Online Receptionist: What It Is and How to Set One Up

An online receptionist answers calls remotely, usually through software rather than a person in your building. When a customer calls your business number, the call is forwarded to the service. The receptionist greets the caller, answers questions using the details you have saved about your business, and handles the call based on your instructions.

With AllDayDesk, the receptionist is built from your saved business information. During setup you choose your business or enter its website, check the details it pulled in, and hear a personalized sample of how your receptionist will sound. The sample is only a preview, so it does not create a real booking or take any real action on your account.

Once you are live, you can see your calls, transcripts, summaries, and any booked appointments in the AllDayDesk dashboard. That record means you always know who called, what they asked, and what was promised.

• You keep your current business phone number; forwarding instructions depend on your phone service.
• The receptionist answers using the business details you saved, not guesses.
• When the receptionist does not know an answer, a price, or whether a time is open, it takes a message instead of making something up.
• Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings all show up in your dashboard.

Knowing the limits helps you decide whether an online receptionist fits your business. Here is an honest breakdown for AllDayDesk.

• Can do: answer calls around the clock, answer questions from your saved business information, take messages, and book new appointments.
• Can do: log every call with a transcript and summary so you can follow up.
• New appointments go on the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default, once you have set up your services and availability.
• Optional: you can connect Google Calendar in Settings after connecting and authorizing your Google account. Other calendars and industry scheduling software are not supported connections.
• Cannot do: confirm changes to existing appointments. Those are passed to you as requests, and you make the final call.
• Cannot do: guarantee a transfer goes through. If you configure call transfers with a destination and rules, the receptionist can attempt them, but pickup and an immediate response are not guaranteed.
• Cannot do: give medical, legal, or financial advice, verify insurance, or handle emergencies. It is a receptionist, not a licensed professional.

Setup follows the same basic path for every owner. You start by choosing your business or entering its website, then review the details the service found. If anything is wrong or missing, you fix it before going live, because the receptionist will answer callers using that information.

Next, you hear a personalized sample of your receptionist. This is your chance to check that it sounds right and knows your basics. Remember the sample does not create a real booking.

Finally, you choose your phone setup. Most owners keep their public number and forward calls to AllDayDesk. The exact forwarding steps depend on your phone carrier or phone system, so follow the instructions for your specific service.

• Step 1: Choose your business or enter its website.
• Step 2: Check the business details it found and correct anything wrong.
• Step 3: Hear a personalized sample of your receptionist.
• Step 4: Choose phone setup and forward your number using your carrier's instructions.
• Step 5: Configure your services and availability so new appointments can be booked on the dashboard calendar.

Forwarding steps vary by carrier and product, so identify your exact service before dialing anything. These verified examples show the pattern; check your own provider's current instructions before you rely on them.

• Verizon mobile: dial *72 plus the 10-digit destination to forward all calls; *71 plus the destination forwards unanswered calls; *73 disables forwarding. Set this up from the phone itself while in Verizon coverage.
• T-Mobile: dial **21*1 followed by the destination and # for unconditional forwarding; **61*1 plus destination # covers no-reply calls; ##004# resets forwarding to defaults.
• AT&T Phone for Business: all calls use *72, destination, #; no-answer uses *92, destination, #; busy uses *90, destination, #. These codes differ from AT&T wireless and AT&T Collaborate, so confirm your product first.
• Comcast Business: features like forwarding are managed through My Account or the Comcast Business App, and available features depend on your subscribed services.
• Spectrum Business Voice: sign in to SpectrumBusiness.net, open Voice, choose your number, then Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager to enable forwarding and set the destination.
• Vonage Business Communications: select Call Forwarding and enable Forward Calls to a phone number, then verify with an outside call.
• Google Voice: Google states that forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system is unsupported, so a Google Voice number is not a compatible forwarding source.

Online receptionists fall into two broad groups: services staffed by people working remotely, and software-based receptionists like AllDayDesk. Both answer calls away from your office, but they differ in cost structure, coverage, and consistency.

Human virtual receptionist services, such as Ruby, AnswerConnect, and Smith.ai's live receptionist plans, staff calls with trained people. Ruby advertises plans starting at $245 per month as of October 9, 2026, and Smith.ai uses per-call pricing for its human service. Those starting prices are not complete comparisons; you still need each provider's included allowance, overage rates, coverage hours, and contract terms from a current quote. Human coverage and fees vary by service and plan, so do not assume every human service is limited to business hours or always costs more.

A software receptionist answers with a consistent script built from your business information, is available around the clock, and logs every call in a dashboard. The tradeoff is that it is not a person: it will not handle tasks outside its instructions, and it takes a message when it does not know an answer. Smith.ai also sells a separate AI receptionist product, which shows how common this category has become, but that is their feature set, not AllDayDesk's.

Also compare against an in-house receptionist. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics describes receptionist work as including greeting visitors and office tasks beyond phone answering, so a phone service replaces the call-handling part of the job, not the whole role.

• Compare included minutes or calls, not just the starting price.
• Ask what happens when the receptionist cannot answer a question; a good service takes a message.
• Check how appointments are booked and whether your calendar tool is supported.
• Ask how you review calls; transcripts and summaries in a dashboard make follow-up easier.
• Confirm whether changes to existing appointments are confirmed automatically or passed to you as requests.

An online receptionist makes the most sense when calls come in while you are busy or unavailable and you cannot stop what you are doing to answer. Most owners answer their own phone, so the goal is not replacing staff; it is making sure callers reach a helpful voice instead of voicemail.

It fits well if you want calls answered around the clock, you want new appointments booked directly on a calendar, and you want a written record of every call. It fits less well if you need someone to handle complex judgment calls, give professional advice, or manage walk-in visitors, since a phone service does none of those.

• Good fit: solo owners and small teams who miss calls while working.
• Good fit: businesses that want after-hours coverage without hiring.
• Good fit: owners who want messages and bookings collected in one dashboard.
• Poor fit: businesses needing in-person reception, licensed advice, or emergency dispatch.