How to divert and forward telephone calls in the UK
Click here for landline divert instructions
Click here for mobile divert instructions
Diverting/Call Forwarding on a BT line:
For further guidance please visit call diversion section here on the BT website or call them on 0800 800 150
Call Divert on all calls:
- SET CALL DIVERSION: *21* [enter telephone answering number] #
- CHECK CALL DIVERSION: *#21#
- CANCEL CALL DIVERSION: #21#
Call Divert on no reply within 15 seconds:
- SET DIVERSION ON NO REPLY: *61* [telephone answering number] #
- CHECK DIVERSION ON NO REPLY: *#61#
- CANCEL DIVERSION ON NO REPLY: #61#
Call Divert on busy:
- SET DIVERSION ON BUSY: *67* [telephone answering number] #
- CHECK DIVERSION ON BUSY: *#67#
- CANCEL DIVERSION ON BUSY: #67#
Call Divert on no reply or busy:
- SET DIVERSION ON NO REPLY & BUSY: *66* [telephone answering number] #
- CHECK DIVERSION ON NO REPLY & BUSY: *#66#
- CANCEL DIVERSION ON NO REPLY & BUSY: #66#
If you require further details on BT Calling features such as the BT landline checker, BT text service or BT voice mail number then please contact BT directly on 0800 800150 or if you are an existing customer use your BT login to access account details online.
All information is correct to the best of our knowlege, although Connect cannot guarantee the veracity of information obtained from third party suppliers. Please confirm this information with your network supplier.
Diverting/Call Forwarding on a Virgin Media landline:
(For further guidance please download Virgin Media FAQs or call them on 0345 454 1111
First, dial 1765 from your Virgin landline to find out which colour area you are in:
For GREEN, BLUE, YELLOW & PURPLE areas use the below:
Call Divert all calls:
- ACTIVATE CALL DIVERSION: *21* [enter destination number] #
- CANCEL CALL DIVERSION: #21#
- CHECK STATUS OF CALL DIVERSION: *#21#
For RED areas use the below:
Call Divert all calls:
- ACTIVATE CALL DIVERSION: *70 [enter destination number] #
- CANCEL CALL DIVERSION: *#70
- CHECK STATUS OF CALL DIVERSION: Feature not available
For all other features please contact Virgin Media or Virgin Mobile directly
All information is correct to the best of our knowlege, although Connect cannot guarantee the veracity of information obtained from third party suppliers. Please confirm this information with your network supplier.
Diverting/Call Forwarding on a Plusnet landline:
For further guidance please visit the Plusnet help section on their website or call the Plusnet Customer Service team on 0800 079 1133.
Diverting ALL calls:
- SET CALL FORWARDING: *21* [enter number to divert to] #
- CANCEL ACTIVE DIVERT: #21#
- CHECK STATUS OF DIVERT: *#21#
Call Divert on no reply:
- SET FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: *61* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: *#61#
- CANCEL FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: #61#
Call Forwarding on busy (same as BT):
- SET FORWARDING ON BUSY: *67* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK FORWARDING ON BUSY: *#67#
- CANCEL FORWARDING ON BUSY: #67#
All information is correct to the best of our knowlege, although Connect cannot guarantee the veracity of information obtained from third party suppliers. Please confirm this information with your network supplier.
Diverting/Call Forwarding on a Sky or TalkTalk landline:
For further guidance please visit either the help and support section of Sky or the TalkTalk help section
You can also call the Customer Service team for Sky on 0333 759 0599 or TalkTalk on 0345 172 0088
Call Forward on all calls:
- SET CALL FORWARDING: *21* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK CALL FORWARDING: *#21#
- CANCEL CALL FORWARDING: #21#
Call Divert on no reply:
- SET FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: *61* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: *#61#
- CANCEL FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: #61#
Call Forwarding on busy (same as BT):
- SET FORWARDING ON BUSY: *67* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK FORWARDING ON BUSY: *#67#
- CANCEL FORWARDING ON BUSY: #67#
All information is correct to the best of our knowlege, although Connect cannot guarantee the veracity of information obtained from third party suppliers. Please confirm this information with your network supplier.
Diverting Calls on a Vodafone landline:
For help please visit the Vodafone website section on call divert or call Vodafone Customer Service on 0333 3040 191.
Call Forward on all calls:
- SET CALL FORWARDING: *21* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK CALL FORWARDING: *#21#
- CANCEL CALL FORWARDING: #21#
Call Divert on no reply:
- SET FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: *61* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: *#61#
- CANCEL FORWARDING ON NO REPLY: #61#
Call Forwarding if busy:
- SET FORWARDING ON BUSY: *67* [enter number to divert to] #
- CHECK FORWARDING ON BUSY: *#67#
- CANCEL FORWARDING ON BUSY: #67#
All information is correct to the best of our knowlege, although Connect cannot guarantee the veracity of information obtained from third party suppliers. Please confirm this information with your network supplier.
How to set up Skype Call Forwarding:
For further help please visit the call forwarding support section of Skype
Much the same as other provider’s call divert functions but Skype choose to call this “call forwarding” which allows you to send calls to another landline or mobile number, voicemail or even another Skype contact.
Sign in to your Skpe account and follow these instructions:
- Go to the “Manage Features” section and click on CALL FORWARDING
- To enable you need to switch the
button to 
and decide HOW MANY SECONDS to forward calls after - At this point you can choose to either:
- send calls to LANDLINE OR MOBILE NUMBER (select country and add number)
- send to VOICE MESSAGING (voicemail)
- forward to another SKYPE ACCOUNT (you need to enter the account name)
- Click on CONFIRM to finish programming
All information is correct to the best of our knowlege, although Connect cannot guarantee the veracity of information obtained from third party suppliers. Please confirm this information with your network supplier.
How to set up call forwarding on your mobile:
Diverting Calls to Connect’s Call Answering Service
Each new client is welcomed to our service with their own, unique telephone answering number that we provide. This number can be given to your clients direct to call in on, however, the vast majority of our clients choose to divert their existing office number to us.
You choose when to use us
As most of our clients divert their telephone calls to us, it means that they are in control of when they are using their telephone answering service. Some choose to send all calls through, some when they are on lunch and some when they are otherwise engaged: our staff are always ready for your calls.
Frequently Asked Questions About Diverting Calls to Connect
Why do I need to set up call divert to use the Connect call answering service?
When you set up an account with Connect we will allocate a unique telephone number to your company, our systems are configured to recognise that all calls on that particular number are for your company. Our operators are then automatically shown your individual company greeting as they pick up your calls, a bespoke script is then followed to ensure callers are dealt with exactly as you instruct.
Do I need to divert all my company calls to you?
No, but some companies do, it really is up to you when and how we answer you calls. Please see above for the divert codes to:
- divert all calls
- divert when your line is engaged
- divert when there is no answer on your line
- divert when line is engaged or when there is no answer
I don’t have a business telephone line, can I still use your service?
That’s okay, we can provide you with a local presence number (0208,0161,0131 etc) for any part of the UK, a freephone number or a 033 local rate number that you can market to clients direct. We call this type of telephone number a “smart number” as it does not sit on top of a physical line.
Clients making use of a smart number can choose to send all calls to us or use the extensive programming options to send some calls to Connect, some to a mobile (depending on time or day for example), some to voicemail, the options available are huge
Page Last Updated: May 3rd, 2023