I learned a nice tip today - how to automatically forward phone calls using AT&T, T-Mobile, and many more.

Just call this sequence of numbers from your mobile phone:

*61*1234567890#

... where 1234567890 is the 10-digit number you'd like all missed calls to forward to.

I've heard some carriers don't allow this, but I've tested both AT&T (on my iPhone) and T-Mobile. Both worked perfectly.

Why is this useful?

Other than the ability to quickly set up forwarding for missed phone calls, and easily change it whenever you want, this is useful for people who use consolidated phone management, such as GrandCentral.

GrandCentral gives me one universal number for people to contact me. Once dialed, GrandCentral rings all of my individual phones (home, cell, office, etc). Whichever one I am nearest, I can pick up.

For the case of call forwarding, there may still be people or organizations that still have your old number, and will attempt to call you there. With call forwarding, you are assured that all calls get directed to your GrandCentral number, which... it turn, gets re-directed to that same phone, but also goes to all of your phones, so you'll likely be available to answer.

GrandCentral also allows you to use a single voicemail box, rather than having multiple numbers to dial for voice messages.

Links

I've discussed GrandCentral before: GrandCentral eases caller management.

The original tip was found here: Have a GSM phone and GrandCentral? Here's how to simplify your voicemail, which referenced this Mac OS X Hints post.