LARA

Conditional call forwarding from your carrier

Send only the calls your team didn't pick up to LARA. Your real number stays the one customers see — LARA just catches the drops.

Colin LawlessCo-founder, CTO4 min readUpdated Apr 22, 2026

On this page

Why conditional forwarding
Get your LARA number
Carrier-specific codes
Test the forward
Troubleshooting

Why conditional forwarding

Conditional forwarding sends calls to LARA only when (a) you don't answer after N rings, (b) your line is busy, or (c) the phone is unreachable. Your team still answers everything they pick up — LARA only sees the drops.

Beats unconditional

Don't use Call Forwarding (Always). It routes everything to LARA and your team never gets a chance to pick up. Always pick conditional or No-Answer forwarding.

Get your LARA number

Open Settings → LARA → Phone numbers.
Buy a fresh number you'll forward to. Pick any area code — the number stays hidden from callers.
Copy the number. You'll need it for the carrier codes below.

Carrier-specific codes

Each carrier uses a slightly different dial code. The pattern is consistent: a star or pound prefix, the LARA number, and a confirmation tone.

text

Verizon Wireless
  No-answer forward:  *71<LARA-NUMBER>
  Cancel:             *73

AT&T Wireless
  No-answer forward:  *61*<LARA-NUMBER>#
  Cancel:             ##61#

T-Mobile
  No-answer forward:  **61*<LARA-NUMBER>**30#  (30 = ring time in seconds)
  Cancel:             ##61#

Most VoIP / business lines
  Configure in your provider's web admin under "Call Routing" → "No Answer".

Ring count matters

Set the ring count to 4 (≈20 seconds). Less than that and your team won't have time to grab the phone. More than that and callers hang up before LARA gets the call.

Test the forward

From a different phone, call your real business number.
Let it ring 5+ times without picking up.
LARA should answer. If it doesn't, the forwarding rule didn't take.
Check /lara/calls — the call should appear with the original caller's number, not LARA's.

Troubleshooting

Carrier doesn't honor the code — call your carrier's business support; some prepaid plans block forwarding entirely.
Calls forward immediately — you set unconditional forwarding by mistake. Cancel and re-set with the no-answer code.
Caller ID shows your own number — LARA is configured correctly; the carrier is rewriting CLI. Switch your LARA number's CLI mode to "original caller" in Settings → LARA → Phone numbers.