Setting Up Home Phone Protection

Home phone protection covers your landline the same way Gini covers your cell phone. Scam calls to the house get screened before the phone rings.

For a lot of households this is the one that matters most. The house phone is the number on old mailing lists, and it is where the worst calls tend to land.

What You Need

Home phone protection is part of the Premium Plus + Home Phone plan — $12.99 a month, or $77.99 a year.

If you are on Premium or Premium Plus today, go to Settings > Plan and Billing > Change Plan to add it. The store prorates the difference.

The Number Your Home Phone Forwards To

Your home phone forwards to a different number than your cell phone does:

+1 (866) 446-4705

Use this number, not the one in the cell phone instructions.

Setting It Up

  1. Open the Gini Help app
  2. Tap Settings
  3. Tap Home Phone Protection
  4. Enter your home phone number
  5. Pick your phone provider from the list
  6. Follow the steps Gini shows you
  7. Gini places a test call to confirm it worked

The app cannot detect who your home phone provider is, so you do have to pick it yourself. If you are not sure, look at the company that bills you for the line — it is usually your cable or internet company.

Setup by Provider

Most home phones today are cable or fibre "digital voice" lines, which are set up on a website, not by dialling anything.

Xfinity Voice (Comcast)

  1. Sign in at xfinity.com, or in the Xfinity app
  2. Go to Settings > Voice Preferences > Call Forwarding
  3. Turn on call forwarding and enter 8664464705
  4. Save your changes

You can also dial *72 from the home phone itself, then the number.

Spectrum Voice

  1. Sign in at spectrum.net
  2. Go to Your Services > Voice > Settings > Call Forwarding
  3. Turn on call forwarding and enter 8664464705
  4. Save your changes

You can also dial *72 from the home phone, then the number.

Verizon Fios Digital Voice

  1. Sign in to My Verizon
  2. Go to Home > Digital Voice > Call Forwarding
  3. Turn on call forwarding and enter 8664464705
  4. Save your changes

You can also dial *72 from the home phone, then the number.

AT&T Phone (U-verse)

  1. Sign in at att.com
  2. Go to My AT&T > Phone > Manage Features > Call Forwarding
  3. Turn on call forwarding and enter 8664464705
  4. Save your changes

You can also dial *72 from the home phone, then the number.

Ooma

  1. Sign in at my.ooma.com
  2. Go to Preferences > Call Forwarding
  3. Choose Forward all calls and enter 8664464705
  4. Save your changes

Vonage

  1. Sign in at my.vonage.com
  2. Go to Settings > Call Forwarding
  3. Turn on call forwarding to 8664464705
  4. Save your changes

magicJack

  1. Sign in at my.magicjack.com
  2. Go to Call Features > Call Forwarding
  3. Enter 8664464705 and enable forwarding
  4. Save your changes

A traditional landline, or a provider not listed

Do this from the home phone itself, not from your cell phone:

  1. Pick up your home phone
  2. Dial *72
  3. When you hear the tone, dial 8664464705
  4. Wait for the confirmation tone, then hang up

The Test Call

After you finish the steps, Gini places a test call to your home phone to check that forwarding is really on.

If your home phone rings during the test, forwarding is not set up yet. That sounds backwards, but it is the clearest signal there is: a properly forwarded line sends the call to Gini instead of ringing the handset. If it rings, go back and check the forwarding step.

If the test fails, the app tells you why and lets you try again. Nothing is lost.

What Happens After Setup

Calls to your home phone go to Gini first. Gini answers, finds out who is calling and why, and:

  • Spam and scam callers are stopped. The house phone never rings.
  • Real callers are passed through and your home phone rings as normal.
  • Anyone on your allow list goes straight through without being screened.

You will see home phone calls in the app alongside your cell phone calls.

Turning It Off

Digital voice (Xfinity, Spectrum, Fios, AT&T, Ooma, Vonage, magicJack): go back to the same Call Forwarding page and turn it off.

Traditional landline: pick up the home phone and dial *73.

Troubleshooting

"My home phone still rings for spam"

Forwarding is probably not active. Sign in to your provider's website and check that call forwarding is switched on and pointed at 8664464705. Some providers quietly drop the setting after an outage or an equipment swap.

"Nobody can reach my home phone at all"

Check that you forwarded to the home phone number, +1 (866) 446-4705 — not the cell phone number. Forwarding a landline to the cell screening number will not work correctly.

"My provider isn't in the list"

Choose Traditional landline / other and try the *72 steps from the handset. If your provider does not support *72, call them and ask how to set up call forwarding on your line — every provider offers it, they just put it in different places.

"I don't know who my home phone provider is"

Look at your bill. For most households the home phone is bundled with cable or internet, so it will be the same company.

Questions?

  • How Call Screening Works
  • Understanding Your Allow List (Trusted Contacts)
  • Understanding Gini Help Plans and Pricing