SETUP GUIDE
Landline call forwarding for business: the real guide
Most guides hand you a star code and wish you luck. That advice fails on the majority of business "landlines" today, because they aren't landlines any more — they're digital voice, and the codes were never provisioned on them. Worse, the two workarounds people try next can silently break a phone system that was working fine. Here's how to find out what you actually have, and set forwarding the way your provider expects.
Start here: is your line actually copper?
This is the question that decides everything else, and almost nobody asks it first. The phone on your desk tells you nothing — a plain corded handset can sit on either kind of service.
The power-cut test
Unplug your internet router — or think back to your last power cut — and pick up the desk phone.
Still a dial tone? That's genuine copper. A traditional POTS line is powered from the telephone exchange itself, which is why it survives when your building doesn't.
Dead? Digital voice. It depends on your internet connection and your building's power, and the forwarding features live on your provider's platform rather than on the line.
A second clue: look at where the phone meets the wall. If there's a small adapter box in between — an ATA, or a router with phone ports on the back — you're on VoIP regardless of what the service is called on your bill.
One honest complication: a line can be traditional copper up to your building and VoIP once it's inside, especially in an office park or a shared building. If the power-cut test is ambiguous, the provider is the only reliable source.
Context worth knowing: carriers have spent years retiring copper and moving customers onto digital voice, which is exactly why so many businesses still say "landline" while running on VoIP. If your service was installed or renegotiated recently, assume digital until proven otherwise.
If it's digital voice: what the setting is called
The feature you want is Call Forward No Answer — ring the desk first, then send the call onward. Add Call Forward Busy as well, or a caller who arrives while you're already on the phone still lands in voicemail. Providers name and place these differently:
| Provider | Where to look | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Comcast Business VoiceEdge | The VoiceEdge portal (voiceedge.comcast.com) or the Business app, under call forwarding | Calls it Call Forwarding No Answer. Also has a "Be Anywhere" feature that rings another number alongside the desk. |
| Spectrum Business Voice | Customer User Portal → Calling Features | Enable it in the portal first. Star codes reportedly do nothing on Spectrum until forwarding is switched on in the online account — a very common "the code didn't work" cause. Domestic US numbers only. |
| Verizon Business Digital Voice | Admin portal, per line — and separately under Hunt Groups if you have one | Hunt groups carry their own forwarding settings, distinct from any individual line's. |
| Hosted PBX RingCentral, 8x8, Nextiva, Ooma, Vonage and similar |
Admin console, usually under call handling or call rules | Often phrased as a rule chain ("after N seconds, forward to…") rather than a named feature. |
Portal layouts change often, so these are pointers rather than click-by-click paths — the feature names are the stable part. If you can't find it, the script further down is the fastest route.
If you have rollover, read this before anything else
If a second line picks up when the first is busy, that's a hunt group built on your provider's platform — not a setting on any one phone.
Hunt groups have their own forwarding settings. They fire when no member of the group answers, and they're configured separately from any individual line. Forwarding a single line inside the group usually achieves nothing useful, and can pull that line out of the rotation — so calls that used to roll over stop rolling over.
Ask your provider to set the forwarding on the hunt group, not on a line.
This is the single most common way a working office phone system gets broken during an otherwise routine setup, and it's invisible until a customer mentions they couldn't reach you.
The other way people break things
Don't set forwarding from the desk phone's own menu. On a provider-supplied handset that setting gets pushed to their platform and can override routing they already keep there. It also doesn't reliably undo — clearing it on the phone can leave the rule sitting on their side.
If someone has already tried it, ask the provider to check the line for a leftover forward before adding anything new.
What to say to your provider
If the portal doesn't have it, or you'd rather not gamble, call them and read this out:
"Please add Call Forward No Answer and Call Forward Busy on this number, sending to [the number you're forwarding to], with about a 20-second ring. If this line is part of a hunt group, please set it on the group rather than the individual line. Please confirm those features are assigned, and leave my other call routing as it is."
Two phrases in there do real work. "Assigned" matters because a feature that's available but not assigned to the line silently does nothing. "Leave my other call routing as it is" is what protects the rollover and any existing forward from your advertised number.
Then check the timing
Forwarding set correctly still won't work if voicemail answers first. If voicemail picks up before the forward fires, voicemail wins every time — and it looks exactly like the forwarding never happened. Either turn voicemail off on that line, or set it to answer later than the forward.
About 20 seconds of ring before the forward is the usual sweet spot: long enough that your team genuinely gets first shot, short enough that the caller doesn't give up.
Genuinely on copper?
Then the standard vertical service codes may work, dialed from that line's own handset: *92 to forward on no answer (*93 off), *90 on busy (*91 off), *72 for every call (*73 off).
Some exchanges differ — parts of Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Alabama and Wisconsin dial 72# rather than *72 — and published deactivation codes conflict between sources. If a code is rejected or you get an error recording, stop: that's your evidence the line is digital, and the provider path above is the one that will work. Note that Comcast and Spectrum both use *92/*93 on their digital service too, which is why a code appearing to "exist" isn't proof of copper.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if my business line is VoIP or a real copper landline?
Why did my star code not work on my office phone?
My phones roll over to a second line. Does that change anything?
Can I just forward from the phone's own menu?
Is copper landline service going away?
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