How to forward landline to cell phone: exact steps for your carrier

To forward a landline to a cell phone, lift the receiver, press *72, enter the 10-digit cell number and wait for the confirmation. Press *73 to turn it off. That works on most US landlines, but each carrier has its own steps, and busy and no-answer codes vary.

Find the steps for your landline carrier

Pick your carrier, choose what to forward and type your cell number. You get the steps with your number filled in, the off code and a short test. Each code comes from the carrier's own page. Where a carrier publishes no code, the tool says so and shows the generic one, labeled as generic.

How to forward landline calls to a cell phone

You forward landline calls to a cell by dialing a star code from the landline itself, followed by the cell number. The setting lives on the phone company's side, so it works with any corded or cordless handset. It takes about a minute, and it needs the line you are forwarding, not the cell.

1. 1

   Stand at the landline

   Most codes only work when dialed from the line being forwarded. CenturyLink is the exception in some regions, where you can call an access number from any phone and enter a PIN.
2. 2

   Press the code and wait for the tone

   Listen for the second dial tone or stutter tone before you enter anything. Dialing over it is the most common way to fail.
3. 3

   Enter the 10-digit cell number

   Spectrum says to add 1 and the area code if necessary. AT&T and Spectrum finish with the # key.
4. 4

   Answer the cell if it rings

   Verizon and CenturyLink ring the destination. Forwarding turns on when someone or voicemail picks up. If nobody does, repeat the code within a couple of minutes.
5. 5

   Test it from a third phone

   Calling from the cell you forward to proves nothing. Use a different phone and call the landline.

Call forwarding on a landline: all calls, no answer or busy

Call forwarding on a landline comes in three kinds. All-call forwarding moves every call before the landline can be answered. No-answer forwarding moves it after the landline rings. Busy forwarding moves it when you are already on that line. Pick by who is sitting at the phone.

• All calls fits an empty desk. Vacation, a closed office, a phone nobody sits near. Verizon says you hear a short reminder tone at home but cannot answer the call there, and Spectrum describes the same short ring splash.
• No answer fits a shared office. The desk gets the first chance and the cell gets the rest. Cox lets you set the ring count when you turn it on.
• Busy fits a one-line business. The second caller reaches a person instead of a busy tone, which nobody calls back after.

If your carrier publishes no busy or no-answer code, the feature may still exist. Xfinity calls it Advanced call forwarding and sets it in Voice settings. Verizon sells Busy Line/Don't Answer, and on its Fixed option a change takes a service order. Mobile phones work differently, with their own codes, which our guide to conditional call forwarding covers carrier by carrier.

What forwarding a landline to a cell costs

Forwarding a landline can cost nothing or add charges, depending on your plan. The feature itself may be included or sold separately, and a long-distance destination can be billed. The carriers do not publish one fee, so read your plan before you leave a line forwarded for a month.

• Long distance. Verizon says long-distance charges apply if you forward to a long-distance number. CenturyLink says the same for long-distance and toll numbers, and that you need long-distance service to do it.
• The feature. CenturyLink says its Unlimited Home Phone plan includes Call Forwarding. Frontier lists no-answer and busy forwarding as additional features on some plans.
• Your cell plan. A forwarded call arrives like any other call. On a plan with limited minutes, it uses them.

Why landline call forwarding is not working

When landline forwarding fails, the code usually is not the problem. The usual causes are a skipped setup step, a destination that did not answer, or a feature your plan does not include. Work through these before you call the carrier, and test from a third phone each time.

• Cox. Cox says to activate Call Forwarding in Voice Tools or the Voice Everywhere app first.
• Verizon and CenturyLink. The destination has to answer. Repeat within a couple of minutes if it does not.
• A blocked caller ID. CenturyLink says a private or anonymous number needs *82 before forwarding to a line that rejects those calls.
• A banned destination. CenturyLink lists hotels, motels, pay phones and prisons as places you cannot forward to.
• Checking the state. On CenturyLink, press *72. A fast busy tone means forwarding is on, and a normal dial tone means it is off.
• An outage. Regular forwarding is not an outage plan on every line. Spectrum has a separate Backup Phone setting that forwards calls in a power or service outage.

The test most people skip: whose voicemail answers

Picture the first forwarded call that you miss. The caller dialed the number on your business card, and now they hear "Hey, it's Dana, leave me a message" from your personal cell. Your landline greeting never plays, because the call left the landline before voicemail could pick up.

Forwarding moves the call, not the whole phone. That leaves three things worth checking once:

• The greeting. If business callers will hear your cell voicemail, record one that names the business. Our voicemail greeting generator writes one in a few seconds.
• The ring. A forwarded call looks like any unknown call on your cell. Some lines show the caller and others show the landline, so call it once and see.
• The off switch. Forwarding stays on until someone turns it off. Print the card from the tool and tape it by the phone, because the person who needs it in three weeks may not be you.

When forwarding to your own cell is not enough

For a home phone or a business line with a few calls a week, forwarding to your cell is the right answer, and it is usually free. Stop there. The trouble starts when the calls matter and you cannot pick up: you are with a client, driving or asleep, and the cell just moved the missed call to a smaller device.

You can forward the same landline to an AI receptionist instead. With callflo.ai you keep the number and point forwarding at the local number we give you, for all calls or only the ones you miss. The guide to keeping your number shows how that works. It does not suit every line: a home phone does not need it, and if you get two calls a month, the cell is fine. Plans are on the pricing page. Starter is 39 dollars a month on annual billing, or 49 month to month, with 120 minutes included and extra minutes at 98 cents.

FAQ