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Missed call text vs diverting calls to another phone
This is the closest comparison on the site, because it is the same mechanism. Both use the network's unanswered-call divert; the only difference is what sits at the other end of it. Send the call to another phone and a person can answer it. Send it to us and nobody answers, but the caller gets a text. Which is better depends entirely on whether there is reliably somebody free to pick up.
New to the category? Start with the plain-English missed call text service overview.
| Diverting calls to another phone | TextTheCaller | |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | Network unanswered-call divert | The same network divert |
| What happens at the other end | Another phone rings | The call is rejected and a text goes out |
| If nobody is free | Rings out again into their voicemail | Caller still gets your text |
| Works out of hours | Only if somebody is there | Always |
| Detail captured | Good — a person can ask | None beyond their number |
| Call charges | The forwarded leg is billed for its full duration | Rejected on arrival, so momentary |
| Cost | Free, plus call charges | £6.49/month, plus a momentary forwarded leg |
The argument
The problem with forwarding to a person
Forwarding to a colleague works beautifully right up until they are also busy. Then the call rings out a second time and lands in their voicemail instead of yours, which is the same dead end one step further along — except now the caller has been ringing for forty seconds rather than twenty and is even more likely to have hung up.
It is also billed differently to how people expect. The forwarded leg is charged to you like a call you made, and if the person at the other end answers and talks for fifteen minutes, that is fifteen minutes on your bill. A divert to a service that rejects the call has no duration to charge for.
And it only works during hours when somebody is there. Evenings, weekends and holidays are exactly when a sole trader's phone rings with next week's work, and a divert to an empty office is a longer route to voicemail.
Being fair
What forwarding to a person does better
Somebody can actually answer. That is not a small thing — a real conversation beats a text every time, and if you have an office, a partner or a colleague who is genuinely free during working hours, forwarding to them is the better product and it is free. It also captures the detail of the enquiry, which a text-back cannot do.
When forwarding to a phone is the right answer
If there is someone reliably available — an office line during business hours, a business partner who is not on the tools, a family member who takes the calls — forward to them. It costs nothing beyond the call charges and a human answering is the best outcome available. You can always add a text-back later for the hours when nobody is there.
The verdict
So which should you use?
Forward to a person if there is a person. The honest failure case is the sole trader who forwards to their own second phone, or to a partner who is equally busy, and has effectively just moved the voicemail. If nobody is reliably free to pick up, the choice is not between a text and a conversation — it is between a text and a longer silence.
Other comparisons
Try it for a week and see
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