How should a real estate agent set up call forwarding?

An agent's mobile is usually the busiest line in the agency, and it rings at the worst moments: halfway through a listing presentation, during an open home, on the Gateway Motorway. Call forwarding decides what happens to the calls the agent cannot take. Set well, it means every caller reaches someone. Left on the defaults, it sends most of those calls to voicemail, and a seller who rings at 5:40pm on a Thursday hears a beep, hangs up and tries the next agent on their list.

The setup takes a few minutes on the keypad. It works the same way whether the calls go to a colleague, reception, an answering service or an AI assistant.

What is the difference between unconditional and conditional forwarding?

Unconditional forwarding sends every call straight to another number, and your phone never rings. Conditional forwarding rings your phone first and only moves the call when a condition is met. There are three conditions, and each one is a separate setting:

Telstra's and Vodafone's support pages define busy and unreachable this way. The forwards live in the carrier's network, not on the handset, which is why the unreachable forward still works when the phone is flat. Because each condition is its own setting, a phone can forward on no answer while still sending busy calls to voicemail, a split that catches a lot of agents out.

No answer

Your phone rings for the ring time first

Telstra’s default ring time is 15 seconds

then forwards

Busy

You are already on a call

The caller hears little or none of your ringing

forwards at once

Unreachable

Your phone is off, flat or out of coverage

Works because forwards live in the network

forwards at once

Most agents use conditional forwarding because a person should answer when a person can. A seller ringing about an appraisal would rather speak to the agent, so the agent's phone stays the first stop and the forward is the safety net. Unconditional forwarding suits leave or an all-day training session, when callers would otherwise ring out for nothing. The risk is forgetting it is on. On an iPhone, the Call Forwarding switch in the Phone settings is this kind of forwarding: Apple's guide shows an icon in the status bar while it is on. For forwarding only when the line is busy or not in service, it tells you to ask your carrier.

How does the ring time before a no-answer forward work?

The ring time is how long the network lets your phone ring before it forwards an unanswered call. On Telstra the default is 15 seconds, and Telstra lets you change it to 20, 25 or 30 seconds. Restoring or removing MessageBank sets it back to 15, so check the timer after any voicemail change.

Ring time is a trade-off. Too short, and calls forward while you are still getting the phone out of your pocket or pulling over. Too long, and some callers hang up before anything answers. Time yourself answering from a pocket, a bag and the car's hands-free, then set the timer just past your slowest answer.

The caller hears your phone ring for the full ring time, then the destination picks up, sometimes after a short pause as the call moves. Busy and unreachable forwards move the call straight away, so the caller hears little or none of your ringing. Whoever answers should say whose line it is, so a seller who dialled your mobile does not think they have the wrong number. A quick answer matters here for the same reason it does on email, covered in how fast to reply to a rental enquiry.

What are the forwarding codes on Telstra and Vodafone?

Telstra and Vodafone both publish the standard network codes: 21 for all calls, 61 for no answer, 62 for unreachable and 67 for busy. You dial them on the phone's keypad and press call. The syntax differs slightly between the two carriers' pages:

Swap 61 for 67, 62 or 21 to set the others, and replace "number" with the full number you are forwarding to, including the area code. Vodafone also lists ##004# to cancel every conditional forward at once.

On cost, Telstra says forwarding is included in all plans with unlimited call allowance, and Vodafone says there is no additional cost within Australia.

What should an agent do after hours?

The simplest approach is to leave conditional forwarding on permanently. During the day you answer what you can and the rest forwards. In the evening you stop answering, and every call forwards after the ring time, with no switch to remember. If a seller you have been chasing rings at 7pm, you can still pick up.

The alternative is switching to unconditional forwarding each evening. Callers skip the ring time, but someone has to turn it on every night and off every morning, and the morning switch is the one that gets missed.

Check two things either way. If you use Do Not Disturb or a Focus mode at night, test what a silenced call does, because whether it rings out or gets declined decides which forward catches it. And if the office line has an after-hours rule in the phone system, make sure it does not point at a mobile that is forwarding somewhere else.

How do you test a forward?

Test from another phone, one that is not a favourite or allowed through Do Not Disturb. Then run each condition:

1. Dial *#61#, *#67# and *#62# to see where each forward points.
2. Call your mobile and let it ring out. Time the ringing, and confirm the forward answers rather than voicemail.
3. Call while you are on another call, to test busy.
4. Turn on flight mode and call, to test unreachable.
5. Call and press decline, and note where the call ends up.
6. Repeat at night with your usual Do Not Disturb or Focus settings on.

Test again after anything that might touch forwarding: a new handset, a SIM swap, a plan change or any change to voicemail.

What are the most common mistakes?

Voicemail answering first. Voicemail is itself a forward. On Telstra, restoring MessageBank sets the conditional diversions back to MessageBank, so voicemail and your forward cannot both own the same condition, and whichever was set last wins. Office phone systems have the same trap in another form: if a handset's voicemail timer is shorter than its forward timer, voicemail answers every time.

The handset answering first. Newer phones can screen or answer calls themselves, such as Live Voicemail on an iPhone or call screening on some Android phones. If that is on, the phone picks up before the network's forward does, and a correct setup looks broken. Turn it off before you test.

A forwarding loop. An agent's mobile forwards to reception, and reception's after-hours rule forwards back to the agent's mobile. Whatever the networks do with that call, no person answers it. Draw where every line forwards before you change anything.

Setting only one condition. Forwarding on no answer but not busy means every call that arrives while you are on the phone still goes to voicemail. For an agent who spends the afternoon on calls, that is often the call that mattered.

Leaving unconditional forwarding on. After leave, dial *#21# or look for the forwarding icon on an iPhone, and switch it off.

What changes with AgentFront?

Each agent gets their own AgentFront number and points their conditional forwards at it, so the agent still gets the first chance to answer. AgentFront's setup uses one code that points all three conditions (no answer, busy and unreachable) at that number, so voicemail stops catching any of them. It is set on the agent's own phone and can be switched off any time. The Phone Assistant then answers in a natural Australian voice, takes listing questions from the public realestate.com.au listing, and agrees appraisal times with sellers from the agent's calendar. The testing checklist above applies to it in exactly the same way.