The most common worry about an AI phone agent is that you will have to give out a new number, and reprint everything. You do not. You keep the number that is on your door, your van, your cards, and your Google listing, and you forward it to the number the agent answers on. Callers dial exactly what they have always dialled, the agent picks up, and you can switch the forward off from your own phone in seconds.
A new number sounds harmless until you count where the old one lives: printed signage, vehicle livery, business cards, invoices, your website, your Google Business Profile, directory listings, social profiles, and the memory of every regular customer. Changing it means changing all of those, and losing the ones you forget.
Call forwarding avoids all of that. It is a feature of the line you already have, provided by your existing phone company, and it has worked the same way for decades. You are not moving your number or porting anything. You are telling your own line where to send calls it cannot or should not handle.
That also means you stay in control. Forwarding is not permanent, it is a setting, and you can turn it on for an evening, a holiday, or only when your line is busy.
Most phone lines support four separate rules, and the difference matters.
Forward everything (unconditional). Every call goes straight to the agent. Use this when you want the agent to be the front door, or overnight and at weekends.
Forward when there is no answer. The phone rings with you first for a set number of seconds, then goes to the agent. This is the one most shops and trades want: you pick up when you can, the agent catches the rest.
Forward when busy. Calls come to the agent only when you are already on the phone. This is what stops a second caller hearing an engaged tone.
Forward when unreachable. Covers no signal, phone off, or flat battery. Useful for anyone working in basements, lofts, and lift shafts.
You can combine the last three so nothing falls through: you get first refusal on every call, and every call that you do not take is answered anyway.
With PhoneMyAgent you upload your price list and opening hours, pick a voice and greeting, and we provision a number for you. In Austria that is normally an Austrian mobile number, and your existing business line forwards to it, so you keep the local number your customers know.
On most mobile phones you set forwarding in the call settings menu, or by dialling a short code and pressing call:
| Rule | Code to set | Code to cancel |
|---|---|---|
| Forward everything | **21*NUMBER# |
##21# |
| No answer | **61*NUMBER# |
##61# |
| Busy | **67*NUMBER# |
##67# |
| Unreachable | **62*NUMBER# |
##62# |
| Cancel all forwarding | ##002# |
Replace NUMBER with the number we give you, in full international format starting with +43. These codes are the GSM standard and work on the Austrian mobile networks, but a landline is different: fixed lines are usually configured in your provider's customer portal or with a provider-specific code, so check with whoever bills your line.
Two practical tips. Set the no-answer delay to about fifteen to twenty seconds, which is roughly four or five rings, so you have a fair chance to pick up first. And make your first test call from a different phone, not the forwarded one, because a phone cannot ring itself.
| Forward everything | No answer | Busy | Unreachable | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You get first chance to answer | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Covers the second caller | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Covers no signal or phone off | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Best for | Nights, weekends, closed days | Shops and trades during the day | Anyone often on the phone | Basements, lofts, on the road |
Forwarding will send calls to the agent, keep your published number unchanged, cost you nothing to reverse, and let you switch between rules whenever you want. The agent then answers in your business name from your own documents, books or takes a message, and emails you the transcript.
It will not change who owns your number, which stays with your current phone company. Your provider may charge for the forwarded leg of the call, which is normal for call diversion and separate from what we charge, so it is worth a quick look at your tariff. And a forward cannot be smarter than the rule you set: if you forward everything, your own phone stops ringing, which is the intended behaviour but surprises people the first time.
No. You keep your existing number and set call forwarding to the number we provide. Everything printed, listed, or saved in a customer's phone keeps working, because callers still dial your original number.
On a mobile, either use the call-forwarding menu in your phone settings or dial the GSM code, for example **21*+43...# to forward everything, and press call. On a landline it is normally set in your provider's portal. You can cancel any forward with ##002# on a mobile.
Yes, and this is what most businesses choose. Set the no-answer rule with a delay of about fifteen to twenty seconds. You get first chance at every call, and anything you cannot reach is answered instead of ringing out.
Dial the cancel code for that rule, or switch it off in your phone's call settings. ##002# clears every forwarding rule at once. It takes effect immediately and nothing about your number changes.
Possibly. Diverting a call means your line carries the leg to the forwarded number, and providers treat that differently by tariff. It is a normal call-forwarding charge, unrelated to what you pay us, so check your own tariff before you leave a forward on permanently.
No. They dial the number they always have and the agent answers. What they hear is your greeting in your business name, and a short disclosure that they are speaking to an AI assistant.
New to this? Start with what PhoneMyAgent is and how it works, or see how it handles calls after you close. The plans are on our pricing page.
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