How to Forward Calls from Office Phone to Cell

Forwarding steps are not the same across providers, and even one company can sell several different phone products with different instructions. Before you dial anything, find the exact service name on your monthly bill, your provider's online account, or the paperwork from when the line was installed. A code that works on one product may do nothing on another.

Also decide what kind of forwarding you need. All-call (unconditional) forwarding sends every incoming call straight to your cell. Conditional forwarding only sends calls when the desk phone is busy or nobody answers. These usually use different codes, so know which one you want before you start.

• Check the bill or account portal for the exact product name, such as a landline, digital voice, or hosted business phone service.
• Decide between all-call forwarding and conditional forwarding (busy or no-answer only).
• Confirm your provider allows forwarding to an outside mobile number; some plans restrict it or charge per use.

Many traditional and digital phone services use star codes dialed from the desk phone itself. The pattern is similar across providers: dial the activation code, then your 10-digit cell number, and listen for confirmation. The examples below come from each provider's own published instructions, so match them to the service name you identified in step 1.

For all-call forwarding on several common services:

• AT&T Phone for Business: dial *72, your destination number, then #. Dial *73# to turn it off. No-answer forwarding uses *92, and busy forwarding uses *90.
• Comcast Managed Voice (Panasonic TPA65 guide): lift the handset, dial *72 and the destination, then hang up. Dial *73 to disable.
• Optimum Business Phone (guide-covered service): dial *72, wait for dial tone, then dial the destination. When the destination answers, forwarding is confirmed. Dial *73 to turn it off.
• Frontier Unlimited Digital Voice: lift the handset, dial *72, wait for a second dial tone, enter the destination, and listen for confirmation. Dial *73 to disable.
• Verizon business landline: dial *72 and follow the activation instructions; dial *73 from the same line to deactivate.
• AT&T Collaborate: *72 plus the destination enables always forwarding and *73 disables it; busy uses *62 and no-answer uses *92, with *63 and *93 to disable each.

Hosted and cloud business phone systems often skip star codes and put forwarding in a web dashboard or mobile app. If your provider is one of these, sign in with an account that has permission to manage phone features.

Examples from published provider guides: Spectrum Business Voice users sign in to SpectrumBusiness.net, open Voice, choose the phone number, then Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager, and pick all calls or busy/no-answer forwarding with a destination. Vonage Business Communications users select Call Forwarding and enable forwarding to a phone number. Windstream OfficeSuite UC users use the My Call Forwarding widget in the WE Connect dashboard, choosing Call Forwarding (Immediate) for all calls or setting a ring count and destination for unanswered calls. Comcast Business also manages features through My Account and the Comcast Business app, depending on the subscribed service.

• Sign in with an administrator or account-owner role if the forwarding options are grayed out.
• Choose the forwarding type: immediate (all calls) or busy/no-answer.
• Enter the full 10-digit cell number and save.

If you still want to answer at the desk during the day but catch calls when you step away, use conditional forwarding instead of all-call forwarding. On AT&T Phone for Business, no-answer forwarding is *92 plus the destination (off with *93) and busy forwarding is *90 (off with *91). On the Comcast Managed Voice guide, the same *92 and *90 codes apply. On AT&T Collaborate, no-answer is *92 and busy is *62.

Not every service publishes conditional codes. Some wireless carriers support them with different codes, such as T-Mobile's **61*1 plus the destination and # for no-reply forwarding, but you should confirm support for your specific line and device before relying on them. If your provider does not offer conditional forwarding, all-call forwarding paired with your cell's voicemail is the practical alternative.

• No-answer forwarding rings the desk phone first, then sends the call to your cell after a set number of rings.
• Busy forwarding sends calls to your cell only while the desk line is in use.
• Confirm conditional forwarding is supported on your exact plan; some carriers list it as a feature you must add.

After activating forwarding, place a test call from a phone other than the desk line or the cell, such as a coworker's phone. Confirm the call rings on your cell and that caller ID shows what you expect. If nothing happens, re-dial the activation code and listen for the confirmation tone, or check the portal to see whether the destination saved correctly.

To stop forwarding, dial the deactivation code from the same line you activated it on. For most star-code services that is *73, and portal-based systems turn it off in the same forwarding settings where you enabled it. Leaving all-call forwarding on by accident means your desk phone will not ring at all, so it is worth checking whenever you return to the office.

• Test from a third phone so you are not calling the line you just forwarded.
• Dial *73 (or use the portal) to deactivate when you are back at your desk.
• Remember that all-call forwarding overrides the desk phone's voicemail; unanswered calls go to your cell's voicemail instead.

Forwarding to your cell works well when you can answer, but it sends every call to one busy person. If you would rather have calls handled while you are on a job or with a customer, the same forwarding steps can point your office number at an answering service instead. With AllDayDesk, you keep your existing business number and forward calls to the service; the receptionist answers using the business details you save, and you can hear a personalized sample before choosing your phone setup. Calls, transcripts, summaries, and booked appointments show up in your dashboard, and new appointments go on the built-in calendar once you have set your services and availability.

One note: Google Voice numbers cannot be forwarded to an automated answering system, so if your business line runs through Google Voice, this approach will not work with that number.

• Use the same *72 or portal steps above, but enter the answering service's number as the destination.
• AllDayDesk answers around the clock using your saved business information, and you keep your public number.
• Appointment changes callers request are passed to you as requests, not confirmed changes.