You have dialled the code, your phone said "activated", and you have no idea whether it worked. This is the most common place people get stuck after setting up call forwarding, and it is worth two minutes to check properly, because a forwarding rule that is slightly wrong sends every call to the wrong place and you will not find out until a customer tells you.
First, read what the phone says
Dial the check code for "when no answer" forwarding:
*#61#
Your phone will show a small dialog. You want to see something like "Voice call forwarding when not answered: enabled" followed by the number you set. If it says disabled, the setup code did not take; try it again, checking the number has +61 at the start and no spaces.
Also check that "always" forwarding is off, because it overrides everything else:
*#21#
You want "disabled". If it is enabled, dial ##21# to clear it.
The second-phone test
The gold standard is to ring your number from another phone and not answer.
- Borrow a phone, or use a landline.
- Ring your mobile.
- Let it ring. Do not answer.
- After about 20 seconds you should hear the call pick up and your receptionist or assistant greet you.
If your carrier voicemail answers instead, voicemail is intercepting the call before forwarding kicks in. Dial ##002# to clear everything, then set up forwarding again.
If you hear a busy tone or an error message, the forwarding number is wrong. Clear it with ##61# and set it up again carefully.
The no-second-phone test
If nobody is around to lend you a phone, there is a trick. Most answering services and AI receptionists can place an outbound call to you. If yours can, ask it to ring your mobile and then do not answer. The call goes unanswered, forwards back to the service, and the service answers itself. If that loop completes, forwarding works.
With AfterTone this is a button on the dashboard called "Check my forwarding". Press it, let your phone ring out, and within a minute the dashboard shows "Forwarding verified" if the assistant picked up. If it did not, the dashboard tells you what it heard instead and points you at the fix.
Check the ring time
The number after *11* in the setup code is how many seconds your phone rings before forwarding. Twenty seconds is the usual default and suits most people: enough time to get the phone out of a pocket, not so long that callers give up.
If you find you are missing calls you could have answered, increase it to 25 or 30. If callers say it rings for ages, drop it to 15. Change it by dialling the setup code again with the new number.
Check busy forwarding too
If you are on a call when someone else rings, "when no answer" forwarding does not apply. Set "when busy" forwarding to the same number so the second caller reaches your receptionist instead of an engaged tone:
**67*+61XXXXXXXXX#
Check it with *#67#.
When it worked yesterday and not today
Forwarding settings live on the network, not the phone, so they survive restarts and even new handsets. They do not survive a SIM swap, a new number, or some plan changes. If forwarding has stopped, run the check codes above. If they show disabled, set it up again. It takes a minute.
Keep the codes handy
Save the four codes in your notes app: your setup code, ##61# to turn off, *#61# to check, and ##002# to reset everything. You will want them when you go on leave, when you get a new phone, and when someone in the family "fixes" your settings.
AfterTone subscribers get the codes with their own number filled in, an animated guide for iPhone and Android, and the one-button forwarding check. Start free.