Background:
I was watching an old MST3K and they had a "phone features of the future" short by Bell from the 60s and it talked about a lot of features "soon to be implemented", it got me curious about what commands we actually have via landline and i was surprised
Transliterated from here (https://www.telus.com/en/ab/support/article/use-star-commands) in case the page disappears over time...
Quote Call Return
Activation command:
*69 to hear the last number that called you
*66 to monitor a busy line
De-activation command:
*89 to cancel *69
*86 to cancel *66
Call Forwarding Busy
Activation command: *90
De-activation command: *91
Call Forwarding Fixed
Activation command: *79 or 79# or *72
De-activation command: *73 or 73#
Call Forwarding No Answer
Activation command: *92
De-activation command: *93
Call Forwarding Variable
Activation command: *72 or 72#
De-activation command: *73 or 73#
Call Screen
Activation command: *60
De-activation command: *60
Call Trace
Activation command: *57
Call Waiting
Activation command: Depress the receiver, link or flash button
De-activation command: *70
Per-Call Blocking
Activation command: *67
Voicemail
Activation command: *98
Makes me wonder what other features are sitting there that I don't think about...
The Voicemail one isn't just an activation, its a short cut to your Voicemail; why do I know: because that is what I use at home.
They used to have a guide to these in the front of the phone book.
Then there was also the Talking Yellow pages that had choose your own adventure games and the joke of the day as well.
I believe there's a PDF with some of that stuff on the page I linked to, didn't get a chance to read it.
I was surprised how many features I pay for and don't use (like call forwarding)
I use http://ca.ooma.com/ these days.. The only thing we use the home line for is general contact numbers for Family things like appointments ETC and long distance calls.
I use the Premier service which is CDN $9.99/mo + 911Fees, the "FREE" service is just the 911 fees.
My home phone is basically a honeypot for garbage, my cell is where the action is
If caller display doesn't show anything I don't usually pick it up.