Keep Your Own Number

Why forward instead of switching

A clinic with its number painted on the board, printed on prescription pads and listed on Google Maps does not want a new number. Every one of those places is a place the old number keeps ringing, and a business cannot change them all at once.

Forwarding solves it in the other direction: the number everyone already has stays yours, and the calls it cannot answer arrive at a Decibyl agent instead of at nobody.

You keep:

• The number on your signage, your cards and your Maps listing
• Your existing SIM and plan
• The ability to answer in person whenever you want to

Note

Forwarding is set on your line, by you, from your own handset. Decibyl cannot set it for you — no platform can, because the instruction goes to your telecom operator from the SIM that owns the number.

Pick which calls the agent should take

This is the decision that matters, and most businesses get more out of the second or third option than the first.

What you want	Forward on
The agent answers everything	Always
Somebody answers when free, the agent catches the rest	Busy, and no reply
The agent covers nights and Sundays only	Always — switched on when you close
The agent catches calls when the phone is off or out of range	Unreachable

Busy + no reply is the common answer for a front desk. The receptionist keeps answering; the agent picks up the second and third caller who would otherwise have heard an engaged tone, and the ones nobody reached in time.

Set it from your handset

These are the standard GSM codes. Dial them like a phone number, from the SIM whose calls you want forwarded, and replace <decibyl number> with the number shown on your agent’s Channels tab — including the country code, as +91XXXXXXXXXX.

Forward on	Turn on	Turn off
Always	**21*<decibyl number>#	##21#
Busy	**67*<decibyl number>#	##67#
No reply	**61*<decibyl number>#	##61#
Unreachable	**62*<decibyl number>#	##62#
(all of the above)	—	##002#

To set busy and no reply, dial the two codes one after the other. They are separate settings and do not replace each other.

Check it took

Dial *#21# to see what your line is currently forwarding, and to where. Do this every time — the confirmation a handset shows after dialling a code is sometimes shown whether or not the operator accepted it.

Note

On some Indian networks the codes are handled by the operator’s own app or service number rather than by the handset, and on a landline they are almost always set by the operator on request rather than by dialling. If *#21# does not confirm the forward, call your operator and ask them to set “call forwarding on busy and no answer” to the Decibyl number. It is a routine request; the person on the other end will know it.

Then test it, before you rely on it

Forwarding that was set but not confirmed is the failure that hurts, because it looks identical to working until a caller is lost.

1. Ring your own number from a different phone and let it ring out. The agent should answer.
2. If you forwarded on busy, be on a call and have somebody else ring you. The agent should answer.
3. Open the agent and check the call is listed with what it did.

If the call rings out to your own voicemail instead of the agent, the forward did not take. Re-dial *#21# and check.

What this costs

Two legs, and only one of them is ours:

• Your operator charges you for forwarding the call from your number to ours. This is a normal outgoing-call charge on your own plan, and it is between you and your operator.
• Decibyl charges for the call the agent answers, at your per-minute rate.

A forwarded call is therefore slightly more expensive than a call to a Decibyl number directly. For most businesses that is worth paying to keep the number their customers already know, but it is worth knowing before the first bill.

When to use a Decibyl number instead

Forwarding is the right answer when the number matters. Take a managed number instead when:

• You are starting a new line anyway — a campaign number, a new branch
• You want calls placed out, not just answered; a forwarded number cannot make outbound calls
• Your line is a landline your operator will not forward