How to Forward Calls with VoIP: Beginner’s Guide

Knowing how to forward calls can save you a lot of time and money, and increase the annual revenue. The call forwarding feature allows users to transfer an incoming call to another phone or service. While this is nothing new, it’s striking how small businesses disregard the obvious benefits of the VoIP call forwarding service. The call forwarding service can also be done via your mobile operator. However, if you have a reliable internet connection, it’s much more cost-effective and convenient to use a VoIP system.

About VoIP systems

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a methodology for delivering voice communications and multimedia sessions over the Internet. The most prominent benefits of VoIP have reduced costs of calls between different operators and the integrated telephone system feature. Transferring data via the internet is among the cheapest ways of interaction nowadays, and voice delivery is no exception. According to statistics, over 30 million Americans work from home at least once a week and this number is expected to increase in the next two years, reaching over 50 million people. Furthermore, research shows that close to 50% of America’s workforce holds a job that can be done from home. However, traditional video conferencing delivered by enterprise phone systems is very costly and rarely used. This is where the integrated telephone system feature shines. Introduced in 2015, this feature allows making face-to-face video conference calls for free if you’re using VoIP software. Apart from these benefits though, VoIP systems offer a lot more flexibility in terms of convenience, accessibility, and reliability when compared to traditional methods such as the advanced call forwarding feature. We will explore the benefits in more detail and teach you how to forward calls with VoIP.

Benefits of VoIP

Low costs

As the name suggests, VoIP systems utilize the internet to make calls. This allows us to turn all communication data into packets and send them over the IP network. Since a traditional telephone call places two speakers at the opposite ends of a line, and there are a finite number of lines that can be used, landline calls can be really expensive. This is especially true for long distance calls. Using the internet helps make all phone communication much cheaper overall. In fact, many VoIP software vendors offer businesses both short and long distance calls for free in some of their plans. For instance, if your business is located in the US, most providers will allow you to make all calls for free in all of the states, with the exclusion of Alaska and Hawaii.

Extended business hours and unrestricted mobility

With the traditional phone systems, businesses are assigned individual lines for each of their phone numbers. While you can redirect calls to mobile devices, it’s highly inconvenient and time-consuming. Different phone companies have different codes and keys you have to dial to make the transfer. You will have to remember all of them and keep switching back and forth each time you leave the office in the evening and return in the morning. VoIP systems allow you to extend typical business hours easily without having to suffer any mobility restrictions. Time zones and geographical locations aren’t an impediment either – you can easily configure the software to redirect phone calls anywhere, as long as your device has an internet connection.

Voicemail to email

According to a study conducted by McKinsey Global Institute, people spend 28% of their work week checking emails. This means that you’re much less likely to miss a message sent via email than close to any other communication medium, including the voicemail. The term “Voicemail to email” refers to a VoIP system feature that can record the audio file sent to you and redirect it to your inbox, which can later be downloaded and played from a smartphone or a PC. Compared to the traditional way of checking your voicemail, you don’t need to dial a voicemail manager, enter the voicemail box number and PIN code and manage voicemails by pushing buttons. Instead, they can be organized and saved on your device, which decreases the chance to miss an important message.

VoIP call forwarding

Unlike the call forwarding service offered by phone companies, VoIP systems allow transferring calls to any devices that have access to the internet. These include mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc. Also, the advanced call forwarding feature allows users to configure exactly what they want to do with the incoming call. Here is a breakdown of how to forward calls using a VoIP system:

Basic call forwarding

This is the same service that is offered by phone companies, which can be activated with the help of an activation code. This feature forwards all relieved calls to the device of your choice immediately, on the first ring.

Call forwarding when there is no answer

This feature can be configured to forward the call to another device if the first one doesn’t pick up. For instance, if you’re busy and cannot answer, you don’t have to lose the potential lead. Simply set the system to redirect the call to your customer service agent after 1/2/3/etc. number of rings.

Busy line call forwarding

If your business relies on phone communications, it’s essential to always be reachable for clients. This feature will automatically redirect an incoming call to a line that’s not currently in use by anyone. This way, clients will never have to deal with the busy signal and be forced to call back later.

Find-me-follow-me call forwarding

Probably the most advanced call forwarding feature of VoIP systems, find-me-follow-me services make sure that you and your team will never miss an incoming call regardless of geographic location or time. The service provides users with a single virtual number that is connected to all your devices. You can configure the system in various ways depending on your needs. For instance, you can set the incoming call to go to all your devices at once. This way, the person who’s fastest to pick up will deal with the call. Or, you can set the incoming call to different geographic locations based on a predetermined schedule. This is very handy for big, cross-continent teams or teams that travel a lot. Another way is to configure the call to go sequentially to your home, office, mobile, laptop, etc. depending on your needs. Finally, you can set up a scheme where the call will go to one device for the first two rings, then automatically switch to another number for the next two, and another one for the next two, and so on. The opportunities are endless.

How to forward calls from landline to mobile

If you’re looking to forward calls from old school POTS (plain old telephone service) landline phones to your mobile, it can be done in three easy steps:

1. Dial *72 from your landline phone.
2. Wait for the three “beep” signals and the dial tone.
3. Dial the 10-digit phone number that you want to forward the calls to and wait for the confirmation tone.

How to forward calls with VoIP systems

While there are some slight differences in the actual process, forwarding calls via VoIP is extremely easy. For instance, here is how to forward calls using RingCentral, one of the leading cloud-based VoIP providers on the market:

1. Log in to your account and go to settings.
2. In the Call Handling and Forwarding tab, configure how you want the tool to handle incoming calls. If calls need to be offered to multiple numbers, choose whether you’d like them to ring sequentially or simultaneously.
3. Configure the RingCentral desktop and mobile app and stationary phones by checking the corresponding boxes. Also, you can add non-RingCentral numbers to the forwarding list via the dedicated fields.
4. After the configurations, click on “Forward to Other’s Phones,” select the phone numbers and click “Save.”

Advanced users can also set the number of rings for each phone and forwarding number on the list. Finally, you can rearrange the sequence of forwarding numbers (for instance – yourself, then the sales team desk, followed by customer service representatives).

Final word

Knowing how to forward calls is essential for the success of any business that cares about its customers’ concerns. Whether it’s an angry customer or a simple inquiry, answering every phone call will strengthen your reputation and lead to higher revenues with each passing quarter.