Like just about everyone else in the United States, I now find myself with two phone lines, my business office line and my cellphone. After talking with a representative at the telco monolith Qwest, I have signed up for something they call “call forwarding” because I think I can use it to forward my business line to my cellphone. Only one question: how the heck do I actually do that?
This is a tricky one to set up, but it’s a great feature because, as you point out, it lets you consolidate multiple phone lines into a single ringing device and, even more usefully, a single voice mail system. The only thing I wish I could do is have the phone ring on the original line two or three times before it forwarded, because then you really could have a permanent call forward and still grab calls if you happen to be in your office. As far as I know, that’s not an option though.
On to what you’re asking about, however!
To remotely set up call forwarding (actually, Qwest calls what we’re talking about call following) you need to be at the line to which you want the calls forwarded then, either from that line or a different line (e.g., your cell phone), dial up
888-xxx-8052
where “xxx” is your area code. If you’re in San Francisco, it’d be 415, and if you’re in Denver, it’d be 303.
Once you’re connected, you’ll be asked to enter your own phone number, then a security code.
If you haven’t yet set up your security code, you can use the default of 1234, at which point – no surprise – it’ll ask you to set a better, permanent code. I’d do that straightaway if I were you!
Now, you’ll want to go to the “call following” setup area (option 1 on my local Qwest system) and enter the number to which you want the calls forwarded.
Here’s the tricky part: The system will then actually call that number and you need to answer and accept the forward before it’s enabled.
Once you do receive and indicate your acceptance of the forward, it’s then in place until you cancel it, be that an hour or a week. Nice!
Now if we could just have it ring twice on the original line before bouncing to the call following number…
Qwest has something in my area called ‘one number’ service that did exactly what Dave is asking for… and I NEVER needed to do anything to make it work. It was tied to their wireless service, and the way it worked is really slick: Once they set it up, if anyone called either my home phone or my wireless number, my wireless phone would ring (if turned on) about 5 times, then it automatically rolled to my home number, for about 4 rings, then to voicemail. If my cell was turned off, then the call only rang my home number, even when people called my cell phone.
The bummer is that QWEST (in their infinite wisdom) is CANCELLING this ability, as they are dropping their wireless service. If you ask me, this in and of itself is a service they could offer and make money on!!!
Actually, on the call following setup, you DO NOT have to be at the line to which you want the calls forwarded. Just enter the 10 digit # to which calls are to be forwarded when prompted to do so. Then listen for the confirmation message. That’s it ! ! Unlike call forwarding, you don’t need to be at the phone being forwarded to activate call following. You can do it from anywhere.
Your article wishes that Qwest had a feature that let you forward calls only after a certain number of rings. It does! I have “call forwarding if busy or no answer” on my line. If the phone rings 5 times without an answer, it automatically forwards to another line. You set the number of rings and the forward number when you set up the feature.
This is one of those “secret” features you can only set up if you call them. There is a set up fee than something like 70 cents a month.
Thanks for the info- although it was much easier to just dial *78 on my landline, then go through the steps. For me, anyway.
If you would like to have the number ring simultaneously on multiple lines, you might want to try Grand Central (http://www.grandcentral.com). It gives you a new phone number and allows you to forward that number to multiple other phone numbers. It even allows you to setup rules to send calls from certain people, to certain phones. Grand Central is currently in beta, but it looks like you can still get an account.
2008 March 13
that worked better than the QWEST shorthand instructions telling you to press *72
Even easier than that is the basic call forwarding that you have set up already. Just dial *72 from the phone you’re forwarding from, listen for 2 beeps and a dial tone, and dial the number you want i forwarded to. You will then have to answer the phone that you are forwarding to. When you want it turned off, just dial *73 on the phone you were forwarding from.
Be forwarned, however, that if you are forwarding to a long distance number you will be charged your standard long distance rates on that call.
And Dave, what you described is a Call Forwarding \ No answer line. Similar how calls are routed to a voicemail system after a determined amount of rings, you can have it forward calls instead.
Hope this helps!