On-site phone system and adaptor box call forwarding to Terva
Use this if your phones run through a box at the practice: a phone system in a cupboard (NEC, Panasonic, Hybrex, Samsung, Avaya or Mitel), or a small adaptor box such as Grandstream that connects older phones to an internet phone line. Start with your phone company, not the box.
Your phones ring first, so the front desk gets the first chance to answer. Terva answers when nobody picks up.
Enter it once and every code on this page uses it. Copy works once it’s filled in.
Turn off voicemail first
Voicemail or a recorded message that answers first stops the call reaching Terva.
Find out whether night mode, a recorded message or the system’s voicemail answers when nobody picks up. If one does, it has to stop before Terva can answer.
Choose when Terva answers
We recommend When no one answers, left on all the time. The rest are optional.
Aim for a 15-second ring time. 10 to 20 seconds is fine. If calls enter a queue, set the caller’s total wait to about 15 to 30 seconds.
Best: your phone company forwards at their end
Send your phone company the request below. They forward unanswered calls after 15 seconds, and nothing on the box changes.
An adaptor box with its own web page
Log in to the adaptor’s web page and find the call forward settings for the port your practice line uses.
Set a delayed (no-answer) forward to your Terva number, after about 15 seconds. Clearing the field undoes it.
A phone system in a cupboard
Send your phone technician the request below. They program the forward on the incoming line, not a single desk phone.
Check with your provider
Grandstream adaptors differ by model. If you can’t find a forward setting on the web page, ask your phone company.
Ask your phone company to forward busy calls to your Terva number too, if your line offers it.
No-answer forwarding covers after hours if nothing answers at night. If night mode plays a message, ask your technician to forward at night instead.
Don’t build an opening-hours schedule into an older phone system first. It’s the hardest place to change and to undo.
Ring time
Set the no-answer ring time to 15 seconds where you can. 10 to 20 seconds is fine. For a call queue, set the caller’s total wait to about 15 to 30 seconds.
Ask for about 15 seconds of ringing before the forward.
Check it works
- From another phone, not one on your practice line, ring your practice number.
- Don’t answer at the practice. Let it ring out.
- Terva answers.
- Do it again once after hours. If voicemail, or someone carrying the practice phone, answers first, the call won’t reach Terva.
Ringing your Terva number directly doesn’t test forwarding. To test When busy, keep another call going on the line first. Test the after-hours route after closing.
Signed up to Terva? Press Check it works on Phone line, and Terva rings your line for you. How the check works.
Turn forwarding off
Ask whoever made the change to remove the forward. If your technician saved your settings first, they can put them back.
Someone else looks after your phones?
Copy this, fill in the [brackets] and send it. It has your Terva number once you enter it above.
Your phone company
Codes don’t work, the account holder has to ask, or the line runs through an adaptor or older phone system.
Hi, I’m [your name], the account holder for [practice name].
On our number [practice number], please turn on call forwarding when not answered, to 0X XXXX XXXX, after 15 seconds. Please don’t forward every call: our phones should ring first.
Please also: - turn off message bank (voicemail) on this number, or tell me how, so it doesn’t answer first - set this at your end, not on our phone system or adaptor box - keep the caller’s number showing on forwarded calls
What does a forwarded call cost on our plan, and how do I turn this off again? I authorise this change.
When it’s done, Terva will ring our number to check it works.
Thanks, [your name]
Your on-site phone technician
A phone system in a cupboard: NEC, Panasonic, Hybrex, Samsung, Avaya, Mitel or similar.
Hi, we’re setting up Terva to answer our practice’s calls when our team can’t. We’d like unanswered calls to [practice number] to go to our Terva number, 0X XXXX XXXX. Please pick the simplest of these:
1. Preferred: tell us if our phone company can forward unanswered calls at their end, with no change to our system. If so, we’ll ask them. 2. Otherwise: program external call forwarding on the incoming line for [practice number], after 15 seconds unanswered. At night, if night mode answers, forward instead.
Before you change anything, please: - save a copy of our current programming, and tell us how to put it back - check we have a spare line, since a forwarded call uses two lines while connected - check no forwarding timer cuts calls off (calls can last 10 minutes) - check the caller’s number passes through - check night mode or voicemail doesn’t answer before the forward
Please tell us the make and model, what you changed, and how to undo it. When it’s done, Terva will ring our number to check it works.
Thanks, [your name]
Good to know
A call forwarded by a phone system uses two of your lines while it’s connected: one in, one out. On a two-line system, other callers hear busy.
Check with your provider
Some systems cut forwarded calls off after a set time; on a Hybrex G1E it’s about 3 minutes unless changed. Ask your technician to check.
Sources
These steps follow the provider’s own guides, checked in September and October 2026. Menus change, so if a step doesn’t match what you see, check with your provider.
Other phone systems
See every phone system- A phone system answers first
- Calls already go to a mobile
- Telstra mobile
- Optus mobile
- Vodafone mobile
- Boost, ALDI, amaysim and others
- Telstra home or business phone
- Optus landline
- TPG or iiNet
- Aussie Broadband
- 3CX
- Maxo (MaxoTel)
- Hosted desk phones
- Microsoft Teams Phone
- Zoom Phone
- RingCentral
- Telstra TIPT
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