With the SR Series, you can use phone company voice mail and even call forwarding.
It works great will all phone company features except it works a little differently with the caller id.
Here is what it says in the frequently asked questions section of the online manual:
The call-id signal passes through very fast since the SR never answers your phone. The SR needs a ringing pattern of at least 1.8 seconds for the call-id information to have enough time to get through to your phones.
So what happens is ... the last phone number in the sequence always gets the call id signal but sometimes the other numbers won't get the caller id information depending on the ringing voltage as I just mentioned. There are several ways to get around this:
1.) Be really persistent with the local phone company technicians and convince them to make sure all of your numbers ring longer than 1.8 seconds. Sometimes you can talk the phone company into doing this. We have reports from customers that say they have been successful in getting the phone company to configure the ringer so it passes the cal-id. We have had others who said that the phone company wouldn't do it. Some customers have told us that they even got a choice of six ringing patterns so they just chose the longest ones. We don't want to get you hopes up here though because some phone company installers simply will not make these changes for you. If they will not, please use one of the other solutions which follow (#2-4).2.) Run a call-id box in front of the SR. Simply plug in you call-id box between your incoming line and the SR. Call-id will always work in front of the SR. Unless you use wireless phones with call id display, this will be your best solution.
3.) Run a wireless phone (with call-id display) in parallel to the first number and turn off the ringer. You hear your other business phone(s) ring, then answer the cordless. This is what I personally do. The only disadvantage is you won't get the barge-in protection on the wireless, which is no big deal as you would never answer the phone unless your phones ring for voice anyway. Incoming faxes automatically go to the fax on the fax number I also personally run a call-id box (#2) in front of the SR to record all call-id information on both numbers.4.) Have the phone company change around your phone numbers (make you original number you distinctive ring number and your new number your primary number). This way the second number in the series (which always gets the cal-d signal) is your original number (for voice) and the first number is the new number (for fax or something else).
This is the way most people get around this problem. The phone company will always do this for you with no extra urging. For most people this works great.
The only problem is if you use call forwarding for your voice calls (primary number). # 4 will not work for you with call forwarding since the phone company has only two settings for to set up your call forwarding either (1.) forward all numbers (primary + distinctive ring) or (2.) forward primary number only (not the distinctive ring numbers). If you want to transfer you voice calls only, your primary number must be your voice number and the setting must be set to (2) forward primary number only.
Most likely, with one of these work arounds, you will be able to get your call-id information on your voice number(s).
To review: the call-id signal always passes through to the last number in the series (either the second number if you have 2 numbers or the third number if you have three numbers on one line). Unless you use call forwarding, this would most likely be the easiest solution.
If you use the SR with call forwarding to forward your voice calls to your cell or another phone when you are out and still get your faxes on your fax machine, tell the phone company to set it up to only forward the main number. I do this personally and love it. I can go anywhere in the US and still get my business calls while my fax calls always go to my fax machine. Total freedom!
You can also forward your voice number to a cell or other phone when you are on the Internet (the line is busy) thus get your voice calls while your line is tied up with the computer (or another call). With this application (call forwarding) you need to use one of the solutions #1-3 as # 4 will not work as mentioned above.