Conditional forwarding
Conditional forwarding is call forwarding that triggers only on a condition: no answer after a set number of rings, a busy line, or a phone that is switched off or out of coverage. Every other call rings your phone as normal, so you answer when you can and hand off only the calls you would otherwise have missed.
Why it matters for a service company
Most owners do not want to give up the phone. They want to take the call from the property manager they have worked with for years and let something else catch the ones that come in while they are on a ladder, under a sink, or already talking to another customer. That is the gap this setting covers, and it maps to three real situations.
- No answer. You are working and the phone rings out. After the set number of rings the call moves on instead of hitting voicemail.
- Busy. You are on one call and a second one arrives. This is overflow, and it is where a second job is most often lost.
- Unreachable. The phone is off, dead, or in a basement with no signal. The caller never hears the not-available recording.
The ring count matters more than it looks. A caller who waits through many rings assumes nobody is there and hangs up before the handoff. Ask your carrier how many rings pass before the forward kicks in and whether you can shorten it. The dial codes for turning the setting on and off differ by carrier and plan, so check your own rather than copying a code from a forum. The guide to no answer call forwarding has the carrier-by-carrier detail.
How DispatchLine handles it
This is a common starting point, and a natural way to begin the free trial: after-hours or overflow forwarding to the local DispatchLine number that comes with your account. During the day your phone rings first. When you do not pick up, the line is busy, or the phone is off, the agent answers, says it is an automated assistant and, when recording is on, that the call may be recorded, then triages the reason for the call, and books routine work into an arrival window on your board. Emergencies follow the action you chose in the portal, which can include a live transfer to a number you set.
You keep your number and your carrier. Turning the setting off with the carrier’s code puts every call straight back on your phone. If you are weighing it against sending everything, see unconditional call forwarding, which sends every call. Each forwarded call shows in the portal with its outcome, plus its recording, transcript and summary while recording is on, and you get a booking or urgent alert by email. The forwarding guide has the steps, and the call answering feature page covers what the agent does once it picks up.
Related terms
New field guides by email
Guides for home-service businesses on answering calls, call triage and after-hours coverage: the title, a short summary and a link for up to six of the newest guides on this site. At most one email every 30 days.