BT Versatility: incoming calls and ringing problems

[BethM]

The BT Versatility phone system is no longer supported by BT Business. Support ended on 30 September 2025, and we won't update this page if anything changes with the product. 

If you're looking for a replacement system, check out our full range of cloud-based phone systems. 

We've brought our BT Versatility incoming calls help together in one post. It covers ringing patterns, Night Service, call pick-up, caller display, missed calls, and fixing phones that don't ring. 

Choosing which phones ring

Two ringing patterns can be set – Day Service and Night Service. Incoming calls programmed to ring a group or extension can be diverted to ring a different group, extension, voicemail or external number. 

External divert might be restricted within the system or unavailable due to the line configuration. 

For programming details, see pages 53, 54 and 86 of the Owner’s Manual.

Ringing another phone when yours is busy

There are two ways to do this, depending on what you need and how the system's programmed: 

•        Option 1: set a divert on busy (DoB) on the main group or extension to ring the group or extension you want to ring when you're busy. 
•        Option 2: create a linear hunt group with the extensions you want to ring in order. Set the main extension as the first in the group, and so on. 

With a hunt group, calls ring the first available extension. If it's busy, or the call isn't answered before the hunt group divert time, the call rings the second extension, and so on until all extensions in the group have been rung. 

Turning on Night Service

The Manual Night Service feature lets you turn Night Service on or off. When you turn it on, the Night Service ringing and Class of Service come into operation. 

To switch on Night Service, select Night Service from extension 20. 

Your phone doesn't ring when a call comes through 

If you're not receiving incoming or internal calls when you expect to, the most likely causes are a programming error or a faulty phone. 

A Divert All Calls (DAC) or Do Not Disturb (DND) might have been set, which blocks internal and incoming calls. If so, there'll be an interrupted dial tone on the extension. To remove these features, complete an extension reset. 

From a Featurephone: 

1.      From the Idle Menu, press the Scroll Down key until you see Reset the telephone. 
2.      Select Reset the telephone. 
3.      The display shows Extension reset briefly before returning to the Idle Menu. 

From a standard phone: dial 739 and wait for the acknowledgement tone (internal dial tone). 

To find out if the phone itself is faulty, swap it with a similar working phone. If it’s faulty, you’ll need to replace it. 

Answering a call ringing on another extension

Call Pick-up lets an extension answer another extension's call, as long as both extensions are in the same Call Pick-up group. This works for internal, external, DDI and CLI-routed calls. To pick up the call: 

•        On a V Featurephone: from the Idle Menu, select Call Pick-Up for any type of call, or External Call Pick-Up. 
•        On a standard phone: dial 727 to answer any type of call, or 726 to answer incoming calls only. 

Calls still ringing after you've set a divert?

The divert facility only diverts calls made to your extension - not calls made to an extension group. The call may be programmed to ring an extension group rather than your individual extension. Calls to an extension group can be diverted using the group divert facility. 

See page 25 of the Owner’s Manual for full details. 

Your answering machine isn't answering calls to DDI numbers 

The system answering machine only answers calls to the number programmed as the directory number - not numbers programmed as DDI/MSN numbers. Here’s how the two types of call behave: 

•        Calls to the directory number follow the incoming ringing programme for the line, and the system answering machine will answer these. 
•        Calls to DDI numbers follow the DDI number programming. These can’t be answered by the system answering machine, but they can be answered by group or extension mailboxes using the group or extension divert to mailbox feature. 

Don't duplicate numbers in the Directory and DDI/MSN programming. Each number should only be programmed once. If it's a directory number, it mustn't also be in the DDI/MSN field. 

Caller Display isn't working on your Featurephones

For Caller Display to work on standard exchange lines (PSTN lines), it has to be enabled in both the telephone exchange and the BT Versatility system. See page 35 of the Owner’s Manual for details. 

Show all calls, not just missed calls

The system can be programmed to store all calls or only unanswered calls. Stored calls can be viewed on all V8 or V16 Featurephones. 

On extension 20 (or the first extension), Missed Calls - System shows at the top of the menu when new calls are stored. On all other extensions, scroll through the menu to find it. When there are no new calls, any extension can view previously stored calls by scrolling to the Missed Calls - System section. 

To program the CLI store: 

1.      From the programming extension, press the Program key. 
2.      Press the Scroll Down key until you see System programming. 
3.      Select System programming. 
4.      Enter the system programming password and select System. 
5.      Press the Scroll Down key until you see CLI Store. 
6.      Select CLI Store. 
7.      Select Store All Calls or Store Unanswered Calls. 
8.      Press the Hands-free key to finish.