Conditional Call Forwarding

Forwarding is the practical bridge between your existing phone number and a voice agent. Unconditional forwarding sends every call; conditional forwarding sends calls only when a condition is met, so your team still answers when it can and the agent covers the rest.

The common conditions. No answer forwards after a set number of rings (often three or four). Busy forwards when the line is engaged. Schedule-based forwarding, set in the phone system or carrier portal, sends everything to the agent outside business hours. Overflow in a multi-line system forwards when all lines are in use.

How to set it up. On a carrier line, forwarding is usually a dial code or a setting in the carrier app; on VoIP systems such as RingCentral, Vonage or a PBX, it is a call-handling rule. Botcadence provides the destination number for the agent; you keep your published number.

Caller ID and transfers. Forwarded calls normally show the original caller's number to the agent, which the agent uses for lookups and callbacks. When the agent transfers to a person, it dials out to that person's number and bridges the call with the context attached.

Testing. Call your number from a mobile, let it ring past the threshold, and confirm the agent answers; then test during and outside hours. Change the rule any time; the agent does not care which condition sent the call.

Example. A plumbing company forwards on no-answer after four rings during the day and unconditionally from 6 pm to 7 am. The office still answers most daytime calls; the agent handles the rest and every night call. See the inbound voice agent page.