Registering for BT Text
You need to register your handsets by sending a text before you can start receiving texts. If you haven’t registered your phone, you’ll receive any incoming text as Text to Speech (TTS).
Sending texts
To send a text from a landline you'll need a text compatible phone.
To send a message:
- Use your text enabled phone to write your text message. You can use up to 160 characters for each message.
- Enter the number you want to send your text to, including the area code. This can be any landline or mobile number in the UK. (There are a small number of exceptions).
- Press send.
If you're not sure how to send a text message from your office or home phone, please check your phone's user guide.
To receive as Text to Speech:
Your phone will alert you when a text message arrives. If you don't subscribe to BT's Caller Display service, this will be delivered as a voice message which you can pick up and save like a normal text message.
If you don’t have an answer phone or answering service, you’ll need to call the text store on 0845 602 1111 to pick up messages (calls cost 5p a minute, plus your BT access charge). Remember that messages are only saved here for 24 hours.
If you want to make sure that someone receives a spoken message rather than a text message, dial *3# at the start of the message.
If you want to receive all your messages as Voice Texts, dial *2# and send to 00000. To undo this, dial #2# and send to 00000.
What happens at the other end?
If who you've sent the text to has a text enabled phone and BT's Caller Display service, then your message gets displayed as a written message, like it would on a mobile phone.
Otherwise, they'll get your text as a voice message.
If you want someone with a text enabled landline to get your text as a voice message, just put *tts# at the start of your message.
Choosing a voice to read your message
Normally, spoken messages are read out by a female voice. But you can choose a male voice by keying in *M# at the start of your text.
Requesting a delivery status report
Dial *0# at the start of your message to receive a delivery status report.
Frequently asked questions:
What is the BT Text platform number?
To send:
The outgoing Service Centre number is 147017094009.
If CPE needs extra digits i.e. On-Air needs 15 then add in '#' or '0' until it makes the number up to 15 digits.
To receive:
The incoming Service Centre number is 0800 587 5290.
I don't have Caller Display - am I still able to use BT Text?
You are able to send but not to receive text messages. We deliver text messages to you in spoken voice form.
Does the BT Text service include MMS picture messaging?
No, not at the moment. We’ll be considering the introduction of MMS at some time in the future.
Why is only 24 hours allowed to retrieve a BT Text message?
Message storage is an additional facility provided by the text message service. It’s not a full message storage service. If a full message service were included, the cost of using BT Text would increase.
How many times will you try to deliver a spoken text message to me?
If your line is busy, we’ll try and deliver the message for two hours. If there is no reply from you or any answering machine / service, we’ll continue to try and deliver the message for the next 12 hours.
How can I stop BT Text calls?
You’ll receive text calls if you’ve been sent a text message and don't have a text enabled phone. An electronic voice will read the message out.
You can stop them or set curfews by calling 0800 587 5252 from the landline you're receiving them on.