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Forward your phone

Who: whoever holds the phone that customers call. Time: about two minutes on a cell carrier, 10 to 15 minutes on RingCentral.

You keep your existing business number. Nothing about it changes, and you do not print a new one on your truck. You set up conditional forwarding, so a call that you do not pick up within about three rings rolls to your AI receptionist instead of voicemail. If you answer, the call is yours and nothing happens.

Before you start​

Get your AutoRev number. It is on the Go Live screen in your dashboard, and Megan will read it back to you if you ask. Every code below uses it. Write it as 1 plus the ten digits, with no dashes or spaces. An AutoRev number of (240) 850-6181 is typed as 12408506181.

iPhone on iOS 17 or later: turn off Live Voicemail first. Go to Settings > Phone > Live Voicemail and switch it off. Live Voicemail grabs the unanswered call on the handset before your carrier can forward it. Leave it on and forwarding will not work, whatever carrier you are on.

AT&T​

Open the Phone app and dial this, then press call:

*61*1XXXXXXXXXX*11*18#

Replace XXXXXXXXXX with your ten-digit AutoRev number. For (240) 850-6181, you dial *61*12408506181*11*18#. Wait for the confirmation tone.

The *11*18 on the end sets the delay to 18 seconds, about three rings. To give yourself longer, use *11*24 instead.

To turn it off, dial ##61#.

If you would rather use an app: open Settings > Phone > Call Forwarding on an iPhone, or the myAT&T app under Account > Manage device > Call forwarding. Set "forward when unanswered" to your AutoRev number and the ring delay to 15 to 20 seconds.

Verizon Wireless (cell)​

Open the Phone app and dial this, then press call:

*71 1XXXXXXXXXX

For (240) 850-6181, you dial *71 12408506181. Wait for the confirmation tone.

Verizon's *71 is "No Answer / Busy Transfer". It forwards when you do not answer and also when your line is busy.

To turn it off, dial *73.

If you would rather use an app: open My Verizon, go to Devices, pick your line, then Manage device > Call forwarding. Set the number and choose "when unanswered".

Verizon Home and Fios​

Pick up the handset, wait for a dial tone, then dial *41 followed by 1XXXXXXXXXX. Wait for the confirmation tones.

To turn it off, dial *43.

This feature has to be on your plan. If *41 does nothing, call Verizon and ask them to add "Call Forwarding Busy Line / Don't Answer" to the line.

T-Mobile​

Open the Phone app and dial this, then press call:

**61*1XXXXXXXXXX**11*18#

To turn it off, dial ##61#.

RingCentral​

RingCentral is a cloud phone system, so there is no dial code. You do this in the admin portal, and there are two ways depending on how your account is set up.

  1. Log in to the RingCentral admin portal at service.ringcentral.com
  2. Go to Users in the top nav
  3. Pick the user or extension that takes incoming calls
  4. Open Call Handling & Forwarding
  5. Under Work Hours, find the Incoming Calls section
  6. Set the ring strategy to Sequential, so your own phone rings first
  7. Click Add Number and enter your AutoRev number as 12408506181
  8. Move it to the end of the sequence, so it only rings after your other devices
  9. Set Play announcement before connecting to Never. Skip this and your callers hear a RingCentral prompt before the AI answers
  10. Click Save

To forward only outside business hours, do the same thing on the After Hours tab instead.

Option B: call queue overflow​

Use this when calls ring a group rather than one person.

  1. Go to Phone System > Groups > Call Queues
  2. Pick your queue
  3. Open its Call Handling settings
  4. Find the overflow setting, the one that covers "when no one answers", and set it to forward to an external number
  5. Enter your AutoRev number
  6. Click Save

To turn either one off, go back to the same screen and remove the AutoRev number from the list.

Two things that trip people up on RingCentral. If RingCentral voicemail answers before the forward fires, raise the number of rings before voicemail on the extension. And custom rules under Auto-Receptionist cannot forward straight to an external number, so route the rule to a user extension and let that extension forward out.

Other carriers​

Ask Megan in your dashboard. She reads your number's area code, works out the carrier, and gives you the exact code. She covers Sprint, US Cellular, Spectrum, Xfinity, Google Voice, Vonage, and most VoIP providers.

Test it​

  1. Have someone call your business number
  2. Let it ring. Do not answer
  3. After about three rings the call should reach your AI receptionist, and it greets the caller with your business name
  4. Open your dashboard and confirm the call is in your call log

If it did not work​

What you seeWhat to do
The code did nothingCheck you typed the 1 country code in front of the ten digits
It goes straight to voicemailOn iPhone, turn off Live Voicemail. On any phone, ask your carrier to take voicemail off the line, then set forwarding again
The AI picks up too fastRaise the delay. On AT&T and T-Mobile change *11*18 to *11*24, about four rings
The AI never picks upConfirm forwarding is actually active, in your carrier's app or by calling them
The caller hears ringing foreverThe activation code did not apply. Dial it again and wait for the confirmation tone

Still stuck? Email support@autorev.ai and we will do a test call with you.

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