Forward Your Own Phone's Calls
Discover how you can forward your own calls using different methods.
Written by Adrian Angwenyi
Updated at February 12th, 2024
Table of Contents
Overview
Stratus offers many ways to forward calls. This can be for emergencies such as power outages, or when you are simply away from your main phone for an extended period of time. This article goes over some of the most used ways to forward your calls.
Note: These forwarding options will only affect the user they are applied to. For more information regarding the best practices for forwarding all inbound calls to a specific phone number, read this article.
Forward Calls by Dialing a Feature Code
To set call forwarding using your SpectrumVoIP phone (e.g., desk phone, mobile app, web phone, or desktop app), dial * 7 2 and then the number you wish to forward the calls to, then press SEND.
- Example: Dial * 7 2 4 6 9 4 2 9 2 5 0 0 and press SEND. This will forward your calls to the phone number (469) 429-2500.
- Example: Dial * 7 2 1 0 5 and press SEND. This will forward your calls to the user at extension 105.
When dialing this from your device, you will hear a confirmation message to confirm the destination.
To disable the call forwarding set, dial * 7 3 and press SEND.
✓ You will hear a message confirming that calls forwarding has been disabled.
Simultaneous Ring Your Phone and an Offnet Number
Stratus allows you to ring multiple destinations at the same time through its Simultaneous Ring feature in the user's Answering Rules. This is commonly used to ring all of your SpectrumVoIP devices (desk phone, mobile app, web phone, desktop app) at the same time. However, it can also ring off net numbers such as a cell phone. This is a great option as a backup.
There is also an option to set a delay on the numbers that are rung. For example, you can set your cell phone to ring if you have not answered your desk phone after 10 seconds.
Implement Simultaneous Ring
To have a user's phones simultaneously ring…
- Navigate to the Users section of Stratus.
- Search for and find the User that needs this change.
- Click the Edit icon
and select Answering Rules.
✔ Doing so will pull up the User's Answering Rules.
- Click the Edit icon .
✔ Clicking this will pull up the Edit Answering Rule modal.
- Select the Simultaneous Ring option.
- In the Simultaneous Ring section, select the check boxes to decide how the system simultaneously rings:
- Include user’s extension - Check to ring the phone with the same extension as the user.
- Ring all user’s phones - Ring all phones associated with this user at the same time (softphones and desk phones).
-
Answer confirmation for offnet numbers - Ensures that when conducting a simultaneous ring to a cell/landline that the answering party is a person instead of voicemail by requesting them to press 1 to accept the call.
- In the field asking for an extension, number, or phone, you can enter the extension or number of another telephone you want to ring.
- Click the Ring Delay (sec) button
to set the amount of time the system waits before ringing the destination. - To add additional phones to the simring, click the Add icon
.
- Click the Ring Delay (sec) button
- In the field asking for an extension, number, or phone, you can enter the extension or number of another telephone you want to ring.
Note: To learn more about Answering Rules, read this article.
Temporary Forward Rule
This method can be used when you are frequently needing forward to the same destination. This will create an answering rule that you can enable or disable through the Stratus Portal or the SpectrumVoIP Mobile App.
Implement a Temporary Forward Rule
Step 1: Create a Time Frame
To add a rule for a temporary forward, we will need to make a Time Frame. To do so…
- Navigate to the Time Frames page.
- In the Time Frames page, click the Add Time Frame button.
✔ Doing so will pull up the Add a Timeframe modal.
- In the Name box, type a name to identify the time frame with later.
- In the When section, make sure Always is selected.
- Click the Save button.
Step 2: Create a Temporary Forward Answering Rule
Now that the Timeframe is created, we will need to apply it to the answering rules of the user that will need the forwarding.
Find the Destination of a Number
To find the user that takes the routing for a certain phone number on your account, navigate to the Inventory page and check the phone numbers in the Phone Numbers tab.
- Navigate to the Users page.
- In the search bar, type either the name or extension number associated for the user.
- Click the Edit icon and select Answering Rules.
✔ Doing so will pull up the user's Answering Rules tab.
- Click the Add Rule button.
✔ The Add an Answering Rule modal will appear.
- Use the Time Frame drop-down to select the Temporary Forward time frame.
- To have this forwarding active immediately, leave the Enabled box selected.
✔ When the answering rule have been created, the forward will show as Active.
- In the Call Forwarding section, select Always and type in the destination for these forwarded calls.
Quick Tip: An extension number, phone number, auto attendant, etc. can be typed in as the destination.
- Click the Save button.
-
Reprioritize the answering rules list to ensure the Temporary Forward is above the Business Hours rule.
- When the temporary forwarding is no longer needed, click the Edit
icon and deselect the Enabled box.