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AI Frontdesk: Passing on the original number when forwarding calls

Valid for AI Receptionist (packages from August 19, 2026). (Momentum AI)

If you forward calls from your business number to your assistant, the caller’s original number should be passed on – the original caller ID. If your own business number is transmitted instead, the AI Receptionist will see the same number for every call and will not be able to recognise the caller. Whether the original caller ID is passed on is not determined in the assistant interface, but where your call forwarding is set up: with your phone provider or in your phone system. The following sections explain which settings are required.

Requirements

  • You forward calls from your existing business number to your assistant. The article Routing calls to your assistant explains how to set up call forwarding.

Note

If you provide your assistant’s phone number directly to your customers, this article does not apply to you. Without call forwarding, your customers will dial your assistant’s number directly – their own number will not be replaced in the process.

Why it is important to pass on the original phone number

If your own phone number – that of your switchboard, for example – is transmitted instead of the caller’s number when a call is diverted, this has the following disadvantages:

  • Your assistant cannot greet the caller personally.
  • Your CRM system cannot recognise the caller automatically, so your assistant cannot access the customer data stored for them.
  • Your assistant cannot allocate call-backs correctly.

Which connection option is right for you?

There are two technical ways to pass on the original phone number. Which one applies to you depends on where your call forwarding is set up:

  • Standard landline connection (for example, with BT or Vodafone): network call forwarding, set up in your provider’s customer portal or with a dialling code on the line.
  • Cloud-based phone system (for example, Gamma Horizon or BT Cloud Voice): the CLIP Passthrough function in your phone system.

Setting up call forwarding on your phone provider’s network

If you set up call forwarding via your phone provider’s customer portal, it takes place directly within the provider’s network – some providers call this network call forwarding, while others call it network-based call forwarding. The caller’s number is passed on unchanged.

  • Make sure that call forwarding is not set up on the phone itself.
  • Log in to your phone provider’s customer portal (for example, BT or Vodafone).
  • In the customer portal, set up network call forwarding to the number of your AI Receptionist.

Enabling CLIP Passthrough in your cloud phone system

If you use a cloud-based phone system (for example, Gamma Horizon), call forwarding often takes place within that system. To ensure that the original number is passed on, a feature called CLIP Passthrough must be enabled.

Note

The CLIP Passthrough function goes by different names depending on the provider: CLIP no screening, Original CLI, and Use original caller ID are all common. You can find the exact term for your provider in the table below.

To enable CLIP Passthrough:

  • Log in to the administration panel of your phone system.
  • Find the caller ID settings for call forwarding.
  • Enable the CLIP Passthrough option, or the equivalent option under the name your provider uses.
The following table shows the settings required by some common UK providers in order to pass on the original phone number:
Provider Required setting
RingCentral (also sold as BT Cloud Work) Set Incoming number displayed to me to Incoming Caller ID
8x8 None – a forwarded call keeps the number exactly as it entered the system
BT Cloud Voice Set the divert up in the Business Portal (Call Forwarding Always), not on the handset
Gamma Horizon Set the divert up in the Horizon portal, not on the handset
BT (landline) Use Call Diversion on the line – the original caller’s number is then displayed
Vodafone (landline) Use Call Divert or Smart Divert on the line, not on the handset

What should you do if callers are not recognised?

If your AI Receptionist only greets callers with a generic message, the problem is almost always down to incorrect caller ID transmission. It is likely that your own office number is being sent instead of the caller’s number.

Here’s how to fix the problem:

  • If you use a cloud-based phone system (for example, RingCentral or Gamma Horizon), log in to your phone system and enable the CLIP Passthrough function, as described above under Enabling CLIP Passthrough in your cloud phone system.
  • If you use a standard landline (for example, from BT or Vodafone), make sure you are using network call forwarding. You set this up in your provider’s customer portal, not on the handset itself, as described above under Setting up call forwarding on your phone provider’s network.

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