Remote Virtual Receptionist

The core idea is simple: your phone line stays with your phone company, but incoming calls get sent somewhere else to be answered. You keep your public business number. Callers dial it like always, and your phone service forwards the call to the remote receptionist instead of ringing at your desk.

With AllDayDesk, the receptionist is an AI trained on your saved business details. Setup starts by choosing your business or entering its website, checking the details it found, and hearing a personalized sample of how it would answer for you. The sample creates no real booking, so you can listen without anything being scheduled. If you like what you hear, you choose a phone setup option and follow the forwarding instructions for your phone service.

Because the receptionist works from saved information rather than a physical office, it can be available around the clock. That describes availability, not a guarantee that every single call connects, but it means callers can reach help outside normal business hours without anyone being at the office.

• You keep your existing public phone number; forwarding sends calls to the receptionist.
• Forwarding instructions depend on your phone provider, so check which service you have first.
• The AI answers using your saved business information, services, and availability.
• Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings show up in your dashboard.

A remote virtual receptionist takes over the phone tasks that follow you around when you are the one answering. Most owners answer their own phone, which means calls interrupt jobs, appointments, and evenings. Off-site coverage moves those interruptions somewhere else.

AllDayDesk answers questions using your saved business information, takes messages when it does not know an answer, a price, or an open appointment, and books new appointments once you have configured your services and availability in the dashboard. New bookings go to the built-in AllDayDesk calendar by default. If you prefer Google Calendar, you can connect it in Settings after you connect and authorize your Google account.

There are honest limits. Changes to existing appointments are passed to you as requests, not confirmed changes, so you stay in control of your schedule. Transfers to you are possible, but you must configure a destination and rules first, and neither pickup nor an immediate response is guaranteed. When a caller needs something the receptionist cannot answer, it takes a message instead of guessing.

• Answers common questions from your saved business details.
• Takes messages when an answer, price, or opening is unknown.
• Books new appointments into the dashboard calendar, or Google Calendar if you connect it.
• Sends existing-appointment changes to you as requests to approve.
• Can transfer calls to a destination you configure, with rules you set.

An in-house receptionist does more than answer the phone. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, receptionists also greet visitors and handle office tasks beyond phone answering. A remote phone service covers calls only, so compare the scope of the job, not just the cost, before deciding one replaces the other.

Human virtual receptionist services exist too, and they work remotely as well. Ruby advertises live virtual receptionist plans starting at $245 per month as of October 2026, and Smith.ai uses per-call pricing for its human receptionist service. Those starting prices are not complete cost comparisons; you would need to check each current quote for included minutes or calls, overage charges, hours, and contract terms.

AllDayDesk takes the AI approach: it is this site's own product, and it answers around the clock using your saved information. Human services offer judgment and conversation from a person; an AI service offers consistent availability and answers drawn directly from the details you save. Neither is automatically better; the right fit depends on your call volume, your budget, and how much of your phone work is routine questions and scheduling.

• In-house reception includes greeting visitors and office tasks, not just phones.
• Human remote services, like Ruby and Smith.ai, price by month or per call; verify current quotes.
• AllDayDesk is an AI receptionist that answers around the clock from your saved business info.
• Compare included minutes, overage rates, and hours before choosing any service.

The one technical step in going remote is forwarding your existing number. How you do it depends entirely on your phone provider, so identify your exact service before following any instructions. A mobile plan, a business landline, and a hosted voice product from the same company can all use different steps.

Some verified examples show the range. Verizon mobile uses *72 plus the destination to forward all calls and *73 to turn it off, with *71 for unanswered calls. T-Mobile uses codes like **21*1 followed by the destination and # for unconditional forwarding. Spectrum Business Voice manages forwarding through the SpectrumBusiness.net portal under Voice Settings or Forwarding Manager, where you can choose all calls or busy/no-answer forwarding. Optimum Business Phone uses *72 with a confirmation step, and Vonage Business Communications enables forwarding to a phone number from its Call Forwarding setting.

One important exception: Google Voice does not support forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system, so that path will not work for this kind of service. If your provider is not listed here, check their support pages or ask them whether forwarding is available on your specific plan, since features can vary by product and area.

• Identify your exact phone product before using any forwarding instructions.
• Mobile carriers often use star codes; many business landline and hosted systems use a web portal.
• Verizon mobile: *72 plus destination for all calls, *71 for unanswered, *73 to disable.
• T-Mobile: **21*1 plus destination and # for unconditional; ##21# disables.
• Google Voice numbers cannot be forwarded to an automated answering system.

A few questions help you decide. First, how much of your phone traffic is routine? If most calls are questions about hours, services, pricing, and booking, an AI receptionist drawing from your saved details handles that well. If callers frequently need nuanced judgment, a human service may fit better.

Second, when do your calls come in? If you miss calls in evenings or on weekends because no one is at the desk, around-the-clock availability is the main draw. Third, what happens after the call? Check that the dashboard gives you the records you want. AllDayDesk shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in one place, so you can review what happened without listening to every call.

Finally, think about your calendar. Booking works best once you have configured your services and availability, and you can choose the built-in dashboard calendar or connect Google Calendar in Settings. If your scheduling lives in some other tool, plan how you will keep it updated, since Google Calendar is the only external calendar connection supported.

• Routine questions and scheduling fit AI coverage well; nuanced judgment may need a human service.
• Around-the-clock availability helps when calls arrive outside your working hours.
• Review calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in the dashboard to stay on top of things.
• Set up services and availability before relying on automated booking.