Call forwarding explained: what *72, *71 and *73 actually do

Call forwarding is the oldest feature on your phone and almost nobody uses it properly. It is three short codes, it works on every US carrier, and it costs nothing. Here is what each one does.

*72 — forward everything

Dial *72 from your business phone, followed by the number you want calls to go to, and every incoming call goes there instead. Your phone stops ringing entirely. This is the one to use when you are away, closed, or genuinely cannot pick up all day.

*71 — forward only what you miss

This is the one most small businesses actually want, and the one most have never heard of. Your phone rings first. If you answer, nothing changes. If you do not — because you are under a car, mid-color, or on the other line — the call rolls to the second number instead of to voicemail.

You keep every call you want to take, and you stop losing the ones you cannot. Nobody has to change the number they dial, and the number on your window, your van and your listings stays exactly as it is.

*73 — turn it off

Dial *73 and forwarding stops. No menus, no waiting on hold with your carrier. Worth knowing before you set anything up, because knowing you can undo it in three keystrokes is what makes people willing to try it at all.

The one thing that catches people out

Carriers sometimes drop forwarding after a network change or an outage, and they do it silently. If a customer ever tells you they could not get through, check forwarding first — dial *72 or *71 again to reinstate it. In our experience that is the cause the overwhelming majority of the time, and it takes ten seconds to rule out.

Whether you forward to a family member, an answering service or something like Clayta, the mechanism is the same. The codes are the easy part; deciding that an unanswered phone is a problem worth solving is the hard one.