How to Forward Your Business Calls to an AI Receptionist in Australia (Carrier-by-Carrier Guide, 2026)

If you have just signed up for an AI receptionist, the next question is the boring but critical one: how do you actually point your existing business number at it? Most providers will tell you "just forward your calls" and leave you to work out which combination of star codes, network settings, and carrier portals applies to you.

This guide answers that. We cover the five mainstream Australian carriers (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, TPG / iiNet, Aussie Broadband) plus Belong, the most common VoIP setups, and what to do when call forwarding misbehaves.

The three setups that actually work

Before the carrier-specific instructions, here is the architecture decision you need to make first. Most Australian businesses end up with one of three patterns:

Setup 1. Get a new AI number, keep your existing line untouched

Frontly (or any AI receptionist) provisions you a fresh Australian local number. You publish that number on your Google Business Profile, website footer, business cards, and ad creative. Your existing landline or mobile keeps doing whatever it does now: nothing changes.

Best for: new businesses, sole traders without an established business number, anyone who doesn't want to risk breaking an existing flow.

Setup time: under 30 minutes. No carrier involvement at all.

Setup 2. Forward your existing number to the AI 24/7

Your existing business number routes to the AI on every call. You keep the number you have always had. The AI is your front desk for everything that comes in.

Best for: established businesses where the existing number is already on hundreds of business cards, GMB listings, and supplier records, and reprinting is more pain than the forwarding setup.

Setup time: 15 minutes once you know the carrier code.

Setup 3. Hybrid: forward only after-hours and on no-answer

Your existing number rings as normal during business hours. After-hours, weekends, public holidays, and any call you do not pick up within 4 to 6 rings forwards to the AI.

Best for: businesses with a real receptionist or a small team that wants to keep the human-first feel during the day, but never miss a call after hours. The most common production setup.

Setup time: 15 to 30 minutes depending on carrier.

If you are not sure, start with Setup 2 and switch to Setup 3 later. Switching is one carrier code away.

Universal call-forwarding star codes

Australia's carriers all support the GSM forwarding codes for mobile, with minor variations. Memorise these four:

Replace [forward number] with the AI receptionist number, including the country code in international format: `+61391148687`.

For Setup 3 (the hybrid) you typically use \*\*61\* (forward on no-answer) plus \*\*62\* (forward when off / unreachable). For Setup 2 (forward everything) use \*\*21\*.

Telstra

Telstra Mobile (consumer + business plans)

The GSM star codes above work directly. Dial \*\*21\*+61391148687# and tap call. You will see a confirmation. Test by calling your own mobile from another phone: it should ring through to the AI.

To set up after-hours forwarding only, schedule it manually before you leave the office. There is no native scheduled forwarding on Telstra Mobile, so most businesses pair the no-answer forward (\*\*61\*) with a short ring duration so unanswered calls roll over fast.

Telstra Business landline (Smart Business)

Log into the Telstra Business portal at telstra.com.au/business, navigate to Phone & Internet → Manage Calls → Call Forwarding. Set the destination to your AI number. Save.

For more granular control (time-of-day forwarding, weekday vs weekend rules) Telstra offers a paid feature called Smart Business Call Routing. Around $20/month per line. Worth it if you want true hybrid scheduling without doing it manually each morning.

Telstra cost

Forwarded calls are billed as if you made the call from your line to the destination. National forwarding to a 02/03/07/08 number is normally free or near-free on most Telstra business plans. Confirm with your account manager before turning on 24/7 forwarding for a high-volume line.

Optus

Optus Mobile

Same GSM codes as Telstra. \*\*21\*+61391148687# for forward all. Verify by dialling \*#21# to see your current forward setting.

Optus Business landline + NBN voice

Optus business voice is mostly delivered over NBN now. Log into My Account at optus.com.au, navigate to your Optus Loop or Smart Hub product, and find Call Settings → Call Forwarding. Set the immediate or no-answer forward.

For business customers on Optus Loop (their cloud PBX), call forwarding rules can be scheduled (business hours / after-hours) directly from the admin console. This is the cleanest hybrid setup of any major AU carrier.

Optus cost

Standard call forwarding to AU numbers is included on most Optus business plans. International forwarding (rare for AI receptionists since they should be AU-hosted) is metered.

Vodafone

Vodafone Mobile

Standard GSM codes work. \*\*21\*+61391148687# to forward all.

Vodafone Business

Most Vodafone business voice customers are now on Vodafone One Net or have migrated to a Telstra wholesale partner. If on One Net, call forwarding rules including time-of-day are configured in the One Net portal under Call Routing.

