Optimum Phone Call Forwarding: Codes and Settings

Optimum's Business Phone user guide gives a simple dial-code method for sending your calls to another number. The steps below come straight from that guide, so follow them in order and listen for the confirmation signals before hanging up.

Here is the activation sequence:

• Lift the handset and dial *72.
• Wait for a dial tone.
• Dial the 10-digit destination number.
• If someone answers at the destination, forwarding is confirmed and active.
• If the call is busy or nobody answers, press the flash button or hook switch, dial *72 again, and redial the destination.
• Two beeps followed by a dial tone confirm that forwarding is on.
• To turn forwarding off, dial *73 from the same line.

Besides dial codes, Optimum's guide says forwarding features can also be managed in the My Optimum Voice settings. That means you can review or change where calls go without picking up the business phone itself.

There is one important exception: when hunt groups are active on your primary line, the guide says forwarding must be activated by phone, not through the web portal. Primary-line forwarding also overrides hunt groups, so if your calls are supposed to ring several phones in order, turning on forwarding will send them all to the single destination instead.

• Use My Optimum Voice feature settings to manage forwarding where available.
• If hunt groups are active on your primary line, activate forwarding by phone instead of the portal.
• Remember that forwarding your primary line overrides hunt-group ringing.

Optimum sells more than one phone product, and the *72 and *73 codes in this guide are documented for the Business Phone service in Optimum's user guide. They are not confirmed for Optimum Hosted Voice or other Optimum offerings, and other carriers use the same codes to mean different things.

The safest check is your bill or account page: find the exact service name. If it says Optimum Business Phone as covered by the user guide, the steps above apply. If it shows a different product, contact Optimum support for that product's own forwarding instructions rather than borrowing codes from another service.

• Check your bill or account for the exact Optimum phone product name.
• The *72/*73 steps here are documented for the Optimum Business Phone service in Optimum's guide.
• Do not assume the same codes work on Hosted Voice or another provider's line.
• If your product is not covered, ask Optimum support for its forwarding steps.

The confirmation built into the activation doubles as your test: the guide says the destination answering confirms forwarding, and the two-beep signal covers the busy or unanswered case. After activating, it is still smart to place one real call from an outside phone, such as a cell phone, and watch where it rings.

When you want calls back on the business line, dial *73 from that same line. Make one more test call afterward so you know calls are landing where you expect again. While forwarding is active, calls go to the destination instead of ringing your line, so it is worth checking after any temporary forwarding period that the feature is actually off.

• Confirm activation with the destination answering or the two-beep signal.
• Place a test call from an outside phone to verify the destination.
• Dial *73 from the same line to deactivate.
• Test again after deactivating to confirm calls return to the original line.

Forwarding lets you connect your existing Optimum number to a phone answering service without changing the number your customers already know. With AllDayDesk, you keep your number, forward calls to the service, and the receptionist answers using the business details you saved. Setup starts by choosing your business or entering its website, checking the details it found, hearing a personalized sample call, and then choosing your phone setup, which is where the *72 steps above come in.

AllDayDesk answers around the clock using your saved information. It answers questions, takes messages, and can book new appointments on the built-in dashboard calendar once you have configured services and availability; an optional Google Calendar connection is available in Settings after you connect and authorize your account. Changes to existing appointments are passed to you as requests, not confirmed on the spot. When the caller asks something you have not saved an answer or price for, the receptionist takes a message instead of guessing. Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings all show up in your dashboard.

You can also set up transfers so certain callers reach you directly. Transfers require you to configure a destination and the rules for when they happen, and neither pickup nor an immediate response is guaranteed. Separately, when a caller is not transferred and the receptionist does not have an answer saved, it takes a message instead.

• Keep your Optimum number and forward it; callers see no change.
• The sample call during setup is a demonstration and creates no real booking.
• New appointments book on the dashboard calendar by default, with optional Google Calendar in Settings.
• Existing-appointment changes arrive as requests for you to approve.
• Transfers need a configured destination and rules, and are not guaranteed to connect.

The Optimum guide documents all-call forwarding with *72: every incoming call goes to the destination until you dial *73. That is the right choice when you want full coverage, such as overnight, weekends, or while you are on a job and cannot pick up.

Conditional forwarding, which sends calls only when the line is busy or unanswered so you can still answer first, is a different feature. The Optimum Business Phone guide reviewed here does not document conditional codes, so if you want busy or no-answer forwarding, confirm with Optimum support whether your exact service supports it and what the correct steps are. Do not borrow conditional codes from another carrier, because the same star code can behave differently across phone companies.

• *72 on this Optimum service forwards all calls until you dial *73.
• All-call forwarding is a fit for after-hours or on-the-job coverage.
• Conditional (busy or no-answer) forwarding is not documented in this Optimum guide; verify with Optimum for your exact service.
• Never substitute another carrier's conditional codes.