Virtual Assistant Call Answering

The idea is simple. Instead of your phone ringing into voicemail, calls are forwarded to a virtual assistant that answers in your business's name. The assistant uses saved details — services, hours, pricing you choose to share — to respond to common questions, take messages, and book new appointments.

With AllDayDesk, the assistant is available around the clock. That describes when the service can take calls, not a promise that every single call connects; phone networks and forwarding can fail like any technology. When the assistant does not know an answer, a price, or an available time, it takes a message instead of guessing.

Everything the assistant handles shows up in your dashboard: calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings. You can review what happened on each call without listening to recordings.

• Calls come in on your existing business number
• The assistant greets callers and answers from your saved business details
• Messages are taken when an answer, price, or appointment time is unknown
• New appointments go to the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default
• Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings are visible in the dashboard

You do not need a new phone number. You keep your public number and forward calls to AllDayDesk. The exact steps depend on your phone service, because carriers use different codes and portals.

For example, Verizon mobile uses *72 plus the destination number for all-call forwarding and *71 for unanswered calls, with *73 to turn it off. T-Mobile uses codes like **21*1 followed by the destination and # for unconditional forwarding. Comcast Business, Spectrum Business Voice, and Vonage Business Communications manage forwarding through their account portals, and the feature depends on which service you subscribe to. Always confirm the steps for your exact product with your carrier before relying on them.

One important limit: Google Voice does not support forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system, so a Google Voice line is not a compatible path to AllDayDesk.

• Forwarding is set up with your phone carrier, not inside AllDayDesk
• Activation codes differ by carrier and by product, so verify yours first
• Google Voice numbers cannot be forwarded to an automated answering system

Setup starts by choosing your business or entering its website. AllDayDesk checks the details it finds about your business, and you confirm or correct them. You then hear a personalized sample of how the assistant would sound answering for your business, and finally you choose how to connect your phone.

The sample is a demonstration only — it does not create a real booking or commit you to anything. Once you are set up, new appointments are placed on the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default, after you have configured your services and availability. If you prefer Google Calendar, an optional connection is available in Settings after you connect and authorize your Google account.

If you want callers to reach you directly in some situations, you can configure transfers. You set the destination number and the rules for when transfers happen. Neither that the caller will be picked up nor that you will respond immediately can be guaranteed — a transfer is a handoff attempt, not a promise.

• Step one: choose your business or enter its website
• Step two: check the business details AllDayDesk found
• Step three: hear a personalized sample greeting
• Step four: choose your phone setup and forwarding method
• Optional: connect Google Calendar in Settings after authorizing your account

A virtual assistant call answering service works best when its limits are clear. AllDayDesk answers questions using the business information you save, takes messages, and books new appointments once your services and availability are configured.

Changes to existing appointments are different. The assistant passes those requests to you as messages — it does not confirm a change on its own, because your calendar may have details only you know. Likewise, if a caller asks something outside your saved information, the assistant takes a message rather than inventing an answer.

The assistant does not handle payment details, medical or legal advice, emergency dispatch, or insurance verification, and it does not connect to dispatch software, CRM systems, health records, or industry scheduling tools. The only external calendar supported is the optional Google Calendar connection in Settings.

• Handles: common questions, messages, and new appointment booking
• Requests to you: changes to existing appointments
• Takes a message when an answer or price is unknown
• Does not collect sensitive medical, legal, financial, or payment details

Virtual assistant call answering comes in two broad forms: human virtual receptionist services and AI-based services. Human services, such as Ruby's live virtual receptionists, advertise plans starting at $245 per month as of October 2026, while Smith.ai offers both human per-call receptionist pricing and a separate AI receptionist product with escalation to live agents. AnswerConnect provides 24/7 live answering by people. Starting prices alone are not a full comparison — you need each provider's included minutes or calls, overage rates, hours, and contract terms from a current quote.

This comparison covers documented features from provider pages, not hands-on testing. AllDayDesk, the service on this site, is an AI assistant that answers around the clock, shows transcripts and summaries in a dashboard, and books to a built-in calendar with an optional Google Calendar connection.

A human in-house receptionist is another option entirely. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, receptionist duties include greeting visitors and office tasks beyond phone work, so a phone service replaces the call-answering part of the role, not the whole employee.

• Human virtual receptionists: real people, typically priced monthly or per call
• AI assistants: available around the clock, with dashboards for transcripts and bookings
• In-house receptionists: broader duties, but a salary and office presence
• Compare included minutes, overage pricing, and contract terms before choosing