Call forwarding codes for US carriers
The call forwarding codes US carriers publish on their own pages, checked 2026-10-02, what to do where a carrier publishes none, and why forwarding silently fails.
Call forwarding is the oldest feature on your phone and still the least understood. Set it correctly and a second line can answer everything you miss without your customers noticing anything. Set it wrong and you either send every call away, including the ones you wanted, or you set nothing at all and never find out.
This is the reference we use ourselves. It covers the four kinds of forwarding, the codes each US carrier publishes, what to do where a carrier publishes none, and the failure modes that make forwarding look like it worked when it did not.
Checked 2026-10-02. Every code on this page was read on the carrier's own support page on that date. Where a carrier publishes no code, we say so and do not guess: a wrong code can silently forward a business line, or switch off forwarding you were relying on. If your carrier publishes nothing, set forwarding in your phone's call settings or ask the carrier.
The four kinds of forwarding
Every carrier supports the same four conditions underneath, whatever they call them in their app.
| Condition | What it means | Common name |
|---|---|---|
| Unconditional | Every call goes to the target immediately. Your phone never rings. | CFU, "always forward" |
| No answer | Rings your phone first, forwards after a delay. | CFNRy |
| Busy | Forwards when you are already on a call. | CFB |
| Unreachable | Forwards when the phone is off or has no signal. | CFNRc |
The three at the bottom are collectively conditional forwarding. Your phone rings normally, and anything you do not pick up lands somewhere useful instead of in voicemail. Unconditional forwarding is the blunt version: useful when you are away for a week, and it means your own phone stops ringing.
Not every carrier offers all four, and not every carrier lets you set them with a code.
Verizon, Visible, Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile
Verizon uses star codes. Visible, Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile run on Verizon's network and publish the same three codes on their own pages.
| Action | Dial |
|---|---|
| Forward when busy or unanswered | *71 then the 10-digit number |
| Forward all calls | *72 then the 10-digit number |
| Turn forwarding off | *73 |
You dial the code and the destination as one string, for example *715551234567, then press call. You will hear a confirmation tone or a short message, and the call ends itself. The confirmation is the only proof it worked, so do not skip listening to it.
What Verizon's own call forwarding page and its FAQ add:
*71forwards calls that are busy or unanswered after 3 to 6 rings, "instead of being sent to voicemail". There is no setting for the delay, and no separate code for a phone that is off or out of signal.- The destination must be an active US number, 10 digits with the area code. International numbers are refused.
- If your plan does not have unlimited minutes, forwarded calls are billed according to your plan.
- You cannot set it up from outside Verizon's coverage area or while travelling abroad.
Two differences on the other brands. Visible's page describes *71 as forwarding when you are "busy or on another line" and does not mention unanswered calls, so test an unanswered call before you rely on it. Spectrum Mobile also has separate busy and no-answer switches in your account, as well as the codes.
T-Mobile and Mint Mobile
T-Mobile uses the GSM codes and lists them on its self-service short codes page. The number is written as 1 plus the 10-digit number.
| Action | Set | Cancel |
|---|---|---|
| Forward all calls | **21*15551234567# | ##21# |
| Forward when unanswered | **61*15551234567# | ##61# |
| Forward when busy | **67*15551234567# | ##67# |
| Forward when unreachable | **62*15551234567# | ##62# |
| Reset forwarding to default | ##004# |
T-Mobile describes ##004# as resetting call forwarding to default. It does not describe it as clearing every forward, so check your phone's call-forwarding settings afterwards to see where each condition now points.
Mint Mobile runs on T-Mobile and publishes the same four set and cancel codes on its own help page, also with the leading 1. Its labels for the conditions are worded a little differently from T-Mobile's; the codes are the same.
Setting the no-answer delay on T-Mobile
T-Mobile lets you choose how long your phone rings before an unanswered call forwards, from 5 to 30 seconds in steps of five:
**61*15551234567**20#That rings your phone for twenty seconds before forwarding. Five seconds is too fast, and by thirty you have sent the caller most of the way to giving up. Verizon-network lines have no delay setting.
AT&T and Cricket
AT&T publishes no forwarding codes. Its call forwarding support page says forwarding can only be changed from your phone, and links to the settings for each device. The one code AT&T does publish, on its troubleshooting pages, is #21# to turn call forwarding off.
The same AT&T page says call forwarding overrides your wireless voicemail, that forwarded calls are billed for the length of the call, and that you cannot forward to an international number.
Cricket runs on AT&T and lists call forwarding as included in its plans. It publishes no codes either. On both, set forwarding in your phone's call settings, or ask the carrier.
Google Fi
Google Fi cannot forward only the calls you miss. Fi's own help page offers three choices: don't forward, ring all numbers, or always forward. They are set in the Google Fi app or on fi.google.com, not in your phone's settings, and Fi publishes no dial codes for forwarding. There is no busy, no-answer or unreachable option.
