Call forwarding lets you forward incoming calls to your phone to another telephone number. Most companies offer a wide range of call forwarding options, at varying monthly charges.

The service most people think of as “call forwarding” is known as variable call forwarding. With this service, you dial *72 on your home phone, then dial the number to forward your calls to. When the other party answers, call forwarding is in effect. If there is no answer or a busy signal, hang up and dial *72 and the same number, and call forwarding will then go into effect.

Whenever a call comes in to your home number, the call will be forwarded and your phone will ring briefly to remind you that forwarding is in effect. You will pay for long distance charges involved in the forwarding, if any.

To turn off call forwarding from your home phone, dial *73.

There are several other options available in most areas to make call forwarding more flexible and useful. The most useful of these is Remote access to call forwarding, which lets you set up your call forwarding service from any Touch-Tone telephone. Without remote access, you have to turn call forwarding on and off from your home phone. But with remote access, you can do it from virtually any phone.

Remote access to call forwarding carries an additional monthly charge from your phone company. Contact your phone company to sign up. When you sign up, you will be given the remote access number to call and (usually) a PIN number or security code. You will need both of these to access your call forwarding feature when away from home. Because each central office usually has a different number for remote access to call forwarding, it’s impossible to list every one here. (Your neighbor may well have a different remote access to call forwarding number than you do!) Your phone company can provide the correct remote access number.

Two other related features, which work independently of call forwarding, are known as Call Forwarding Busy Line and Call Forwarding Don’t Answer.

Call Forwarding Busy Line forwards your calls to a pre-programmed number whenever your line is busy. You can have this service in conjunction with regular call forwarding, but when call forwarding is in effect, call forwarding busy line is not in effect. You can NOT combine this service with voicemail service. You can NOT change the forwarding number at will. It is pre-set and can only be changed by the phone company by writing a service order. This usually takes up to 24 hours.

Call Forwarding Don’t Answer forwards your calls to a pre-programmed number whenever you do not answer your phone after a set number of rings, which is pre-programmed between two and seven rings. You can have this service in conjunction with regular call forwarding, but when call forwarding is in effect, call forwarding don’t answer is not in effect. You can NOT combine this service with voicemail service. You can NOT change the forwarding number or the number of rings to wait at will. They is pre-set and can only be changed by the phone company by writing a service order. This usually takes up to 24 hours.

Call forwarding, call forwarding busy line, and call forwarding don’t answer are available in virtually all areas. Each carries an additional monthly charge, though call forwarding busy line and don’t answer are free in a few areas. Remote access to call forwarding is only available in some areas, and carries a monthly charge in addition to call forwarding, so contact your phone company for availability, to find the access number, or to receive your PIN (security code).

Wireless phones: Call forwarding is available with most wireless providers. However, remote access to call forwarding, and call forwarding busy line and don’t answer, are not available. With some providers, call forwarding is done using a menu item on your wireless handset, and some other providers use the same *72/*73 codes as for landline phones. Contact your wireless carrier for instructions or to sign up. Most carriers impose airtime charges for forwarded calls.