1-5-7-1

1-5-7-1 is the name of a family of calling features in the United Kingdom, for residential and business telephone lines and for mobile telephones, that are provided by BT Group and several other telephone service providers. The family is named after the telephone number 1571, the special service number that is used to access it.

Land lines

The 1571 feature was introduced by BT Group to the UK after planned in the 1990s after they digitalized all the telephone exchanges. As of 2006 several other telephone service providers in the United Kingdom also provided 1571 answering services, including One.Tel, Platinum Telecom, Kingston Communications, and Manx Telecom. Most such providers rely on a local loop that is owned by BT Group. However, it is also available from providers that have their own local loops, such as Virgin Media.

In 2001 BT Group launched its Answer 1571 service as a free service, available at no extra cost to its existing telephone line customers. In 2007 a charge of £1 was introduced for any month in which two chargeable calls are not made on the line (this might apply, for instance, to people who have Carrier preselect with another telephone company). The Answer 1571 service, a cut-down version of BT Group's Call Minder service, allows a calling party to leave messages when the called party is engaged or does not answer within a fixed number of rings. The system allows for the storage of up to 10 such messages, each of which can be up to 2 minutes long, for up to 20 days. To indicate to called parties that they have waiting messages, the exchange sends an interrupted dialling tone to them when they take their telephone off-hook. The called party can retrieve the messages by dialling the number 1571.

The feature of Answer 1571 that cannot be implemented on an answering machine is that the machine cannot record messages when the called party is engaged on another call. This was seen to be a considerable advantage over an answering machine to those who had dial-up access to Internet, because dial-up connections can often involve long periods when the line is engaged.

Two disadvantages of Answer 1571 are that it can cause problems for computer telephone line modems, which are unable to recognize the interrupted dialling tone as a dialling tone and which will thus refuse to make outgoing calls, reporting being unable to detect a dialling tone; and that it costs the calling party the minimum connection charge to discover that the called party is engaged, even if they do not wish to leave a message, whereas obtaining the engaged tone incurs no connection charge. The Gosport & Fareham branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, as well as several others, recommends as a tip for saving money when making telephone calls to "count six rings and hang up before the expensive voice starts charging you".

On top of the free Answer 1571 service, BT Group provides additional services at an extra charge, such as the 1571 Text Alerts service, which sends a text message to a designated mobile telephone number whenever a calling party leaves a new message, and 1571 Online, which allows customers to retrieve their stored messages via the World Wide Web. The 1571 Online service is no longer available since it was withdrawn on 31st March 2009.

A problem with the 1571 Text Alerts system that existed and BT's website failed to point out as of 7 June 2007 is that if a mobile phone number is transferred from another provider to either Virgin or T-mobile, the alert system will not work; phone messages will be stored, but text message alerts will not be sent.

As of August 2010 BT offers 3 services accessed via the 1571 number. None of the services can be disabled or re-enabled by the user, but must be ordered or cancelled, with a lag of several days.

• Answer 1571, free. Calls answered after 7 rings. Up to 10 call stored for up to 20 days. Fixed greeting message. Messages not accessible remotely by ringing in.
• Answer 1571 enhanced, £1.49/month. free. As free service, personal message may be recorded, and phone rings, as an alert, after user finishes a call during which a message was left.
• Call minder, £2.49/month, as above but 30 messages, stored for 30 days, can answer after 0, 4 7, or 10 rings (nominal, may vary), can store numbers of callers who leave no message, can be accessed by dialling in with an identification number.

Mobile telephones

To its mobile telephone business customers BT Group provides a 1571 Voicemail service, which is similar to the service provided to landlines. Calling parties can leave messages when the mobile telephone is switched off, when it is in an area of reduced coverage, when it is on another call, or when the call is not answered within a fixed number of rings.

Further reading

• "BT 1571". BT products and services. Retrieved 2006-12-19.