With the help of call forwarding on your cell phone, your incoming calls end up on another device. This works on another smartphone, landline phone or your own mailbox. TECHBOOK explains how this works and what costs you can incur.
Call diversion (also called call forwarding) on the cell phone can be useful in many cases. If you cannot be reached, calls are forwarded directly to your mailbox, for example. Even if you have a work cell phone and don’t want to lug around two devices, you can simply route the calls to your private cell phone. Are you not allowed to take calls on your smartphone at work? Route incoming calls to your landline phone in the office. It is also particularly clever to simply forward the message to a friend’s smartphone you are using when the battery is low. The forwarding also works when the mobile phone is switched off.
How do I set up call forwarding?
Call diversions do not have to be set up over the phone with the mobile operator. This now works conveniently and easily from your own smartphone.
iPhone
For call forwarding on iOS, see Settings > Phone > Call forwarding.
Android
With Android you will not find the call forwarding under the settings, but in the phone app. There you go to the three dots top rightthen up Settings > Call settings > Call forwarding.
Call forwarding by abbreviation
Regardless of the operating system, you can also set up call forwarding using a shortcut.
For this they give **21*phone number# on the device you want to divert calls from, and then select Call, to redirect all calls. It also works the same way if you only want a redirect in certain cases:
- **62*Number#: Forwarding if you cannot be reached
- **67*Number#: Forwarding if busy
How much does call forwarding cost?
Depending on the provider and where the call is forwarded to, the costs for call forwarding differ.
Call forwarding from smartphone to smartphone/landline
In principle, the costs of a call are incurred with a call diversion. This means that if you forward from your smartphone, you pay the price per minute for incoming calls that would normally be due for outgoing calls.
However, Telekom does not charge these fees for the service in its “MagentaMobil” contracts with a telephone flat rate. After all, outgoing calls cost nothing here. The same applies to other major mobile operators such as O2 and Vodafone. This is partly different with prepaid providers, here you should ask individually whether there are any costs.
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Call forwarding from smartphone to mailbox
In contrast to call forwarding to other smartphones or landline phones, forwarding to your own mailbox is usually free of charge. Not only with the big providers, but also with WinSim, for example, this type of redirection is completely free. A general setup of this forwarding in case of non-reach may be useful.