Vodafone cost

Standard forwarding fees apply. Australian-to-Australian forwarding is included in nearly every business plan.

TPG and iiNet

TPG and iiNet are now the same group. Their business voice is delivered as VoIP via TPG Business Phone or iiNet Business Phone.

Set up forwarding through your TPG / iiNet My Account portal, under My Services → Phone Service → Call Diversion. You can set:

• Forward all calls
• Forward on no-answer (default 6 second timer; configurable)
• Forward when busy
• Forward when unavailable

For scheduled forwarding (business hours vs after-hours) you need the TPG Business Phone Plus add-on, which costs around $10/mo per line and is worth it if you want true hybrid setup without manual toggling.

TPG cost

Forwarding fees are typically included for AU destinations on business plans. Confirm before setting up forwarding to a national number.

Aussie Broadband

Aussie Broadband resells phone services and their business voice is generally cleaner to configure than the major carriers because of the smaller customer base and better support.

For Aussie Broadband Phone Service, log into My Aussie, go to Services → Phone → Call Forwarding, and set the destination. They support immediate, no-answer, busy, and unavailable forwards out of the box.

For their Business Voice product (a hosted PBX), open the admin console and configure forwarding rules per extension, with optional time-of-day scheduling.

Aussie Broadband cost

Call forwarding to AU numbers is included on all Aussie Broadband phone plans we have checked.

Belong (and other Telstra wholesale resellers)

Belong runs on Telstra wholesale. The standard GSM codes work on Belong Mobile. Belong's home phone product is being phased out, so most Belong customers are mobile-only. If you are running a small business off a Belong mobile, the GSM star codes are the only option (no portal-based scheduling).

VoIP / cloud PBX setups (3CX, Aircall, 8x8, RingCentral)

If you have a cloud PBX, forwarding is configured at the PBX layer, not the carrier layer. The destination is your AI receptionist's SIP address (Frontly provides one on request) or just the AI's local AU number.

The advantage: your PBX rules engine handles time-of-day, queue overflow, agent availability, and warm-transfer-back-to-PBX cleanly. This is the gold-standard setup for businesses with an existing phone system that they want to keep but augment with AI for inbound and overflow.

For Frontly customers running 3CX or Aircall, we typically configure forwarding so the AI answers first, qualifies the caller, and warm-transfers anything genuinely needing a human into your existing PBX queue. The team's experience does not change.

What to do if forwarding misbehaves

A few things go wrong more often than you would think:

"I dialled the code but calls still ring my phone"

You probably dialled it wrong. The most common mistake is forgetting the country code on the destination: +61 is required, not just 0. Try again with \*\*21\*+61391148687#. To check your current forward state, dial \*#21# for forward all, \*#61# for no-answer.

"The AI never picks up"

Test the AI number directly first. Call it from another phone. If it rings through, the issue is the forward setup. If it rings out, the AI itself is misconfigured. Frontly customers can verify in their dashboard.

"Calls forward but I'm being charged"

Most AU-to-AU forwarding is included in business plans, but a handful of older plans (especially Telstra Smart Business pre-2018) bill forwarded calls as outbound. Check one cycle of itemised billing after you go live and switch plans if needed.

"My carrier portal doesn't have a call forwarding option"

You are probably on a wholesale-only plan. Call your carrier and ask them to enable call forwarding on the line. Takes 5 minutes. Sometimes free, sometimes a small one-time fee.

Final checklist before you go live

Before you commit to forwarding 100% of your inbound to the AI:

1. Make a test call to your AI number from a phone the AI does not know. Confirm it answers and behaves as expected. 2. Make a test call to your existing business number from a different phone. Confirm the forward works end-to-end. 3. Check your itemised billing after the first cycle. Confirm there are no surprise charges. 4. Notify your team, especially if anyone was relying on the existing line as a personal contact channel. 5. Update your Google Business Profile, website footer, email signature, and supplier records IF you provisioned a brand-new AI number. Skip this if you forwarded the existing number.

You're done

Once forwarding is on, your AI receptionist is live. From the next inbound call onwards, every enquiry gets answered (24/7, no voicemails), every appointment gets booked into your Frontly dashboard, and every lead gets logged with the full transcript ready for your team to act on.

If you have not picked an AI receptionist yet, [activate Frontly](/get-started) and your number forwarding instructions are sent with your login details. Most Australian businesses are live the same business day they sign up.