Call waiting is the beep you hear when someone rings while you are already on a call. Without it the second caller gets the engaged tone and goes away. With it you get the choice.
Three codes cover the whole thing.
| What you want | Code |
|---|---|
| Turn call waiting on | *43# |
| Turn it off | #43# |
| See whether it is on | *#43# |
Dial it like a phone number and press call. The network answers in a second or two with a confirmation.
What actually happens on the call
When a second call arrives, your phone beeps and shows the incoming number. You get three options, and which ones appear depends on the handset:
- Hold and accept. Your first caller is put on hold and hears silence. You talk to the second. You can swap between them.
- End and accept. The first call is dropped.
- Decline. The second caller goes to voicemail if you have one, or hears ringing until they give up.
The person on hold cannot hear the other conversation. They can hear that you are gone, because most networks play nothing at all rather than music.
The part that trips people up
Call waiting and call forwarding both decide what happens to a call you cannot take right now, and they get in each other's way.
If you have set a forward-when-busy rule with **67*number#, you might assume a
call arriving mid-conversation gets sent on. It usually does not. With call
waiting switched on you are never technically busy, because the network can
always deliver a second call to your handset. So the busy rule sits there doing
nothing.
The reverse is worth knowing too. If a second caller is reaching voicemail or a
forwarded number when you expected a beep, check *#43# first. Call waiting may
simply be off.
Network by network
MTN Ghana
The codes above work. MTN also exposes the setting in the phone's own call settings on both Android and iPhone, which does the same thing with a switch.
Telecel Ghana
The same codes. Telecel was Vodafone Ghana until the 2023 rebrand, so guides naming Vodafone are describing this network.
AirtelTigo
The same codes. One network despite the two names, so there is no separate Airtel setting and Tigo setting.
Doing it without codes
Both phone operating systems have a screen for this, and it is the same setting underneath.
iPhone. Settings, then Phone, then Call Waiting, then the switch. On newer iOS versions the Phone entry sits under Apps first.
Android. Open the Phone app, tap the three dots, then Settings. On a Pixel the path is Calling accounts, then your SIM, then Additional settings, then Call waiting. On a Samsung it is Supplementary services, then Call waiting.
If the screen shows the switch greyed out, the network has not finished applying
the change. Dial *#43# to see the real state.
Common questions
Does call waiting cost anything?
No. It is a network feature, not a billed service, and switching it on or off is free. The calls themselves bill as normal.
Can I have call waiting and voicemail together?
Yes. If you decline the waiting call, it goes to voicemail the same way a missed call does.
Why does my second caller hear a busy tone even with it on?
Usually because the first call is a data call, or you are already juggling two calls and the network will not deliver a third. Some networks also drop call waiting while roaming.
Will the person on hold know?
They hear silence, not music, on most Ghanaian networks. They will know you have gone somewhere, but not where.
When beeping is not the answer
Call waiting is a workaround for one phone having to be in two conversations. That is fine for a personal line. For a business it has an obvious cost: one of the two people is always being made to wait, and the beep interrupts the call you are already on.
What you actually want is the second caller reaching a different person, not a beep. That needs more than one phone on the number, which is what a cloud phone system does. And if you want to keep the line everyone already rings, you can bring it with you.
The forwarding codes, if you need them, are in the call forwarding guide.