# I think I may have solved one of my Sky problems



## robert@fm (Apr 12, 2017)

One persistent problem I have had in the 18 months I've had Sky is that every so often I lose my Internet connection and nothing will restore it. (The light on the hub goes solid orange, not the flashing orange it is when trying to connect). Sometimes, it turns out that someone doing roadworks in Brixton or the like has cut through the wrong cable, but sometimes the Sky status page (accessed via my backup internet connection) shows nothing wrong. 

It has happened again, but browsing the My Sky page for my account, I found that if one receives a voicemail, the standard dial tone turns into a beep (this is a standard BT OpenZone feature, although Sky (carefully?) omit to mention that); and I remember from prior experience that if this happens, it prevents internet access until the voicemail is cleared! 

I don't recall asking for voicemail to be enabled (no point, as I had a landline installed only because there's no other way to get Sky broadband), but I found my landline number and dialled it, and sure enough, got an answerphone message. So I suspect that cold-calling scum are ringing my landline number (I know this happens, because I sometimes get calls on my spare mobile phone, although I haven't given the number to anyone), and not getting a reply (because they are attempting to talk to my broadband microfilter), so they leave a message and, by so doing, block my internet access for 30 days until their rubbish is deleted.  Hence I have ordered a cheap phone/answerphone combination, and the message on the answer tape will be "This line is for internet access only. It does not accept calls. Hang up _now_". And if they ignore the message and leave voicemail anyway (which, knowing spammers, is probably what will happen), I can delete it iimmediately.


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## Pumper_Sue (Apr 12, 2017)

Why don't you go on line and remove the voicemail option yourself or just ring sky and ask them to do it for you? Problem solved


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## mikeyB (Apr 13, 2017)

Why not just switch the answerphone off?


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## Vicsetter (Apr 13, 2017)

a) BT Openzone is now called BT Wifi and is nothing to do with your landline.
b) you seem to have enabled BT Answerphone service which is called by dialling 1571, goto your BT account and cancel it, this is a paid service!!
c)you cannot dial a microfilter, it is just a frequency filter used to differentiate between your broadband and voice comms.
d)most spam callers, in my experience, are automated so your answer machine will not help you at all.
e) if you pick up your phone and hear an intermittent ringtone then you can use 1571 to listen to and/or delete any messages, you don't need an answer machine.
f)   I am surprised you don't get your phone line from Sky, packaged with your broadband.


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