Forwarding Calls To Your Hooroo AI Agent
To ensure your Hooroo.ai agent can answer calls when you're unavailable, you'll need to set up call forwarding on your main business phone number.
Written By Simon Thompson
Last updated 4 months ago
How Call Forwarding Works
Call forwarding allows you to redirect incoming calls from your primary business number to your Hooroo.ai agent's number.
Your customers continue to dial your regular business number – they don't need to know about your Hooroo.ai number and you have to redo all of your marketing materials.
This means that you can still answer calls normally when you're available, but if you miss a call, or you're on another call, it automatically forwards to your AI agent.
For most telcos/phone system providers, you're able to forward calls based on any of the following conditions:
Missed calls
Unreachable/phone switched off
Busy/on another call
All calls
When you forward calls to your Hooroo agent, it will no longer go to voicemail. It is very simple to restore call forwarding to voicemail and we have outlined instructions below.
Mobile phone forwarding
While some mobile forwarding methods will work regardless of carrier, each phone carrier will also have different options for setting up call forwarding that are specific to that carrier.
Note on prepaid plans
If you’re on a prepaid plan, you will need to ensure you have "pay as you go" (PAYG) credit on your account. This is different credit to whatever your monthly plan might be. For example, even if you pay $29/month for X calls/data, there is typically a separate pool of credit that gets used for call forwarding that is separate. Sometimes your monthly plan may also inlclude some PAYG credit included, but often not, in which case you’ll need to add some additional funds which are used specifically for call forwarding. You can usually do this in your carrier's online portal and/or app (or wherever you usually add new credit to your account).
Option 1: Setup via mobile dial pad (same for all carriers)
Open your mobile phone dial pad (where you would dial someone's number to call them).
Dial:
**[ForwardingCode]*[YourHoorooPhoneNumberWithAreaCode]*10#(forwarding codes explained below).Press call.
Example - forward missed calls only:
If your Hooroo phone number is 02 3820 7757, and you want to forward missed calls only, you would open you dial pad and enter:
**61*0238207757*10#
Then press dial. You should see a confirmation message on your screen. At this point, you're good to go!
The *10# at the end refers to the number of seconds the phone should ring before diverting, and you can change this. So if you only want your phone to ring for 5 seconds before forwarding instead of 10, you could instead dial: **61*0238207757*5# . In this case the phone would ring for 5 seconds and then forward to your Hooroo agent.
Forwarding codes:
The forwarding code is the "condition" you want to use to forward calls. For example, all calls, missed calls, etc. Here are the forwarding codes you can substitute in:
How to restore call forwarding to voicemail (carrier dependent)
Remove all forwarding rules (including voicemail)
Dial ##002#
This will remove all forwarding including voicemail.
Troubleshooting mobile call forwarding via dial pad
In cases where call forwarding from your mobile dial pad hasn't worked, some Hooroo users have experienced success doing the following:
First, clear all existing forwarding rules by dialing
##002#, then dialing##004.Next, set up forwarding by dialling any one of the following:
**61*[YourHoorooNumber]*11#OR
**61*[YourHoorooNumber]*15#OR
**61*[YourHoorooNumber]*20#
Note that these are changing the "number of seconds to wait before diverting" code at the end. For some reason, this variation has proven effective for users experiencing issues.
Option 2: Setup via mobile carrier portal/app (carrier dependent)
Most mobile carriers (e.g. Telstra, Optus etc.) will have either an app or an online portal where you can set up call forwarding for your mobile service. To set this up, we recommend following the documentation provided your phone carrier.
Option 3: Setup via mobile handset (handset dependent)
iPhone
Go to Settings > Apps > Phone.
Tap Call Forwarding, then turn on Call Forwarding.
The Call Forwarding icon appears in the status bar when call forwarding is on.
On models with Dual SIM, choose a line.
Tap Forward To, enter the number you want to redirect to, then tap Back.
Source: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iphe9bdd027a/ios
When forwarding via iPhone handset, it is only possible to set up forwarding for all calls unconditionally. This means you will not be able to forward only missed calls, only calls where you're busy etc.
Android
Open Settings on your Android.
Scroll down and select Call Settings, or type Call Settings into the search bar and select it.
Select Call forwarding.
Choose one of the four options available:
Always forward: All calls are routed to the given number.
When busy: If you just want to redirect calls when you're busy.
When unanswered: Only forwards when you don't answer the phone.
When unreached: If your phone has no reception, is in airplane mode, or has been switched off.
Type the phone number to which you want your calls forwarded.
To confirm, tap Turn on.
Source: https://support.google.com/android/thread/143416043/how-to-forward-calls-on-android?hl=en
Landline phone forwarding (carrier dependent)
Each landline provider has a different method and set of codes to set up call fowarding, so we recommend following the provided documentation from your landline carrier. Below links provided for Telstra and Optus.
Carrier
Forwarding guide link
Telstra
View Telstra's call forwarding guide for landlines
Optus
View Optus' call forwarding guide for mobile
Phone system forwarding (system dependent)
If you're using a dedicated phone system provider (e.g. 3CX), we recommend following the documentation provided by them to set up forwarding. This is typically done via an admin portal you will have access to with your phone system.