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Set up call forwarding for unanswered and busy calls

Forward unanswered and busy calls from the regular office phone to the location's MCD AI number.

Verified July 11, 2026

Set conditional call forwarding FROM the regular office phone number your patients already call TO the MCD AI number shown in Phone setup.

Turn on forwarding for unanswered calls and busy calls. Do not turn on forwarding for all calls.

The correct call path

Patient calls → Office phone rings → The call is unanswered or busy → MCD AI number → AI answers

Patients keep calling the office number they already know. The MCD AI number is the forwarding destination. It does not replace the clinic's public office number.

Before you start

Have these items ready:

  • The regular office phone number patients call.
  • The MCD AI number shown for the same location in Phone setup.
  • The exact name of the office's phone provider and phone product.
  • Access to the phone system's administrator portal, or contact information for the person or company that manages the phones.

The company name alone may not identify the correct instructions. One provider can offer a traditional line, a cloud phone system, a mobile line, and other products with different menus and commands.

Check the phone bill, administrator portal, phone application, desk-phone label, service agreement, or the office's phone or IT administrator to identify the exact product.

Where to configure forwarding

Forwarding is configured in the office's phone service, not inside Missed Calls Dental.

  • For a traditional or cable business line, use the provider's portal, supported phone commands, or provider support.
  • For a cloud business phone system, look in the administrator portal under Call handling, Call routing, Call forwarding, or Missed calls.
  • If the main office number uses an auto attendant, call queue, hunt group, or several extensions, configure the main inbound call flow. Changing one desk phone may not affect the public office number.
  • If an outside company manages the phone system, ask that company to make the change.

Required setting 1: unanswered calls

Look for a setting such as:

  • When no answer
  • No Answer
  • No Reply
  • Unanswered
  • Missed calls
  • Queue timeout

Send that condition to the MCD AI number for the location.

The office phone must ring first. Set forwarding to occur before office voicemail answers while still giving the front desk time to answer. If the system allows it, start around 3–4 rings or 15–20 seconds, then confirm the behavior with the forwarding test.

If voicemail answers first, reduce the no-answer delay, increase the voicemail pickup delay, or change the phone system's missed-call destination from voicemail to the MCD AI number.

Required setting 2: busy calls

Look for a separate setting such as:

  • When busy
  • Busy
  • Line busy
  • User busy
  • No agents available
  • Queue full
  • Overflow

Send that condition to the same MCD AI number.

On a multi-line system, call waiting, hunt group, or call queue, one employee being on a call may not make the main number busy. Configure the busy or overflow rule on the main number, queue, or inbound call flow that receives patient calls.

Do not use full forwarding

For normal setup, leave these settings off:

  • Always Forward
  • Forward All Calls
  • Unconditional Forwarding
  • Immediate Forwarding

Those settings can send every call directly to the MCD AI number and prevent the office phone from ringing.

If the provider does not offer unanswered and busy forwarding, do not substitute full forwarding. Ask the provider or phone-system administrator for the correct conditional or overflow configuration.

Preserve the original caller ID

Ask the provider or phone-system administrator to preserve the original caller's phone number when forwarding externally.

Some phone systems replace the caller's number with the office number or add a prefix. That can prevent Missed Calls Dental from recognizing the original caller correctly. The MCD forwarding test checks the controlled test call, but provider behavior should also be confirmed for the clinic's normal inbound call flow.

Official starting points for common phone products

Use instructions only for the exact product on the clinic's account. Provider interfaces and supported features can change.

AT&T Phone or AT&T Phone Advanced

AT&T documents separate commands for conditional forwarding:

  • Busy: dial *90, enter the MCD AI number, then press #.
  • Turn Busy forwarding off: dial *91#.
  • No Answer: dial *92, enter the MCD AI number, then press #.
  • Turn No Answer forwarding off: dial *93#.

Do not use *72 for normal MCD setup because it forwards all calls.

These commands apply to AT&T Phone products, not automatically to AT&T Office@Hand, AT&T Wireless, an older landline, or a local PBX. See AT&T Phone calling features and star codes.

AT&T Office@Hand

For a user or extension in the desktop or web application, open Settings → Phone → Call handling → Edit. Under the applicable work hours, set Missed calls → Forward to external number, enter the MCD AI number, and save.

AT&T's linked guide documents user-level missed-call handling. It does not establish the busy or overflow route for every company number or queue. If the public office number uses a shared call flow, have the Office@Hand administrator configure and verify that flow separately. See AT&T Office@Hand user call forwarding.

Verizon Business Digital Voice

In the User Portal, open Call Settings → Call Forwarding. Enable When Busy and When no answer separately, enter the MCD AI number for both, choose the number of rings for No Answer, and save. Leave Always off.

See Verizon Business Digital Voice Call Forwarding.

Verizon One Talk

In the One Talk Portal, open Manage Features → User Features → Call Forwarding, or select the line under Lines & Devices and open User Features → Call Forwarding. Configure Busy and No Answer for the MCD AI number. Leave Always off.

One Talk may default No Answer to five rings or about 30 seconds. Adjust it only as needed so forwarding occurs before voicemail while the office still has time to answer. See the Verizon One Talk Administrator Guide.

Nextiva

For a direct user line in the current NP3 portal, an administrator opens Users → Manage Users, selects the user, and expands Forwarding.

  • Open Call Forwarding when Unanswered, enter the MCD AI number, choose the number of rings, and save.
  • Open Call Forwarding when Busy, enter the same MCD AI number, and save.
  • Leave always forwarding off.