Carriers that publish no code
On 2026-10-02 we found no forwarding code for phones on the support pages of Metro by T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, UScellular or Total Wireless. Consumer Cellular prints codes only in the manuals for its home-phone base, not for handsets. Straight Talk and Tracfone publish only the unconditional *72 and the *73 to turn it off, and say even those are available "only in select areas and on select handsets".
That does not mean forwarding is unavailable on these lines. It means nobody has written down which code your line takes, and a guessed code is exactly how forwarding goes wrong. Set it in your phone's call settings, or ask the carrier, and then test it.
How to check what is set right now
Open your phone's call-forwarding settings: they show each condition and the number it points at. If the settings screen cannot read the status, ask the carrier.
Then test it. Call your number from another phone, let it ring out, and see where the call lands. On Verizon-network lines this is the only check there is, together with the confirmation tone when you dialled the code.
This is worth doing before you change anything. Two things it catches:
- Forwarding you did not know was on, usually pointing at an old voicemail service from a carrier you left
- A previous setup that pointed somewhere dead, which is why calls have been vanishing
Why forwarding silently fails
We have watched every one of these happen on a real line.
The code succeeded and did nothing. A dialled code the carrier does not support often returns "connection problem or invalid MMI code", but some networks simply return nothing at all. No error, no confirmation, no forwarding. If you did not get a positive confirmation, assume it did not take.
The number format was wrong. Verizon wants the plain 10-digit number. T-Mobile and Mint write it with the leading 1. Using the other carrier's format is an easy way to set nothing.
The code was from the wrong family. Star codes such as *71 are what the Verizon-network brands publish. The **61* style codes are what T-Mobile and Mint publish. A code from the other family usually does nothing.
Voicemail won the race. Carrier voicemail is itself implemented as a forward. Setting a no-answer forward usually replaces it, but on some networks and some plans the voicemail forward is pinned and takes precedence. The symptom is that everything still lands in voicemail after a setup that reported success.
Wi-Fi calling or a dual-SIM handset changed the routing. Conditional forwarding is a property of the line on the network. A second SIM, a numbers-in-an-app service, or an aggressive battery saver that drops the radio can all put a call in a state the network reads as answered.
It worked, then a carrier-side change reset it. Plan changes, SIM swaps and eSIM transfers routinely clear forwarding without telling anyone. Re-check your call-forwarding settings, and test, after any of them.
What this looks like with an AI receptionist
The reason to care about the difference between conditional and unconditional forwarding is that it decides who your customer talks to.
With conditional forwarding, your phone rings first. You pick up the ones you can, and everything else, at 9pm, on a roof, mid-job, goes to the assistant instead of to voicemail. With unconditional forwarding, every call goes to the assistant and your own phone does not ring.
Heyly gives you two ways to run it. Give customers a Heyly number and Heyly is on every call, yours included: it rings your mobile, and its AI answers the ones you do not pick up. Or keep your own number, with nothing ported, and Heyly's AI answers it for you, then writes down what was said. If you want to hear what the caller hears before you set a single code, call our own AI receptionist on +1 208 504 3639. It answers as a sample plumbing business, and it is the product answering, not a recording.
For what an unanswered call is worth to a trade business, see what a missed call costs, and for the choice between a person and an AI on those calls, see AI receptionist vs answering service.
FAQ
Does call forwarding cost anything?
It depends on the carrier and the plan. Verizon bills forwarded calls according to your plan if it does not have unlimited minutes, and AT&T says forwarded calls are billed for the length of the call. Check your own plan before you leave forwarding on permanently.
Will the caller know their call was forwarded?
No. They hear ringing and then whoever answers. There is no announcement and no change to what they dialled.
Does forwarding drain my battery or use my minutes?
Battery, no. Minutes, sometimes: on a plan without unlimited minutes the forwarded leg can count against your plan, because your line is carrying it.
Can I forward only after hours?
Not with carrier codes alone. The network has no idea what time your business closes. Either set and clear the forward yourself, or forward everything conditionally and let whatever answers apply your hours.
What is the difference between *72 and **21*?
Both forward every call. *72 is the code the Verizon-network brands publish, and **21* is the one T-Mobile and Mint publish. Use the one your carrier publishes; using the wrong family is the most common reason a code appears to do nothing.
How do I turn it all off?
On Verizon, Visible, Xfinity Mobile and Spectrum Mobile, dial *73. On T-Mobile and Mint, cancel each condition you set with its own code: ##21#, ##61#, ##67# and ##62#. AT&T publishes #21# to turn call forwarding off. Then open your phone's call-forwarding settings, or call yourself from another phone, to confirm rather than assuming.