Forwarding Your Business Number to Pazira: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone Codes Explained

Why forwarding your number matters

A missed call rarely stays missed for long — the customer just rings the next business on the list. For a tradie under a vehicle, a clinic mid-appointment, or a salon owner with a client in the chair, the phone is often the one thing nobody can get to.

Call forwarding solves this without changing your number or your SIM. You tell your phone where to send calls, and it does the rest. The question is just which calls, and when.

Illustrative example, not a real customer. Picture a solo electrician whose mobile number is on his business card, his van and his invoices. He doesn't want a new number — he wants his existing one to still work for him while he's up a ladder.

The codes, carrier by carrier

The codes below are the standard GSM mobile codes used across Australian networks, and they typically work the same way whether a phone is on Telstra, Optus or Vodafone. That said, carriers can change support arrangements, plan inclusions and handset behaviour over time, so treat this as a starting point rather than a guarantee. Before you rely on these for a real business line, it's worth checking your current plan and your carrier's own support pages, or confirming during the setup call mentioned below.

You dial the code like a phone number and press call. No app, no login, no new hardware.

Forward every call (unconditional forwarding)

This sends every incoming call straight to another number, without your phone ringing at all.

• Turn on: dial **21*[number]# and press call
• Check status: dial *#21# and press call
• Cancel: dial ##21# and press call

Replace [number] with the number you're forwarding to, no spaces or brackets.

Forward only the calls you miss (conditional forwarding)

Conditional forwarding only kicks in when you don't, or can't, answer. There are three versions, and you can set up any or all of them:

No answer — diverts a call after it rings out on your phone.

• Turn on: **61*[number]#, press call
• Cancel: ##61#

Busy — diverts a call if you're already on another call.

• Turn on: **67*[number]#, press call
• Cancel: ##67#

Unreachable — diverts a call if your phone is off or out of coverage.

• Turn on: **62*[number]#, press call
• Cancel: ##62#

Illustrative example, not a real customer. A clinic receptionist might set up all three at once: calls that ring out, calls that hit a busy line while she's booking someone in, and calls that can't reach her phone over a patchy mobile signal in the back room — all landing in the same place.

Changing how long your phone rings first

By default, "no answer" forwarding usually waits around 20 seconds before diverting. You can set this yourself:

**61*[number]**[seconds]#, press call

The seconds field typically accepts 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30, though it's worth confirming your handset and carrier support the value you choose before relying on it. A salon owner who wants a few extra seconds to finish rinsing a client's hair before the call moves on might try 25 or 30 seconds instead of the default.

If a mistake happens — wrong number typed, wrong code dialled — you can dial ##002# and press call to cancel every active forwarding setting on your phone in one go. After cancelling, it's a good habit to dial the relevant status code (like *#21#) to confirm forwarding is actually off, since what you see on screen can vary a little by handset and carrier.

Choosing your mode: everything, or just the overflow

There's no single right answer here — it depends on how the business runs day to day.

Forward every call when the phone genuinely can't be answered during a stretch of time: a tradie booked solid on-site all day, a clinic closed overnight, a real estate agent doing back-to-back open homes on a Saturday. Unconditional forwarding means nothing rings through to a phone sitting in a ute or a pocket where it can't be reached anyway.

Forward only unanswered calls when the owner still wants first crack at calls when they're free, with a safety net underneath. A hair and beauty salon might answer most calls during opening hours but let Pazira pick up anything that rings out while the owner is mid-cut, or anything that comes in after close.

A real estate agency could run both at different times: open homes and inspection days on unconditional, normal office hours on conditional no-answer only.

Turning forwarding off

Switching forwarding off uses the same dial-and-press-call method as turning it on.

• Cancel unconditional: ##21#
• Cancel no-answer: ##61#
• Cancel busy: ##67#
• Cancel unreachable: ##62#
• Cancel everything at once: ##002#

All five use the same simple dial-and-press-call approach. Exactly what you see on your screen afterwards, and how quickly the change takes effect, can vary a little by handset and carrier — so if it matters, check the relevant status code once you've cancelled, and confirm with Telstra, Optus or Vodafone support if anything looks off.

A note on your mobile plan

One more thing worth checking before you forward calls for long stretches: how your carrier treats those calls once they're diverted. Depending on your plan, forwarded calls may draw on your own plan's call allowance, or be charged separately. This is between you and your carrier rather than something Pazira controls, so it's worth a quick check with Telstra, Optus or Vodafone before you set forwarding to run all day, every day, so there are no surprises on your next bill.

Landlines and hosted phone systems work differently

These star-and-hash codes are for mobile handsets. If a business runs on a fixed landline or a hosted phone system rather than a mobile, forwarding is usually managed through a web portal, or a different feature code specific to that system, rather than the mobile codes above. It's worth checking with whoever manages that system — or asking during the setup call below — before assuming the mobile codes will work there too.

The easier path: let a real person set it up

Typing a star-and-hash code correctly, with the right number in the right place, isn't hard — but it's easy to second-guess yourself the first time, especially when a wrong digit means calls go somewhere unexpected.

Every Pazira account includes a free 15-minute setup call with a real person. They'll talk through which code fits your situation, confirm the number to forward to, and check the line with you before you hang up — so you're not doing this alone or left wondering whether it worked.

Once it's live, Pazira answers the calls that come through, books the job or the appointment where it can, and texts the owner a summary straight after. (Any screenshots of this shown elsewhere use sample data for an invented business — never a real caller's details.)

Pazira's plans are After-Hours at $49.99 + GST a month for 100 minutes (evenings from 5pm, weekends and public holidays), Plan 99 at $99 + GST a month for 400 minutes (about 200 calls), Plan 249 at $249 + GST a month for 1,000 minutes (about 500 calls), and Custom from $499 + GST a month — all based on an average of two minutes a call, with a grace month if you go over, once, up to double your plan's minutes.

If you'd rather hear it first, try the "Call me now" demo at pazira.com.au and Pazira will ring you within seconds. Or start the 7-day free trial with card on file — cancel in two clicks — and let Pazira's team walk you through the forwarding setup.