How to Forward Office Phone to Cell Phone Remotely

The star codes you may already know, such as *72 to turn forwarding on and *73 to turn it off, are usually designed to be entered from the phone line they affect. Verizon's business landline guide, for example, says to dial *72 and follow the activation instructions and *73 to deactivate, and it describes doing this from the same line. Optimum Business Phone works the same way: you dial *72 from the office line, wait for dial tone, then enter the destination number.

That design is a security feature. If anyone could turn on forwarding for your business number from any phone, a stranger could redirect your calls. So when you are away from the office, the code itself will not help unless your provider offers a separate remote activation feature. The reliable remote routes are account portals and apps, which the next section covers.

One exception to keep straight: forwarding a mobile phone is different. Verizon wireless, for instance, requires you to set up forwarding from the mobile phone itself while in coverage, using *72 plus the destination number. That does not help you control an office desk phone remotely, but it matters if the number you are forwarding to is a Verizon cell line.

• *72 and *73 style codes generally must be dialed from the line being forwarded
• Remote control usually comes from a web portal or mobile app instead of a code
• Mobile-line forwarding rules are separate from office-line rules and are set on the mobile phone itself
• Always confirm the exact service name on your bill before following any instructions

If your office uses a hosted or cloud business phone service, the fastest remote method is your provider's account portal or app. These let you change forwarding settings from a laptop or phone wherever you are.

Comcast Business Voice Mobility includes call forwarding and remote call forwarding, and features are managed through My Account and the Comcast Business App. Spectrum Business Voice works through the web: sign in to SpectrumBusiness.net with an account role allowed to manage voice, open Voice, choose your phone number, then Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager, and enable forwarding with your chosen destination. Vonage Business Communications lets you select Call Forwarding and enable forwarding to a phone number from the service settings.

Windstream OfficeSuite UC uses the WE Connect dashboard: open the My Call Forwarding widget, choose Call Forwarding (Immediate), select Another Phone, enter the 10-digit destination, and save. To turn it off later, choose None and save. The same dashboard handles no-answer forwarding, where you pick a ring count and a destination number.

Before using any of these, identify your exact product. Comcast, for example, offers Voice Mobility, Business Voice, and VoiceEdge, and the steps differ between them. The same caution applies to Frontier, Optimum, and Astound, whose business and residential products are not interchangeable.

• Comcast Business: My Account or the Comcast Business App manages forwarding for Voice Mobility
• Spectrum Business Voice: SpectrumBusiness.net, Voice, then Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager
• Vonage Business Communications: select Call Forwarding and enable forwarding to a phone number
• Windstream OfficeSuite UC: WE Connect dashboard, My Call Forwarding widget, Immediate or no-answer options
• Verify the new setting by placing an outside test call to your office number

If your office line is a traditional landline or a service whose guide only lists on-site codes, you still have practical choices. First, call a coworker, family member, or anyone with access to the office and ask them to lift the handset and dial the forwarding code with your cell number. This is the simplest workaround and takes under a minute for them.

Second, ask your provider directly whether your plan includes a remote access or remote call forwarding feature. Some services include it and some do not, and features often depend on what your business subscribes to. Customer support can tell you what is available on your specific line, and adding a feature may be an option.

Third, consider whether forwarding is even the right tool for your situation. If the goal is that someone handles calls while you are out, an answering service answers the business number without you touching forwarding settings at all, and it can keep working outside the hours you would realistically manage forwarding yourself.

• Ask someone at the office to dial the code for you
• Contact your provider to ask about remote access or remote call forwarding features on your plan
• Remember to have forwarding turned off when you return, or calls will keep bypassing the office
• An answering service handles calls without any forwarding change on your line

Many owners set forwarding once so calls go to an answering service instead of a personal cell. With AllDayDesk, you keep your existing business number and forward calls to the service, which answers around the clock using your saved business information. Setup starts by choosing your business or entering its website, checking the details it found, hearing a personalized sample, and then choosing how to connect your phone. You keep your public number; the forwarding instructions depend on your phone service provider.

Once connected, calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings show up in your dashboard. New appointments go on the built-in AllDayDesk calendar by default once you have configured your services and availability, and an optional Google Calendar connection is available in Settings after you connect and authorize your Google account. When the service does not know an answer, price, or opening, it takes a message instead of guessing. If you want call transfers to your cell, you configure the destination and rules yourself, and pickup is not guaranteed.

This setup solves the remote problem in a different way: instead of turning forwarding on and off as your schedule changes, you set it once and let the service handle calls whether you are at the office, on a job site, or unavailable.

• Keep your existing business number by forwarding calls to the service
• Setup: pick your business or website, review details, hear a sample, then choose phone setup
• Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings appear in the dashboard
• Built-in calendar by default; optional Google Calendar connection in Settings
• Unknown answers, prices, or appointments become messages for you

A few errors cause most forwarding headaches. Watch for these before you change anything from off-site.

First, using another provider's codes. Codes differ by product and carrier. AT&T Phone for Business uses *72 for all calls and *92 for no answer, while AT&T Collaborate uses *62 for busy forwarding and *92 for no answer, and neither set applies to AT&T wireless. Dialing the wrong product's code either does nothing or forwards calls in a way you did not intend.

Second, forgetting that all-call forwarding overrides voicemail. Frontier's Digital Voice guide notes that all-call forwarding prevents the original line from receiving calls and overrides voicemail forwarding, so your office voicemail stops collecting messages while forwarding is on.

Third, leaving forwarding on. If you activate forwarding remotely and do not deactivate it when you return, calls keep going to your cell or service indefinitely. Note where the off switch is, whether it is *73 or a portal toggle, before you leave the office. Also remember that forwarding moves calls only, not text messages, so customers who text your business number will not reach your cell through forwarding.

• Do not borrow codes from a different carrier or product line
• All-call forwarding usually overrides office voicemail
• Plan how you will turn forwarding off before you turn it on
• Forwarding moves calls, not text messages