial tone and the icon notification that new messages are available.

Re: Message waiting notification

Oldtimer — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 06:01:38 GMT

So glad I came upon this discussion thread prior to contacting Bell directly. Similar to others, I just discovered that I'm not being alerted to messages waiting. I was "upgraded" to Fibe against my wishes a few months ago, and as a landline user I'm quite disappointed to be getting less service than before. The whole point of being a Bell customer was that a Bell telephone worked regardless. Now I have a system that's modem-driven and won't work in a power outage; there's no access to emergency 911 services during same; and I have a severely diminished message system. I subsequently contacted Customer Support, and after going thru the excruciating online process was finally transferred to a live rep. After a brief exchange, the rep proceeded to transfer me to someone who would be better able to address my issue..... but then I was cut off. Judging by the comments I see here, however, I doubt that other person would've been able to restore my functions as I knew them. Makes me wonder why I'm paying for Call Answer when it's not doing the basic thing it's designed to do.

Re: Message waiting notification

Jazzeyman — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 15:23:49 GMT

Message waiting works for me using Home Phone service with the Home Hub 4000. On some phones the message waiting alert works, on others not. But if you pick up the handset the dial tone pulses indicating a message is waiting.

voicemail alert

SB3 — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 16:50:43 GMT

Has anyone else had the problem of voice mail alert not working on their home phone.There no intermittent dial tone and the light on the phone does not flash anymore. This has just started after a power outage; I contacted Bell but they were unable to help me. The voice mail does record my messages but I have to log in to see if there are any messages. Very frustrating. Do I have to purchase a new home phone and can you recommend one?

Re: voicemail alert

WelshTerrier — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 18:48:33 GMT

Good Day.

You mentioned that you had a recent power outage. Are there any errior mesages on your modem? The make & model of your Corded / Cordless phone with answering machine?

Check your phone’s user manual to see if there is an option to turn this feature on / off..
Since the power outage, are you experiecing any other service isues?
Have you tried unplugging all of your Home phone devices from the power source?
Have you visited the phone manufacturer's support web page?
Have you looked at or tried to do any trouble shooting?
Have you used the Virtual repair tool? It can detect Internet, Fibe TV & Home phone issues. Please see the included web link below.
You should also contact Bell Customer Service Home phone tech support. This feature may also need to be reset at Bell.

Bell Virtual repair tool

Home phone: troubleshooting tools, virtual repair tool and support (bell.ca)

To reach Bell, please call: 1 866 310-BELL (2355) or dial #611 from any Bell mobile device.

Take care.

Re: Call Waiting - Message notification not working

Tim2 — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:22:45 GMT

Just letting the forum know that as of this date I was experiencing this issue with my landline. About 3 weeks ago my phone stopped telling me I had new voicemails awaiting retrieval.

This morning I spent about an hour on the phone with a Bell tech. After a few steps he was working through on his troubleshooting script, he got it working. One thing he did was reboot my modem (from his end). After that, I think he changed some parameter of my phone settings and it's working.

As far as I can tell, if you have this problem (no New Voicemail indicator), you will need Bell tech support to correct it. It would perhaps be nice if you could do this through a *98 menu; the fact that you cannot tells me that the New Voicemail indication is never supposed to be turned off. If it goes off, it's due to a bug in the Bell voicemail system.

Call Answer - Message notification not working

Rad Dad — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:51:08 GMT

Bell recently upgraded my phone from copper to their Fibre system. While i still receive voicemails on the Bell Call Answer system, the notification system on my phone screen no longer works and the audible message wauting dial tone notification doesn’t work either,

i have checked and the voicemail notification option is turned on.

Call Answer - Message notification not working

WelshTerrier — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:51:01 GMT

Good Day & Welcome.

Thank you for posting your question.

What is the make and model of your portable home phone system?

To fix your portable home phone not receiving Bell Voice Mail notifications, you may need to reset the feature through your voicemail system settings. Has your Call Answer message notification function been turned off accidentally? To reactivate this feature:

Dial *98 from your home phone and enter your password. Follow the voice prompts by pressing 4, 1, 2, 3 to reactivate the notification function.

If this does not work, let's try doing the following to see if this makes a difference:

Unplug the power adapter directly from your portable phone's base station for about 2 minutes, then plug it back in. This clears temporary glitches in the notification display
Ensure your specific portable phone model has the Ringer/Visual Indicator turned on.

If you are still experiencing issues after completing the above, you may need to contact Bell Customer Service Home phone tech support and request that they reset your Home phone service.

Please call: 1 866 310-BELL (2355) or dial #611 from any Bell mobile.

Take care.