This is a question that crops up a lot. You get to work and realise that your mobile is still at home. Sadly going home is out of the question so can you get your calls diverted asap to whatever phone you have with you? Unfortunately, the answer is no, a mobile can be diverted, but you do need to have it with you to do that. We look at the issue in a little more detail.

Possible Criminal Activity

The problem we would have if we could divert phones without having them with us is the crime potential is huge. If you can get a phone transferred elsewhere then for a start think of the paps who would be tapping into celebrity phones and happily taking their calls hoping to stumble onto a bit of newsworthy gossip.

While most of us do not live such exciting lives that anyone would be after the goss, it would still be a massive breach of your privacy if potentially your phone number could be placed on divert without you having the handset.

Not Secure Enough

Currently mobile phone providers do not feel that there is a secure enough way to do this, Some carriers offer the potential to forward calls from there end, but this is usually only in emergency cases where you have had your phone stolen or lost it. At the same time, the mobile phone will be rendered useless and become challenging to reinstate so you can see why they would rather not do it.

Call forwarding is still a useful feature, and something people do use all the time. There are ways of forwarding most phone numbers to somewhere else, the intricacies depend on the handset and provider you use, but require you to have the phone you want to divert in your hand to set it up.

Divert to Another Mobile Phone

So, you could redirect your personal mobile to a work mobile and leave the personal phone at home. Of course, this could be useful if you cannot have your phone with you. If you are waiting for a really important call and cannot be with your phone, you could divert it to someone you trust, but again this must be done while you are with the handset. 

It seems to be a hotly debated feature, and some carriers have tried it and later removed the ability, so if you are really in a pickle, it might be worth getting hold of your carrier and seeing where they are with call forwarding when you do not have the handset with you.

Setting it up in advance remains the safest way, and it is a helpful feature that means you could leave the phone safely at home in many situations where it would be tricky to take it with you. Safety and customer privacy has to be the biggest concern, so until there is thought to be a robust process in place that cannot be abused, it is best to assume that the answer is no.