# Forward a business number to an AI receptionist

> How to forward your business number to an AI receptionist on iPhone, Android, landlines and office phone systems, without porting it or changing carriers.

Published 2026-11-06 · by Ringkit · tags: call forwarding, ai receptionist, setup. Canonical: https://www.ringkit.com/blog/forward-business-number-to-ai-receptionist

To forward your business number to an AI receptionist, you turn on call forwarding with the carrier that owns your number and point it at the receptionist's number. Your customers keep dialing the number they already know, your carrier keeps the number, and calls arrive at the receptionist. You can forward every call, or only the ones you don't answer. The whole change takes a few minutes and is undone the same way.

This guide covers the steps for mobile phones, landlines and office phone systems, plus the few settings that trip people up.

## Why forward instead of porting

Porting moves your number from one carrier to another. It can take days, it needs account details and a PIN from your current carrier, and if something goes wrong your number can be out of service in the meantime.

Forwarding leaves your number exactly where it is. You keep your plan, your texts and your voicemail settings. If you change your mind, you turn forwarding off. That is why Ringkit works this way: you keep your existing number and forward it to your Ringkit number, and Ringkit does not port numbers at all.

## Step 1: get the receptionist's number

You need a number to forward to. With Ringkit you sign up, give it your website so it can build a brief of your business (hours, services, prices, common questions), review that brief, and pick a local US number for $1.99 a month. Calls to that number reach your receptionist.

Before you forward anything, call the new number yourself. Ask it the three questions you hear most. If an answer is wrong or missing, fix the brief first. It is much easier to tune the receptionist before your customers are on the line.

## Step 2: choose all calls or unanswered calls

There are two common setups:

- **Forward all calls (unconditional).** Every call goes straight to the receptionist. Good for after-hours, vacations, or when you never want to be interrupted.
- **Forward when unanswered, busy or unreachable (conditional).** Your phone rings first. If you don't pick up, are on another call, or have no signal, the call goes to the receptionist. Good when you like to answer yourself but hate missing calls.

Conditional forwarding is the setting most owners end up keeping. It replaces voicemail rather than replacing you.

## Step 3: turn on forwarding

Menus and codes vary by carrier and phone, so treat these as the usual paths and check your carrier's help pages if something doesn't match. [Call forwarding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_forwarding) itself is a standard feature on almost every phone line.

### iPhone

On carriers that support it, open **Settings**, then **Phone** (on recent iOS versions, **Settings > Apps > Phone**), then **Call Forwarding**. Turn it on and enter the receptionist's number. This menu forwards all calls. If you don't see it, your carrier handles forwarding with dial codes instead (below).

### Android

Open the **Phone** app, then **Settings**, then look for **Calls**, **Supplementary services** or **Call forwarding** (the wording depends on the manufacturer). Most Android phones offer separate options for always, when busy, when unanswered and when unreachable, so you can set conditional forwarding without codes.

### Dial codes

Many mobile networks accept standard codes typed into the dialer, followed by the call button. On most GSM-based networks:

| What it does | Dial |
|---|---|
| Forward all calls | `**21*` + number + `#` |
| Forward when unanswered | `**61*` + number + `#` |
| Forward when busy | `**67*` + number + `#` |
| Forward when unreachable | `**62*` + number + `#` |
| Cancel all forwarding | `##002#` |

Some carriers use different codes. Many North American lines, including a lot of landlines, use `*72` followed by the number to forward all calls and `*73` to turn it off. Your carrier's support page will list the exact codes for your plan.

### Office phone systems and VoIP

Hosted phone systems usually have forwarding in the admin portal, often under "call handling" or "routing". Most let you forward on a schedule, which is the easiest way to send calls to the receptionist only outside business hours.

## Step 4: test it properly

Call your business number from a different phone, not from the phone you just changed. Then check:

1. The receptionist answers and greets callers with your business name.
2. It answers a real question correctly.
3. A message you leave shows up in your call summaries.
4. If you set up transfers, a transfer reaches the right person.

Test once during business hours and once after, if you use a schedule.

## Settings that trip people up

**Voicemail grabs the call first.** With conditional forwarding, your carrier's voicemail can answer before the forward happens. On many GSM networks you can set how long the phone rings before forwarding by adding seconds to the code, for example `**61*` + number + `**20#` for 20 seconds. Pick a delay short enough that callers don't give up.

**Transfer loops.** If the receptionist transfers some calls to your team, make sure the transfer number is not the same line that forwards everything to the receptionist. Otherwise the call goes in a circle. Use a mobile or a desk line that rings a person.

**Carrier charges.** Some plans count forwarded calls as outgoing minutes. On an unlimited plan that rarely matters, but check before you forward a high-volume line.

**Text messages don't forward.** Call forwarding moves voice calls only. Texts to your number still arrive on your phone.

## What it costs to run

On Ringkit you pay $1.99 a month for the receptionist's number and $0.20 a minute while the receptionist is on a call. The first 10 seconds of every call are free, and the rest is billed in 6-second increments, so a quick hang-up costs nothing. There is no plan or contract, and the [pricing page](https://www.ringkit.com/pricing) has a calculator for your call volume. If you are weighing this against a staffed service, see [AI receptionist vs answering service](https://www.ringkit.com/blog/ai-receptionist-vs-answering-service).

## Setting it up for someone else

If you are a developer or an AI agent setting up a line for a client, the whole flow (business, brief, transfer rules, number, test call) is available over the REST API and an MCP server. The [docs](https://www.ringkit.com/docs#quickstart) walk through it step by step. The one step the business owner still does is forwarding their own number with their carrier, using the steps above.

Once forwarding is on, the calls you used to miss turn into summaries you can act on. The [missed calls guide](https://www.ringkit.com/blog/missed-business-calls) covers what to do with them.

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Try Ringkit: $0.20/min, $1.99/mo per number, no plan. Get started at https://app.ringkit.com/onboard