Stop Losing Customers to a Busy Line. Forward Calls to an AI Receptionist.

You ring a business. Engaged. You ring again, still engaged.

You give up and call the next name on the list.

Most owners read that and picture a fix that costs money or staff. The real fix is smaller. You forward calls to an AI receptionist and keep your existing number.

Why do businesses miss calls they could easily answer?

Most missed calls are not a mystery. One line is busy, or the team is with a customer.

Or it is after 5pm, on a weekend, or a public holiday. The phone rings out, and the caller moves on.

A missed call is rarely a missed chat. It is your missed sale, your missed booking, your missed patient.

What does it mean to forward calls to an AI receptionist?

You do not replace your phone system. You route the calls it cannot catch.

Your number stays the same. When a call goes unanswered, busy, or comes in after hours, your phone diverts it to an AI agent. The agent answers in seconds.

The agent is not a voicemail box. It talks, answers questions, books jobs, and takes the details your team needs.

We explain the basics in our plain English guide to what an AI voice agent is.

How do you divert calls to an AI agent in New Zealand?

You set it up from your own phone, in under a minute. Dial a short code, add the number the agent answers on, and you are live.

Use these codes to divert only when you do not pick up. Confirm the exact syntax with your provider, because it varies.

Prefer the menu? On iPhone, open Settings, then Phone, then Call Forwarding. On Android, open the Phone app, then Settings, then Call Forwarding.

Want every call to go straight to the agent, day and night? Use *21*[number]# for full diversion instead. The Spark call diversion guide and the One NZ call divert guide are good checks.

How do you divert calls to an AI agent in Australia?

Australia works the same way, with slightly different codes. Again, confirm the syntax with your carrier before you rely on it.

For all calls after hours, use **21*[number]# instead. The Telstra call forwarding guide walks through the menu version too.

You can also point a dedicated number at the agent. We give you a local landline, or an 0800 or 0508 line in New Zealand, a 1300 or 1800 line in Australia.

What does the AI agent actually do once it picks up?

This is where it stops being an answering machine. The agent on your Waboom AI portal works from a knowledge base you control. It answers the real questions your callers ask.

Ask it which part fits, when you open, or what a job costs. It pulls the answer from your documents, the way we describe in our guide to how voice agents retrieve company knowledge.

When a call needs a human, it warm transfers to your team with the context attached. Your staff member picks up already knowing who is calling and why.

We break that handover down in how a transfer keeps its full context.

Every call gets logged, tagged and summarised. Your team sees the ones that matter, which we cover in how call tagging surfaces the calls that matter.

It also sounds local. The agent understands a New Zealand accent, says Kia ora, and pronounces Whangārei and Rotorua properly, as we explain in why a localised persona matters.

And it tells callers what it is. A short line up front, so nobody feels tricked. That transparency keeps you compliant, which we cover in smart AI voice compliance.

Conditional or full diversion: which should you choose?

Conditional diversion is the safe default. Your phone rings first, and the agent only steps in when you miss it, or the line is busy.

It is the backup that catches what falls through. Most businesses start here, because nothing changes about how they answer today.

Full diversion sends every call to the agent. Use it after hours, on weekends, and over public holidays, as we argue in our after hours receptionist guide. An Auckland hotel found 47% more after-hours bookings doing exactly that.

Most of our clients run both. Conditional through the day, full overnight and on holidays. Your callers always reach something that can help.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I forward my calls to an AI receptionist if no one picks up?

Dial a short code from your phone. In New Zealand, Spark uses *61*[number]#, One NZ uses **61*[number]#, and 2degrees uses *61*[number]*11*[seconds]#.

Confirm the exact code with your provider, because the syntax varies.

Do I have to change my phone number?

No. You keep your existing number.

You divert the calls you cannot answer to the number your AI agent uses, and you switch it off any time.

What happens when a caller needs a real person?

The agent warm transfers to your team, with the context of the call attached.

Your staff member picks up already knowing who is calling and why.

Will the AI agent sound like a robot from overseas?

No. The agent on your Waboom AI portal understands a New Zealand accent, says Kia ora, and pronounces local place names properly.

It is built to sound like it belongs here.

Can I send all my after hours calls to the AI agent?

Yes. Use full diversion, *21*[number]# in New Zealand or **21*[number]# in Australia, to send every call straight to your agent.

Switch back to conditional during the day.

The hardest part of this is not the technology. It is realising how often your phone rings out unanswered, quietly, every week.

Want your number answered the moment a call would have rung out? Book a setup conversation and we will have you diverting in a day. If you want the numbers first, see what an AI receptionist costs.