Editing Remote call forwarding (section)

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In [[telecommunications]], '''remote call forwarding''' is a [[service feature]] that allows incoming calls to be forwarded to a remote [[call forwarding]] number, such as a cell phone or another office location, and is designated by the [[called party|call receiver]].<ref name=Hoxie2010>{{Cite book|last=Hoxie|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JYALAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA123|title=90 Days to Success Marketing and Advertising Your Small Business|date=2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-4354-5829-1|pages=123|language=en}}</ref><ref name=Black2001>{{Cite book|last=Black|first=Sharon K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IxHIYjw0ywwC&pg=PA104|title=Telecommunications Law in the Internet Age|date=2001|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=978-0-08-051868-8|pages=104|language=en}}</ref>

Customers may have a remote-forwarding [[telephone number]] in a central [[telephone exchange|switching]] office without having any other local telephone service in that office.

One common purpose for this service is to enable customers to retain their telephone number when they move to a location serviced by a different telephone exchange. The service is useful for business customers with widely advertised numbers which appear on headed paper, vehicles and various marketing literature. When customers ring, their calls are forwarded to the new location.

Remote call forwarding is also a means for a suburban business to obtain a city-centre local number (with its full large-city coverage area) for inbound calls; while cheaper than a [[foreign exchange line]], this can reduce [[long-distance telephony]] costs in markets where local calls are flat-rated but trunk calls are expensive.

One alternative to RCF is Caller Redirect whereby callers simply hear an intercept message notifying them that the number has changed. Another alternative is to port the existing number to a [[voice over IP]] carrier, which is not tied to a single physical location as the subscriber may be anywhere on broadband Internet.  However, not all phone numbers can be ported.