How to Forward Calls from Office Phone to Cell Phone

Forwarding rules are set by your phone company or phone system, and the steps change depending on which product you have. Two lines from the same company can use different codes, so the first job is finding out exactly what service your office uses.

Look at your phone bill or your provider's welcome email for the product name, such as a landline calling feature, a digital voice service, or a hosted business phone system. Then match that name to the right instructions.

• Find your exact service name on your bill, not just the company name.
• Decide whether you want all calls forwarded, or only calls that go unanswered or hit a busy line. All-call forwarding sends every call to your cell; conditional forwarding only catches the ones your desk phone misses.
• Know that all-call forwarding usually stops your desk phone from ringing at all and can override your desk voicemail.
• Ask whether forwarding costs extra. Some plans charge per minute or require a feature add-on.
• Plan how you will turn it off. Write the deactivation code down so you can switch back when you return to the office.

Many traditional and digital landline services use the same basic pattern: dial *72 to turn forwarding on, enter the destination number, and dial *73 to turn it off. Always wait for the confirmation tone, beep, or message before hanging up, because that confirmation is how you know it worked.

Here are the documented steps for several services. If your service is not listed, call your provider or check their support site, because codes are not the same across every product.

• Optimum Business Phone: dial *72, wait for dial tone, then dial the destination. The destination answering confirms it. If the call is busy or unanswered, press the flash or hook switch, dial *72 again, and redial the destination. Two beeps and dial tone confirm. 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.
• AT&T Phone for Business: dial *72, the destination, then # to forward all calls; dial *73# to turn it off. For no-answer calls use *92, destination, # (off with *93#); for busy calls use *90, destination, # (off with *91#).
• Verizon business landline: dial *72 and follow the activation instructions; dial *73 from the same line to deactivate.
• C Spire: dial *72 plus the 10-digit destination and press Call; disable with *73 and Call.
• Comcast Managed Voice (Panasonic TPA65 desk phones): lift the handset, dial *72 and the destination, then replace the handset; *73 disables. No-answer uses *92 plus destination (off with *93#), and busy uses *90 plus destination when call waiting is off (off with *91#).
• AT&T Collaborate: *72 plus destination enables always forwarding and *73 disables it; busy forwarding uses *62 plus destination (off with *63), and no-answer uses *92 plus destination (off with *93). An administrator controls whether these codes work on your line.

Newer business phone systems usually skip star codes and put forwarding in a web dashboard or admin portal. You sign in, pick your phone number or extension, and set the forwarding destination there.

The advantage of portal-based forwarding is that you can often choose between forwarding all calls and forwarding only busy or unanswered ones, and you can change the destination without standing at the desk phone.

• Spectrum Business Voice: sign in at SpectrumBusiness.net with an account role that can manage voice, open Voice, choose your phone number, then Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager. Enable forwarding, choose all calls or busy/no-answer, and set the destination. Turn it off in the same place.
• Vonage Business Communications: select Call Forwarding and enable forwarding to a phone number. Test with a real outside call to confirm the destination works.
• Comcast Business: forwarding and remote forwarding are part of Voice Mobility, and features are managed in My Account or the Comcast Business App. Features depend on which services you subscribe to.
• Windstream OfficeSuite UC: in the WE Connect Dashboard, use the My Call Forwarding widget to forward immediately to another phone number, or set a ring count and forward unanswered calls to another number.
• Astound Business Phone with Call Manager (legacy product): use the Forwarding tab to choose immediate or busy/no-answer forwarding and pick or enter the destination. Handset codes *72 and *73 also apply to that product.

Sometimes the line you want to forward is a mobile phone, not a desk phone. Mobile carriers use their own codes, and they are different from the landline codes above.

On Verizon mobile, dial *72 plus the 10-digit destination to forward all calls, *71 plus the destination for unanswered calls, and *73 to disable. Setup must be done from the phone itself while in Verizon coverage, and it forwards calls only, not texts. On T-Mobile, dial **21*1 followed by the 10-digit destination and # to forward all calls, and ##21# to disable; similar codes cover no-reply (**61), unreachable (**62), and busy (**67), and ##004# resets forwarding to defaults. Check that your specific plan and device support the feature before relying on it.

• Verizon mobile all calls: *72 plus the 10-digit destination; unanswered calls: *71 plus the destination; disable: *73.
• Verizon mobile setup must be done from the phone while in Verizon coverage, and it forwards calls only, not texts.
• T-Mobile all calls: **21*1 plus the 10-digit destination and #; disable with ##21#.
• T-Mobile conditional codes: **61 for no reply, **62 for unreachable, **67 for busy, each followed by *1, the destination, and #; disable with the matching ## code, and ##004# resets to defaults.
• Confirm your plan and device support the feature before depending on it.

If your business number is a Google Voice number, forwarding works differently. Google Voice can ring linked phone numbers, but Google states that forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system is not supported. That means forwarding a Voice number to an automated answering service is not a reliable path, and you should confirm any setup with Google's own documentation before counting on it.

If you use Google Voice as voicemail for a cell line, the conditional forwarding is configured on the cell line with your carrier's codes, not inside the Voice app.

• Google Voice can forward calls to linked phone numbers, but forwarding from a Voice number to an automated system is unsupported.
• Conditional forwarding for cell-to-Voice voicemail is set with your carrier's codes on the cell line, not in the Voice app.
• Reseller plans may not support conditional forwarding, so verify with your carrier.

After you activate forwarding, test it. Have a coworker, friend, or family member call your office line from an outside phone and confirm the call reaches your cell. A test from your own cell phone may not always prove the forwarding worked, so an outside caller is the better check.

When you are done, deactivate with the matching off code or portal setting and test again to make sure your desk phone rings normally. Leaving all-call forwarding on by accident is one of the most common forwarding mistakes, because the desk phone gives no obvious warning.

• Activate forwarding and wait for the confirmation tone or message.
• Have someone call the office line from a different phone to verify it reaches your cell.
• Write down the deactivation code or portal steps before you leave the office.
• Deactivate when you return, and confirm the desk phone rings with another test call.
• Remember that all-call forwarding can override desk voicemail, so missed calls will not leave messages at the office while it is on.

Forwarding moves the ringing to your cell, but you still have to answer. If you are on another call, driving, or with a customer, the caller goes to your cell's voicemail, which may not mention your business hours or services. Some owners forward the office line to an answering service instead so someone or something else handles the call.

AllDayDesk, the service on this site, is an AI receptionist that answers business calls around the clock using your saved business information. You keep your public number and forward calls to it, following the same kind of steps in this guide. Setup starts by choosing your business or entering its website, checking the details it found, hearing a personalized sample, and then choosing how to set up your phone. Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings show up in your dashboard, and new appointments go on the built-in calendar by default once you have configured your services and availability, with an optional Google Calendar connection available in Settings after you connect and authorize your account. When the receptionist does not know an answer, a price, or an opening, it takes a message instead of guessing, and changes to existing appointments are passed to you as requests rather than confirmed changes.

• Forwarding only moves the ring; you still need to be free to pick up.
• An answering service handles calls when you cannot, and AllDayDesk does this around the clock with your saved business details.
• You keep your existing public number by forwarding calls, using steps like the ones in this guide.
• Messages, transcripts, summaries, and bookings are visible in your dashboard after each call.