Virtual Call Assistant

A virtual call assistant sits between your callers and you. When someone calls your business number, the call is forwarded to the assistant, which answers using the details you saved — your services, hours, location, and policies. The assistant can answer questions from that information, collect the caller's name, number, and reason for calling, and book new appointments.

It is different from a simple auto attendant. An auto attendant plays a menu ("press 1 for hours, press 2 for directions"), while a call assistant carries on a conversation, understands what the caller needs, and responds in plain language. It is also different from a human answering service: the assistant works from your saved business information rather than a script written by someone else, and there is no per-call agent billing to manage.

• Answers your business line around the clock using your saved business details
• Answers common questions about your services, hours, and policies
• Takes a message with the caller's name, number, and reason for calling
• Books new appointments once you have configured your services and availability
• Shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in your dashboard

Being honest about limits helps you decide if this fits. When a caller asks something the assistant does not have an answer for — an unusual price, a policy question you never saved, or a scheduling conflict it cannot resolve — it takes a message so you can follow up yourself. It does not guess.

Changes to existing appointments are handled as requests for you to review, not confirmed changes. If a caller wants to move or cancel a booking, the assistant records the request and you approve or adjust it in your dashboard.

Transfers to you are possible, but only after you configure a transfer destination and rules. A transfer is not guaranteed to connect — if you are on another call or unavailable, the assistant handles the call in its normal way rather than promising an outcome. And the assistant does not give medical, legal, or financial advice, verify insurance, or handle emergencies.

• Unknown answers, prices, or appointment times become messages, not guesses
• Existing appointment changes are requests for you, not confirmed changes
• Transfers require you to set a destination and rules, and pickup is not guaranteed
• No medical, legal, or financial advice, and no emergency handling

Getting started with AllDayDesk takes a few clear steps, and you hear what callers will hear before anything goes live.

First, you choose your business from a list or enter its website. The assistant reads the site and builds a profile of your services, hours, and location. You check those details and correct anything wrong — this profile is what the assistant draws from on every call.

Next, you hear a personalized sample call so you know exactly how the assistant sounds and answers. The sample is a demonstration only; it does not create a real booking. If you like what you hear, you move on to phone setup.

Phone setup means forwarding your existing number to the service, so you keep the number your customers already know. The exact forwarding steps depend on your phone provider, and the guides below cover the major ones.

• Choose your business or enter its website to build the assistant's profile
• Review and correct the details it learned before going live
• Listen to a personalized sample — no real booking is created
• Forward your existing number; you keep your public phone number

Forwarding instructions vary by provider and product, so identify your exact service before dialing any code. These examples come from each provider's own documentation.

Verizon mobile: dial *72 plus the 10-digit destination to forward all calls, and *73 to turn it off. For calls that go unanswered, *71 plus the destination covers that case. Setup must be done from the phone while in Verizon coverage, and charges depend on your plan. T-Mobile: dial **21*1 followed by the 10-digit destination and # for unconditional forwarding, or **61*1 plus the destination and # for no-reply forwarding. Dial ##21# or ##61# to disable, and ##004# to reset forwarding to defaults.

AT&T Phone for Business: dial *72, the destination, then # for all calls; *92, destination, # for no-answer; and *90, destination, # for busy. Disable with *73#, *93#, or *91# respectively. These codes differ from AT&T wireless and AT&T Collaborate, so confirm your product first.

Comcast Business, Spectrum Business Voice, Vonage Business Communications, and Frontier Digital Voice manage forwarding through their online portals or apps rather than (or in addition to) star codes. Check which product you subscribe to — features and steps differ even within the same brand.

• Verizon mobile: *72 + destination (all calls), *71 + destination (unanswered), *73 to disable
• T-Mobile: **21*1 + destination # (all calls), **61*1 + destination # (no reply), ##004# to reset
• AT&T Phone for Business: *72/destination/# all calls, *92 no-answer, *90 busy
• Portal-based providers: Comcast Business, Spectrum Business Voice, Vonage, Frontier Digital Voice
• Always confirm your exact product — codes differ between wireless, landline, and business VoIP versions of the same brand

If your business runs on a Google Voice number, forwarding that number to an automated answering system is not a supported path — Google states this directly in its own documentation. Google Voice can forward calls to linked phone numbers, but not to automated systems like a virtual call assistant.

If you use Google Voice, your options are to forward a different underlying carrier line, or to use a separate business number for the assistant. Do not attempt to chain Google Voice into the service, and note that Google Calendar support in AllDayDesk is a separate, optional connection made in Settings after you authorize your account — it has nothing to do with Google Voice.

• Google Voice does not support forwarding to automated answering systems
• Use a carrier line or separate business number instead
• Google Calendar is an optional connection in Settings, authorized by you — it is not automatic

New appointments made by the assistant go into the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar by default. This works once you have configured your services and availability, so the assistant only offers times you actually want to book.

If you already run your schedule in Google Calendar, you can optionally connect it in Settings. You connect and authorize your Google account yourself; the connection is not automatic and no other calendar or scheduling software is supported.

Every booking, along with the call transcript and a summary, appears in your dashboard, so you can review what happened on each call without listening to recordings.

• New bookings go to the built-in dashboard calendar by default
• Configure services and availability first so only real openings are offered
• Google Calendar is an optional connection in Settings, after you authorize it
• Calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings are all visible in the dashboard

A virtual call assistant makes the most sense when calls come in while you are busy or unavailable, and when most callers want one of a few predictable things: your hours, your services, a price range, or an appointment. Owners who work solo — contractors, cleaners, technicians, and similar one-person operations — often fit this pattern because there is no one else to pick up the phone.

It is a weaker fit if most of your calls need judgment calls, sensitive detail collection, or back-and-forth negotiation that only you can handle. In that case, a message-taking setup still helps, but you may also want to compare human services. Human virtual receptionist services exist at a range of price points — for example, Ruby advertises plans starting at $245 per month as of October 2026, and Smith.ai offers both human per-call pricing and a separate AI receptionist product — but included minutes, overage rates, hours, and contracts vary, so compare current quotes rather than headline prices.

Also consider scope: an in-house receptionist does more than answer phones, including greeting visitors and office tasks, so a phone service is not a full replacement for that role.

• Good fit: predictable call types, solo operation, calls arriving while you work
• Weaker fit: calls needing judgment, negotiation, or sensitive details
• Human services vary widely in price and structure — compare current quotes
• A phone service does not replace the full scope of an in-house receptionist