AT&T Business Phone Call Forwarding

Forwarding is the bridge between the phone number customers already know and wherever you actually want calls to ring. You keep printing and advertising the same business number, but the calls land on your cell, a teammate's phone, or an answering service. That matters when you are on a job site, in a meeting, or closed for the day and calls would otherwise go to voicemail.

There are three common ways to use it. Forward all calls when you want the line handled elsewhere full time. Forward on no answer so calls ring your desk first and only overflow after several rings. Forward on busy so a second caller reaches help while you are already on the phone. Pick the variant that matches how you actually work, because forwarding all calls means your original line will not ring at all.

• All-call forwarding: every incoming call goes straight to the destination and your original line does not ring
• No-answer forwarding: your line rings first, then unanswered calls move to the destination
• Busy forwarding: callers reach the destination only while your line is in use
• Deactivating restores normal ringing on your business line

If your bill or account says AT&T Phone for Business, these are the published activation steps. Dial the code, the 10-digit destination number, then #. A confirmation tells you forwarding is active. To turn a feature off, dial its deactivation code followed by #.

If you have already stored forwarding numbers in your online account, you may not need to reenter the destination each time you activate.

• Forward all calls: dial *72, destination number, then # — turn off with *73#
• Forward on no answer: dial *92, destination number, then # — turn off with *93#
• Forward on busy: dial *90, destination number, then # — turn off with *91#
• These codes apply to AT&T Phone for Business only, not AT&T wireless or Collaborate

AT&T Collaborate is a hosted business phone product, and its feature access codes differ from Phone for Business. In Collaborate, an administrator controls which feature codes are available to users, so if a code does not work, check with whoever manages your account.

Activate always-forward by dialing *72 plus the destination, and deactivate with *73. For busy forwarding, dial *62 plus the destination and turn it off with *63. For no-answer forwarding, dial *92 plus the destination and turn it off with *93. Notice that the busy code here is different from the *90 used on Phone for Business, which is why identifying your product first matters.

• Always forward: *72 plus destination — off with *73
• Busy forward: *62 plus destination — off with *63
• No-answer forward: *92 plus destination — off with *93
• An administrator controls whether these feature codes are enabled on your line

If your business line is an AT&T cell phone rather than a landline or hosted product, the conditional forwarding codes follow the wireless pattern. These are dialed from the phone itself.

For no-answer forwarding, dial *61* followed by the destination and #. For unreachable forwarding (phone off or out of service), dial *62* followed by the destination and #. For busy forwarding, dial *67* followed by the destination and #. Send each one separately and wait for confirmation before testing the next. The matching ##61#, ##62#, and ##67# codes turn each condition off. Because wireless features can vary by plan and device, confirm with AT&T that conditional forwarding is supported on your specific line before relying on it.

• No answer: *61*destination# — off with ##61#
• Unreachable: *62*destination# — off with ##62#
• Busy: *67*destination# — off with ##67#
• Confirm conditional forwarding support for your specific wireless plan with AT&T

The single most common mistake is using codes from the wrong product. AT&T sells wireless service, traditional phone lines, Phone for Business, and Collaborate, and each has its own codes. Check your bill, your account portal, or the service name on your order confirmation. If a code gives you an error or nothing happens, do not keep trying variations — confirm the product name with AT&T support and ask them to confirm the forwarding codes for that exact service.

Also note that some AT&T business accounts are managed through an online portal rather than star codes, and an administrator may need to enable forwarding before any code will work. If you are not the account administrator, start there.

• Check the product name on your bill or account before dialing any code
• Wireless, Phone for Business, and Collaborate each use different codes
• Administrators may need to enable features on hosted products like Collaborate
• If a code fails, confirm the exact service with AT&T instead of guessing

After activating forwarding, verify it with a real call from a different phone, such as a coworker's cell. Watch what happens: does the destination ring, how many rings pass first, and does the caller hear the greeting you expect? Then dial the deactivation code and confirm normal ringing returns on the original line.

Two things to check before relying on forwarding. First, forwarding may affect your plan's minutes or incur charges, so confirm costs with AT&T. Second, all-call forwarding overrides voicemail on the original line — calls will not reach your old voicemail while forwarding is on, so make sure the destination has its own way to take messages.

• Test with a call from a different phone after each activation
• Dial the deactivation code and confirm the original line rings normally
• Ask AT&T about any forwarding charges on your plan
• All-call forwarding takes calls away from the original line's voicemail

Forwarding is also how you connect your AT&T number to an outside answering service. You keep your published business number, and calls ring at the service instead of your desk. With AllDayDesk, for example, you enter your business details, hear a personalized sample of how your calls would be handled, and then choose phone setup — the sample call does not create a real booking. You keep your public number by forwarding calls to us, and the exact forwarding steps depend on your AT&T service, using the codes above.

After setup, calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings show up in your dashboard. New appointments go on the built-in AllDayDesk calendar once you have configured your services and availability, and an optional Google Calendar connection is available in Settings after you connect and authorize your account. When the caller asks something the service does not know — a price, an answer, or an appointment change — it takes a message for you instead of guessing. Changes to existing appointments come to you as requests, not confirmed edits.

Transfers to you are possible too, but you configure the destination and the rules for when transfers happen, and neither pickup nor an immediate response is guaranteed.

• Forwarding keeps your public number while calls are handled elsewhere
• Set up by entering your business or website, checking the details, and hearing a sample
• Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings appear in your dashboard
• Unknown answers, prices, or appointment changes become messages for you