Call Forwarding for Contractors: Keep Your Number and Send Only Missed Calls
Forward only the calls you don't answer to your answering service, so your phone still rings first and your number never changes. Pick your carrier for the exact steps.
The setup in plain terms
You are asking your phone company to do one thing: when you don't pick up, send the call to a second number. That second number is your DispatchAI number. Customers still dial the number on your truck, your phone still rings first, and DispatchAI answers only the calls you miss. It is a one-time setup, and you can switch it off any time.
Conditional versus “forward all calls”
There are two kinds of forwarding, and mixing them up is the most common mistake:
- Conditional (what you want). Sends a call away only when you don't answer, when you are on another call, or when your phone is off or out of signal.
- Unconditional (usually not what you want). Sends every call away, so your phone never rings. It is the easy toggle in many phone settings.
Choose your phone or carrier
Two settings that quietly break it
- Live Voicemail on iPhone. It answers unanswered calls on the phone itself, so carrier no-answer forwarding never fires. Apple's support page says to switch it off for conditional forwarding. Check it again after iOS updates, which can turn it back on.
- Carrier voicemail answering first. On some carriers, voicemail picks up before forwarding can happen. Turn it off, or set the ring time so forwarding comes first.
Check that it works
- Ask a friend to call your business number and leave it ringing, or let a call ring out yourself.
- It should be answered after the number of seconds you set, by your answering service.
- Call while you are on another call to test the busy case.
Codes vary by carrier and plan, and a mistyped one often fails silently, so always test with a real call. If you would rather not do this yourself, your carrier's support line can enable it for you.