Let’s talk
GUIDE

How to forward missed business calls to an answering line (every US carrier and phone system)

Most US phones and phone systems can send only the calls you do not pick up to another number, so your phone still rings first and a missed call reaches an answering line instead of voicemail. This is conditional forwarding (no answer, busy or unreachable), and each carrier sets it differently: Verizon uses *71 plus the number, T-Mobile uses **61*1 plus the number, and business phone systems use a menu in their portal or app.

There is a step-by-step guide for each carrier and system in the list of guides below, every code taken from the vendor’s own help page, read on 31 Oct 2026. Three traps catch owners: the iPhone’s Call Forwarding switch forwards every call, so the phone stops ringing; *61 is call blocking, not forwarding, on AT&T and Spectrum landlines; and some systems ask whoever answers a forwarded call to press 1, which an automated answering line may not do. Whatever you set up, test it by calling your number from another phone and letting it ring.

Updated Oct 31, 2026

How it works

  1. Pick the kind of forwarding

    No answer sends a call on after it has rung for a while. Busy sends it on when you are already on a call. Unreachable sends it on when the phone is off or has no signal. Forward all sends every call on, and your phone does not ring. For missed calls you want no answer and busy, plus unreachable where your carrier offers it.

  2. Mobile carriers

    Verizon: *71 plus the 10-digit number covers no answer and busy together; *73 turns it off. T-Mobile: **61*1 plus the number for no answer, **67*1 for busy, **62*1 for unreachable; ##61#, ##67# and ##62# turn each off. AT&T publishes only forward-all (*21*number#, off #21#) and no missed-call codes; read the AT&T guide before dialing anything.

  3. Your phone’s own menus

    iPhone: the Settings switch forwards all calls; for missed calls only, dial your carrier’s codes from the keypad. Samsung Galaxy: Phone app, three dots, Settings, Supplementary services, Call forwarding, then Forward when unanswered, busy or unreachable. Samsung says availability varies by carrier and phone model.

  4. Business landlines

    AT&T Phone for Business: *92, the number, # for no answer and *90, the number, # for busy (off: *93# and *91#). Comcast Business Voice: *92 and *90 (off: *93 and *91), or online with a choice of rings. Spectrum Business Voice: its user guide says no-answer and busy forwarding are set only in the portal. Verizon Business Digital Voice: the User Portal, with a choice of rings. Verizon Fios Digital Voice documents only forward-all (*72, off *73).

  5. Business phone apps

    RingCentral, Dialpad, Quo (formerly OpenPhone), Grasshopper, Vonage Business, Ooma Office and Google Voice set forwarding in their app or admin portal, not with star codes; each guide gives the menu path. The Ooma Office and Vonage Business pages document no way to send only unanswered calls to an outside number, and Google says forwarding Google Voice calls to an automated system is unsupported.

  6. Watch for “press 1”

    Dialpad’s prompt on forwarded calls cannot be fully turned off, Ooma Office has an optional “Require key press on answer”, and Grasshopper’s Call Announce plays a prompt before connecting. An automated answering line may not press 1, so the call can fail. Turn the prompt off where you can, and test it.

  7. Set the ring time

    Ring time is how long your team has before the call moves on. T-Mobile allows 5 to 30 seconds by code; RingCentral from 2 rings (10 seconds) to 15 rings (75 seconds); Dialpad defaults to 30 seconds, Quo to 30, Grasshopper to 25 and Ooma Office to 12 seconds (two rings). Verizon’s cannot be changed by code, and its own pages disagree: 3 to 6 rings on one, three or four on another.

  8. Test it before you rely on it

    Call your business number from another phone and let it ring without answering. The call should reach the answering line after the ring time. If you set busy forwarding, call again while the line is in use, and if you set unreachable, try once with the phone switched off.

What it costs to run

The forwarding feature is free or included on most plans, but the minutes are not always: on some plans a forwarded call is billed like a call from your phone. These rows are what each vendor’s page says, read on 31 Oct 2026; many pages say nothing about cost, and each guide says so.

ItemList priceSource
Verizon wireless, Call Forwarding“No monthly fee for Call Forwarding on most plans”; without unlimited minutes, forwarded calls are billed “according to your plan”Verizon, Call Forwarding FAQsRead on Oct 31, 2026
AT&T wireless, forwarded calls“Forwarded calls are billed for the length of the call”; long distance applies outside your home calling areaAT&T, Call Forwarding for Wireless (KM1011513)Read on Oct 31, 2026
Verizon Fios Digital Voice, forwarded callsUsage charged on forwarded calls that are not in-network unless you are on the Unlimited Domestic Calling PlanVerizon, Fios Digital Voice user guide (PDF)Read on Oct 31, 2026
Quo (formerly OpenPhone), forwarded callsNo limit, but each forwarded call “counts double toward your usage”Quo Resource Center, Call forwardingRead on Oct 31, 2026

Third-party list prices, read on the date shown. They are not Betterlane prices.

When it is not worth it

  • If someone always answers during opening hours and after-hours calls are rare, voicemail and a quick callback may be enough.
  • If you want every call to go to the answering line, use forward-all instead, knowing your own phone will stop ringing.

Questions

Will my phone still ring?

With no-answer forwarding, yes: it rings first, and the call moves on only if nobody picks up within the ring time. With forward-all (the iPhone switch, *72 on Verizon, **21*1 on T-Mobile, *21* on AT&T) it does not ring at all.

Is *61 the code for forwarding?

On GSM mobiles, 61 is the standard service code for no-answer forwarding (T-Mobile writes it **61*1 plus the number). On AT&T and Spectrum home and business landlines, *61 is call blocking. Use the code in your own carrier’s guide.

How do I turn forwarding off?

Verizon: *73. T-Mobile: ##61#, ##67#, ##62#, or ##004# to reset forwarding to default. AT&T wireless forward-all: #21#. AT&T Phone for Business: *93# and *91#. Comcast Business: *93 and *91. In apps and portals, switch the rule off in the same menu you used to set it.

Can I forward to any number?

Usually only a US number. Verizon requires an active, voice-capable US 10-digit number, AT&T does not allow international forwarding, and Quo and Ooma Office forward only to US and Canadian numbers.

Sources

Hear one built from your website

Type your website and, in about a minute, call a phone assistant that answers as your business. Free, nothing to install, not connected to your phone. Try the free AI receptionist demo

Before you forward a single call, hear a phone assistant built from your own website: it answers as your business and texts your team a summary of each call.

See the service: Inbound voice agentsLet’s talk

All guides