Landline ring time

[#1]

Hi,

My elderly mother can no longer get to the phone (landline) before it diverts to voicemail. How can I extend the ring time?

Thanks,

Andrew

[#2]

Hey there @wellsprings and welcome to the forum. Your mother would need to have voicemail extra added to the line to be able to extend the ring time. It's key to note that it is £3 per month though.

[#3]

Your mother would need to have voicemail extra added to the line to be able to extend the ring time. It's key to note that it is £3 per month though.

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An alternative approach would be to switch the Voice Mail off altogether, and get an answerphone (one that you can configure for number of rings). That'll be a one-off cost, but no ongoing monthly cost.

[#4]

@wellsprings 

Would a cordless phone, that she can keep with her around the home, be a practical alternative solution to this problem?

[#5]

We did this for my MiL a while ago.  Got a cheap deal on a three pack of big button DECT phones and put one by her bed, one next to the chair she uses in the living room and the other in the bathroom (I jest not - it made a great deal of sense!).  She also has her original landline phone in the kitchen.

This works brilliantly.  She can easily pick up a phone wherever she is and she's now in the habit of taking one of them with her if she goes out to the garden.  Very reassuring for my wife, who worries if she calls and can't get an answer quickly.  We did have a problem initially with the phones running out of battery power, as she'd forget to put them back on their charging bases, but she's pretty switched on and now does this all the time.  Only thing we needed to do was paint Tippex around the slot on the charging bases so she can see where to put the phone.