Calling Features You May Not Realize You Have | The Communication Blog

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Calling Features You May Not Realize You Have

By Roger Banishmen

Your residential telephone carrier likely offers features that you either don't use or don't realize exist. Most people use their phones to make and receive calls without taking advantage of the menu of useful services that come with their plan (often, free of charge). Some of these services are designed to make communicating with your friends and family more convenient. Others are geared toward helping you avoid nuisance calls. Below, we'll provide an overview of the valuable calling features you may have overlooked.

When You're Not Available

It's impossible to be available for every person calling your line. You may be involved in a project, away from home, or spending time with your family. You might simply be unable to reach your telephone before the caller hangs up. Your provider should offer a number of features which help ensure you don't miss important calls. For example, voicemail lets callers leave messages that you can return later. You can even retrieve them remotely. Call forwarding lets you forward connections to any phone you wish - valuable if you're traveling.

Creating Helpful Obstacles

Because your available time is limited, it's valuable. You don't want to spend it talking with telemarketers, survey takers, and unfamiliar calling parties. Services like Caller ID, blocking and anonymous rejection can help you raise obstacles between you and others. For example, if a telemarketing firm is relentlessly calling your line, ask your carrier to block them based on their phone number. If a survey organization blocks their number from showing on your Caller ID display, your provider can automatically forward them to an anonymous rejection message.

By using these services to create obstacles between you and unfamiliar callers, you can manage your time while talking to the people from whom you actually want to hear.

For Convenience Sake

Your phone carrier likely offers a number of features that are designed for convenience. For example, speed dialing lets you connect to predefined telephone numbers without dialing the entire number. Repeat dialing allows you to easily reconnect to the last destination you called. Three-way calling is a feature that allows three people to connect on the same line. That's helpful for planning events; rather than coordinating plans with individual callers, it's a free alternative to teleconferencing.

Many of the features we've described above can help you save time, eliminate frustration, and be more available to important callers. What's more, your home telephone provider likely makes some, if not all, of these services available to you at no charge. Oddly, even though these services are simple to activate, most customers remain unaware that they can take advantage of them. Check with your residential phone line provider to determine which of the above services you may be neglecting.

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