Many clients call forward their telephone lines to us. If you Call Forward the first line of a hunt group or a group of equivalent lines then anyone that calls in automatically is call forwarded to the Message Centre. You only have to Call Forward the first line. (unless you have published one of the other lines  eg. sales/service etc.)

Of the many clients who forward their phones to us, probably 90 percent do so at the same time every day (at lunch and around 5 p.m.), causing a short-lived phone crunch when you and sometimes your clients are trying to get through.

When you Call Forward, do you wait for an operator and then tell them, “We are gone for the day” ? You can save time by not waiting for our operator to answer. We are here, of course, to answer your calls and provide top-notch service 24 hours a day. However, in most cases you don't need to talk to an operator when you forward your phones. Use these instructions as appropriate:

For Clients Who Have a Personal Auto Answer or a default Greeting on your account, you need not wait for an operator. As soon as you hear your three seconds of your greeting, the telephone company is satisfied that you know you have reached the right place. You can hang up and go home. Are we sure that's true? Try it. Call Forward your line. Wait for your greeting, then hang up. Call your office phone and see where it rings!

The telephone company also allows you to forward even if no one answers the phone. Press *72 and dial your forwarding number. Let it ring once, then hang up. Press *72 a second time. Instead of ringing, the phone will give you a 3-beep confirmation tone, indicating that because you dialed the *72 with the same number twice, you have been forwarded. That's all there is to it.

Caller ID Routing
We also have a service that we are providing to selected clients.  When you Call Forward to us from your office we capture your Caller ID. Since we know you are calling from your office and most times people are just Call Forwarding from their office we play a special greeting you. If you are Forwarding, you can hang up and you are done. If you wish to speak to an operator, simply press 0, stay on the line and we will connect to you. Because your clients have a different Caller ID we never play this special greeting for them.

Analogue Call Forwarding
Pick up the receiver on the main incoming line. Dial *72 you will hear three beeps then dial tone. Dial the number of the special DID number at the Message Centre. When the operator answers or you hear a greeting, you must stay on the line for a minimum of five (5) seconds. Alternatively if the line is busy or you don't wish to talk to the operator, you can just hang up and repeat the procedure. The telephone company sees that you have done it twice and the Call Forwarding will be activated.

While the Call Forwarding is on you may hear a half a ring at your office when a call is received at ours. You won't be able to pick up the call, this just lets you know that a call has been transferred. One of the interesting things about this type of Call Forwarding is that you can make outbound calls at the same time an incoming call is being transferred. Your customers don't get a busy and you get to make calls!

When you wish to be able to answer your own calls you pick up the receiver on the main line. Dial *73. You will hear three beeps to confirm that the Call Forwarding has been deactivated.

Call Forward Busy, No Answer Transfer
 Many offices are using this now. It is great insurance if someone forgets to Call Forward and is really helpful if you get busy with a client or something comes up during the day. This is a feature available from the telephone company. Your line can be programmed so that if it rings three times in your office or if it's busy then it automatically is transferred to the Message Centre. It is great in that it allows you to get your own calls if you are available but transfers them if you are not. You never miss a call!

Send mail to info@northerncom.com with questions or comments about this web site.