*72 call forwarding — what it does and how to use it

When you dial *72 followed by a destination number, your carrier's switch records a rule: "any call inbound to this line, route to the destination immediately." From the next ring onward, your phone stays silent — every call goes to the destination instead.

It's unconditional because it doesn't check whether you're free, busy, or off — it just forwards. That's the opposite of *71, which only forwards when you can't take the call.

The full sequence on most carriers: 1. Pick up the phone whose number you want to forward. 2. Dial *72 followed by the destination, with no spaces or dashes (e.g. *7218005551234). 3. Press send. 4. Wait for the confirmation tone (a stutter dial tone or three short beeps). 5. Hang up.

All incoming calls from that point forward route to the destination until you cancel with *73.

Carriers that use *72: Verizon (landline, Fios, wireless), Spectrum, Cox, Frontier, CenturyLink, AT&T landline, Bell (CA), Telus (CA), most other North-American copper / cable VoIP providers.

Carriers that DON'T use *72: GSM wireless carriers — AT&T wireless, T-Mobile, Rogers, Freedom Mobile, and most international wireless networks. These use the USSD code **21*<number># instead.

Google Voice doesn't use star codes at all — manage forwarding from voice.google.com → Settings → Calls.

If *72 doesn't work on your line, you're either on a GSM wireless carrier (try **21*<number>#) or on a VoIP plan where star codes are disabled (use the carrier's web portal).

*72 (unconditional) is the right pick when you want every call routed away from your line — vacation, after-hours coverage, handoff to another team member or queue.

*71 (conditional) is the right pick when you want to still answer calls yourself when you're free, and only have busy / unanswered calls roll over to the destination. This is what most small businesses use day-to-day, especially when paired with an answering service or AI receptionist.

Quick decision tree: *will my line ring at all during the forwarded period?* If yes, use *71. If no, use *72.

Dial *73 from the same line that has forwarding active. The carrier responds with the same confirmation tone, and from that point inbound calls ring your phone normally again.

If you set both *72 and *71 at different times, *73 clears whichever is currently active. If forwarding seems to persist after *73, check your carrier's web portal — some VoIP and Fios plans pin the setting there and ignore the star-code cancel.

*72 is also the code behind a widespread phone scam — which is why banks and local news stations now rank alongside carrier help pages for it.

How it works. Someone calls claiming to be your bank, your carrier, a delivery company, or even a relative in trouble. They say there's a problem they can fix on the spot, but you need to 'verify' by dialing a code. The code is *72 followed by their number. The moment you dial it, every call to your phone forwards to the scammer. From then on they receive your incoming calls — including the automated voice calls a bank or app makes to read out a one-time verification code — and can reset passwords or approve transfers in your name. Variants use the GSM version, **21*<their number>#, or *21* on some landlines.

The red flag. No bank, carrier, or government agency will ever ask you to dial a star code to verify anything. A request to dial *72, *21*, or **21* followed by a number is a scam, every time.

If you already dialed it:

1. Dial *73 immediately — or ##21# on AT&T, T-Mobile, and other GSM carriers (##002# clears every forwarding rule at once).
2. Have a friend call your number to confirm it rings your phone again.
3. Call your bank on the number printed on your card, tell them your calls were forwarded, and ask them to check for recent password resets or transfers.
4. Change the passwords on accounts that use phone-call verification, and report the number to your carrier.

Per-device steps are on how to turn off call forwarding.

If you suspect forwarding is on — calls are going straight to voicemail, or you dialed a code you're not sure about — check before you cancel:

• GSM carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, Mint, and most of the world): dial *#21# and press call. The network replies on screen with whether voice-call forwarding is active and the number it points to. *#61#, *#67#, and *#62# check the no-answer, busy, and unreachable conditions.
• Verizon Wireless and Fios: Verizon doesn't publish an interrogation code. Check My Verizon → Call Forwarding, or simply dial *73 — cancelling when nothing is set is harmless.
• iPhone (any carrier): Settings → Phone → Call Forwarding shows the toggle and the destination when your carrier exposes it.
• Android: Phone app → ⋮ → Settings → Calls → Call forwarding lists all four conditions.

The quickest test of all: have someone call you. If your phone doesn't ring and the call lands somewhere else, forwarding is on. If it rings but callers still complain about voicemail, the cause is something else — see why calls go straight to voicemail.