Frequently Asked Questions
Call Forwarding and How We Answer Your Calls
Call forwarding is a feature provided by your local phone company or cell phone carrier which redirects a telephone call to another destination number. In this case, callers reaching your office or cell phone number are seamlessly redirected to our answering service. Call forwarding is available for your use whenever you want us to answer your calls, whether that be 24/7, at the end of each day, over the weekend, or lunch breaks. We will provide you with a private telephone number specific to your account at the answering service. This will be the number to which calls to your office line are redirected. This allows our service specialists to answer your calls with a personalized greeting, complete a customized message form, and relay messages according to your instructions.
Additionally, our messaging system is 100% compatible with toll free numbers. Forwarding a toll free number to our answering service provides your callers with free access to your office and our answering service. In some instances, we may provide a toll free number to use as your call forwarding number. We do this in situations where we cannot provide you with a local call forwarding number. This is done to eliminate toll charges on your phone bill. Calls made to your main office number are then forwarded to our toll free number at the answering service and those calls do not appear on your phone bill.
Call Forwarding Tips
- Manual call forwarding requires you to physically turn the feature on and off when you desire calls to be answered by our answering service or not. In this case, you should follow your phone company's procedure to forward calls and enter our call forward number.
- Automatic call forwarding provides you with the option to create a predefined schedule of when your lines transfer to the answering service and when the feature is turned off. This works well for offices that follow a consistent office hour schedule. Other automatic call forwarding options include forwarding calls when your line is busy, when you are currently talking on the line, or when you cannot answer the call within a certain number of rings. Having these automatic call forwarding features ensures your calls are always answered by a live person when you are unavailable.
- Call forwarding transfers calls in real time. Callers are unaware that their call is being transferred.
- Normally, only your main office number must be forwarded to our call forward number. Secondary and rollover office numbers do not need to be forwarded if callers only dial the primary office number (your published number).
- Simultaneous calls are forwarded to our answering service since calls transfer instantaneously. We can answer multiple calls with our staff.
- You can make outgoing calls from any of your office lines whenever call forwarding is enabled. Outbound calls are not affected by call forwarding.
- When all calls are forwarded, a short reminder ring may sound on your office phones each time a call is forwarded to the service. You cannot answer inbound calls when your main number is forwarded no matter how quickly you try to answer. Some office telephone systems do not provide the one ring reminder signal. In those cases, calls are forwarded silently.
- Your office phone system may be able to transfer all calls via a night mode or transfer feature button. This is phone system dependent.
- Many cell phone carriers provide call forwarding options. However, airtime charges and/or other per call charges may apply to calls forwarded in accordance with your calling plan and specific carrier policies.
- You usually can contact your telephone company or cell phone carrier directly and ask them to forward your line. This is helpful if you are no longer at the office, if your cell phone battery dies, or another staff member forgets the correct call forwarding procedure.
By taking advantage of call forwarding features offered by most local phone companies and cell phone carriers, we can easily answer your calls on demand, any time of the day, any day of the week. We are staffed around the clock to provide you the freedom to come and go as your business demands. Not every call forwarding feature is available in every market so you'll need to contact your telephone company business office or cellular provider to find out which features are available for you. A service order request is usually required by the phone carrier to add or change any call forwarding features on your business lines. Changes to your account may take up to 48 hours to take effect. Some carriers even bundle these services in your calling plan and some calling features may even be managed online through their web portal or by calling their customer service number.