Nextiva states that these user rules apply to direct calls, not calls distributed by a call center or call group. If the clinic's public number uses a group, configure that group's routing instead. See Nextiva's official No Answer guide and Busy guide.

RingCentral RingEX

First identify whether the public office number belongs to a direct user, a company call-handling rule, or a call queue. In the RingCentral Admin Portal, open the current Call handling settings for the user, company number, or queue that actually receives patient calls.

  • Keep the office devices or agents first so the front desk can answer.
  • Send the missed or unanswered outcome to the external MCD AI number.
  • For a company number or queue, configure its own overflow or no-members-available outcome rather than changing one user's extension.
  • Leave Forward all calls off.

RingCentral's menus and support article URLs change. Open RingCentral Support and use its current Setting up call forwarding rules, Call handling for Admins, or Company call handling guidance for the exact RingEX configuration. If the current portal does not expose an external no-answer, busy, or overflow destination, contact the RingCentral administrator or support instead of substituting full forwarding.

Zoom Phone

For a user line, open the Zoom web portal and go to Zoom Phone → Settings. An administrator opens Admin Center → Product configuration → Phone system → Users & Rooms, selects the user, and opens User Settings. Edit Call Handling under the applicable Business Hours or Closed Hours.

Zoom requires the user to have a Direct Inward Dial (DID) number for external forwarding. An extension-only user cannot forward calls to the MCD AI number.

  • Add the MCD AI number as an external contact or external number.
  • For non-queue calls, clear Require to press 1 before connecting the call. Zoom selects it by default, and leaving it on prevents an unattended MCD destination from connecting normally.
  • Under When I'm busy on another call, choose Forward to External Contacts instead of voicemail, call waiting, or a busy signal.
  • Under When a call is not answered, choose Forward to External Contacts.

For call queues, Zoom does not allow the Require to press 1 setting to be turned off. Do not mark the standard forwarding route complete if the queue still requires a key press. Ask the Zoom Phone administrator to create and separately verify a queue or auto-receptionist route that connects to the MCD AI number without manual input, or use another supported inbound call flow.

See Zoom's official call handling settings guide.

Comcast Business

Comcast offers several different phone products. Confirm whether the clinic uses Comcast Business Voice, Business VoiceEdge, legacy VoiceEdge Select, or another product before following instructions.

For a direct Comcast Business Voice line, the official guide documents separate Busy and No Answer forwarding. Comcast also states that Busy forwarding is not available with a Hunt Group and that No Answer forwarding should not be activated on a phone that belongs to a Hunt Group. If the public office number uses a Hunt Group, configure the missed-call route at the hunt-group or system level with Comcast or the phone administrator.

For Business VoiceEdge, use the matching call-handling guide for the user, group, or other inbound flow that owns the public office number. If the clinic still uses legacy VoiceEdge Select, use its matching guide; Comcast states that VoiceEdge Select has not been available since July 8, 2022.

Use the matching official guide: Business VoiceEdge forwarding, legacy VoiceEdge Select forwarding, or Comcast Business Voice forwarding.

Spectrum Business

Spectrum documents Forwarding No Answer / Busy, but availability can depend on the product and region. Confirm the exact product and that this feature is enabled for the clinic's line. Do not replace it with Call Forwarding Always.

If the portal does not show No Answer / Busy, contact Spectrum Business support or the clinic's phone administrator. See the Spectrum Business Voice feature sheet.

T-Mobile mobile line

T-Mobile documents separate network commands:

  • No reply: dial **61*1, the ten-digit MCD AI number, then #.
  • Turn No Reply forwarding off: dial ##61#.
  • Busy: dial **67*1, the ten-digit MCD AI number, then #.
  • Turn Busy forwarding off: dial ##67#.

Do not use unconditional forwarding for normal MCD setup. Device menus and plan support may vary, so confirm the result before leaving the setting in place. See T-Mobile self-service short codes.

If your product is not listed

Use the provider's official documentation or contact the provider or phone-system administrator. Do not use a star code copied from a generic internet article.

You can give the provider this instruction:

Please enable conditional call forwarding from our main office number to our MCD AI number when calls are unanswered and when the line or call group is busy. Keep the office phone ringing first, do not enable unconditional or always forwarding, preserve the original caller ID, and make sure forwarding occurs before voicemail answers.

Do not include passwords, patient information, or other private information when requesting help.

Finish setup in Missed Calls Dental

After configuring the phone system:

  1. Return to Phone setup for the correct location.
  2. Confirm the saved office phone and MCD AI number.
  3. Check I set up call forwarding.
  4. Select Test forwarding.
  5. Do not answer, reject, or manually transfer the test call.
  6. Wait for Forwarding confirmed.

The automated test primarily confirms the unanswered-call path. It does not create a busy condition on a multi-line system. Confirm the Busy or Overflow rule separately with the phone-system administrator or a controlled office test.

Forwarding setup does not activate patient texting. Texting approval and texting settings are separate.

Change or stop forwarding later

If the office phone changes, save the new office phone in MCD, update the phone-system rules, and run the forwarding test again.

Disconnect forwarding setup clears the saved forwarding state for that MCD AI number inside Missed Calls Dental. It does not change the provider's settings. To stop forwarded calls completely, also turn forwarding off in the office's phone system.

Each location must use its own office phone and assigned MCD AI number.