Forward Only Missed Calls on a Landline or Office Phone

Ask your provider for Call Forward Busy and Call Forward No Answer, or forward the last step of your auto-attendant, so only missed calls reach your answering service.

What this does

On a landline or office phone system, these steps send only the calls you don't answer to your answering service. Your phone rings first and your business number does not change. Replace [your DispatchAI number] with the number you are given when you start a DispatchAI trial.

Steps

Ask your provider (or your phone system's admin) to enable 'Call Forward Busy' and 'Call Forward No Answer' to [your DispatchAI number].
On many landlines this is *71 or *72 followed by the number, but it varies by provider — worth confirming with them.
If you have an auto-attendant or hunt group, forward the final unanswered step to [your DispatchAI number].

Codes depend on your carrier and plan. If something doesn't take, your carrier's support line can set it up in a couple of minutes. See the call forwarding overview for the other carriers.

Questions

Will my phone still ring first on a landline or office phone system?

Yes. These steps set up conditional forwarding: your phone rings first, and only calls you don't answer, or that arrive while you are busy, are sent on. They do not forward every call.

Where do I get the number to forward to?

When you start a DispatchAI trial you are given your own DispatchAI number. Put that number wherever the steps show [your DispatchAI number].

How do I turn it off?

Reverse the setting you changed, or ask your provider to remove call forwarding. It takes a couple of minutes.

It didn't work. What should I check?

Codes are carrier- and plan-dependent and can fail silently when mistyped. Re-enter the code, test with a real call, and if it still doesn't take, ask your carrier to enable call forwarding on your line.