Call forwarding is one of the oldest features on a phone, and still one of the most useful. The office line goes to whoever is on call after closing time, a home worker takes over the reception line, or a colleague covers your calls while you are with a client. With one code on your phone, your network sends every call on to another number.

This article is written for two kinds of reader.

  • Just want to know how to divert calls on your own mobile or landline? Below you will find every code, for EE, Vodafone, O2, BT and most other UK networks, and what a diverted call costs. You do not need any extra service for that.
  • Want to divert your business number, for your company or your team? Then read on at A business number does exactly the same, at its core. There we show why forwarding through a platform of its own is cheaper per minute, and what you get on top: routing you change live, a rota, several destinations, a voicebot and a log of every call.

Diverting calls in your phone’s settings

The easiest way is through your handset’s menu.

iPhone: open Settings, choose Phone and then Call Forwarding. Switch it on and enter the number you want to forward to. You switch it off with the same toggle.

Android: open the Phone app, tap the three dots and choose Settings. Look for Call forwarding or Supplementary services (on some handsets under More settings) and pick the situation and the number.

The iPhone menu only offers divert all calls. To divert only when you do not answer, have no signal or are on another call, use the codes below.

Every call divert code in one place

These codes work on EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three, and on most other UK networks. Replace number with the phone number you want to divert to, and press the green call button after the code. Your phone then shows whether it worked.

  • Always, on every call: switch on with **21*number#, off with ##21#, check with *#21#.
  • When you do not answer: switch on with **61*number#, off with ##61#, check with *#61#.
  • When you have no signal: switch on with **62*number#, off with ##62#, check with *#62#.
  • When you are on another call: switch on with **67*number#, off with ##67#, check with *#67#.
  • Everything off in one go: ##002#.

Vodafone advises entering the number you divert to in international format, replacing the first 0 with +44, if the standard format does not work.

Diverting your landline

A landline can be diverted too, for example to your mobile.

  • BT: on a BT phone line, press *21*, then the number, then # to divert all calls. Use *61* to divert calls not answered within 15 seconds and *67* when the line is engaged. Cancel with #21# (or #61#, #67#) and check with *#21#. You will hear an intermittent dial tone while a divert is on. Call Diversion is a feature on BT Business lines that you add to the line.
  • Other landline providers: most use the same codes, or let you set a divert in their online account.

What does call forwarding cost?

Switching a divert on is free with the big networks. What you do pay for is the diverted leg of the call: your provider charges it as if you were calling the new number yourself. How much that is depends on your plan.

  • A BT landline. BT charges the diverted part of the call at its standard dialling rates. On BT’s pay-as-you-go landline plan, a call to a UK landline or mobile costs 31.05p a minute, including VAT, according to BT’s price guide of September 2026. A diverted call of two and a half minutes then costs about 78p. On a plan with inclusive minutes, the diverted call comes out of your allowance; BT Business rates depend on your calling plan.
  • A mobile with inclusive minutes (EE, Vodafone, O2). The diverted call usually comes out of your minutes, like a normal call. Once you are over your allowance, or divert to a number outside it, standard charges apply.
  • Abroad. If the divert is on while you are roaming, EE charges roaming rates for the forwarded leg.

A worked example. A business gets 40 calls a month of two and a half minutes on average and diverts them to a mobile from a BT pay-as-you-go line. That is 100 minutes at 31.05p: £31.05 a month, including VAT (£25.88 excluding). With CallFactory it is £10.00 in minutes and £10.83 a month for a Business Number (£130 a year): £20.83 a month, excluding VAT.

A business number does exactly the same, at its core

A CallFactory business number works on the same principle as call divert with your network. Someone calls your number, and we deliver the call wherever you want it: to a mobile, an office landline, a home worker, your branch abroad, your own or an outsourced call centre, or our voicebot that answers every caller straight away. Over the fixed and mobile phone network, just like an ordinary phone call. That is why the call always gets through, even when you are on the road without Wi-Fi or mobile data. No app has to be running.

The difference is everything around it. With your network, call divert is a setting on one number that you switch on or off with a code on the phone itself. With us it is a platform, built to route calls:

  • Cheaper per minute. Forwarding to a mobile or landline costs 10p a minute with us, with no set-up fee and billed per second. The same two-and-a-half-minute call costs 25p excluding VAT, against about 65p excluding VAT on a BT pay-as-you-go line.
  • Free over the internet. Answer on a softphone, desk phone or the browser phone and the call is free. A network only diverts to a phone number, not to an app or a VoIP phone.
  • Routing you change live. In the dashboard you change where calls go in seconds, from anywhere. No codes on the handset itself.
  • A rota instead of on and off. With calendar routing you plan weeks ahead who has the phone when, including bank holidays and leave.
  • More than one destination. Let phones ring one after another, in turn or all at once, with a fallback if nobody answers.
  • A voicebot as a destination. Outside office hours or when it is busy, our voicebot answers every caller straight away, handles the routine questions and puts callers through when needed.
  • Everything around it. A welcome message, voicemail, a whisper tone so you know it is a business call, and a log of every call.
  • Enough capacity. Your number runs on our platform with its own interconnect, so calls get through even when several people call at once.

You can read more about what is possible on our call forwarding page.

When is a plain call divert enough?

To be fair: if you only divert now and then, your network’s code is fine. At a trade fair for the day with a colleague covering your mobile, **21*number# and ##002# afterwards is all you need.

A business number starts to pay off when you divert more often, when several people or locations share the phone, such as the office, home workers, a branch abroad or a call centre, or when you do not want your reachability to depend on a setting on one handset. You pay less per minute, keep your personal number personal, and run everything from one dashboard. A business number with call forwarding starts at £130 a year, and with your first year you get an extra year free. All prices are on our pricing page.