Virtual Phone Answering Service

A virtual answering service sits between your callers and you. When a call comes in, the service answers in your business's name, using details it learned from your website or the business information you saved. It can answer general questions, take a message, and book new appointments.

The word virtual means the answering happens away from your office, not that a stranger pretends to be your employee. With AllDayDesk, the answering is done by an AI receptionist trained on your business information. It is available around the clock, though availability is not a promise that every single call connects.

Everything the service handles is visible to you. Your dashboard shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and any bookings, so you always know who called and what they needed.

• Answers calls in your business name using your saved business information
• Takes messages when an answer, price, or appointment time is unknown
• Books new appointments once you have configured your services and availability
• Shows calls, transcripts, summaries, and bookings in your dashboard

Setup starts with your business, not with hardware or contracts. You choose your business from a listing or enter its website, and AllDayDesk builds its knowledge from that information. You then check the details it learned, correct anything wrong, and hear a personalized sample of how your calls would be answered. The sample is a preview only; it does not create a real booking.

Next you choose your phone setup. You can keep your public number and forward calls to AllDayDesk, so callers never see a new number. The exact forwarding instructions depend on your phone service, and our guides cover the major carriers step by step.

Once calls are flowing, you configure your services and availability so the service can book new appointments on the built-in AllDayDesk dashboard calendar. If you prefer, you can optionally connect Google Calendar in Settings after connecting and authorizing your Google account.

• Choose your business or enter its website
• Check the learned details and hear a personalized sample
• Choose phone setup and forward your existing number
• Configure services and availability to enable appointment booking

Forwarding is done through your phone carrier, not through AllDayDesk. Each carrier has its own method. Verizon mobile, for example, activates all-call forwarding with *72 plus the 10-digit destination and turns it off with *73, while T-Mobile uses codes like **21*1 followed by the destination and # for unconditional forwarding. Business products differ from wireless lines even within the same company, so identify your exact service before dialing anything.

Some providers use an online portal instead of star codes. Spectrum Business Voice, for instance, manages forwarding through Voice Settings or the Forwarding Manager after signing in at SpectrumBusiness.net. Vonage Business Communications lets you enable forwarding to a phone number from its Call Forwarding setting.

One important limit: Google Voice does not support forwarding calls from a Google Voice number to an automated system, so AllDayDesk is not a forwarding destination for Google Voice lines. If you are unsure what your carrier supports, check your bill for the exact product name and use the matching guide.

• Forwarding codes and steps come from your carrier, not from AllDayDesk
• Wireless and business landline products often use different codes
• Some providers use a web portal instead of star codes
• Google Voice numbers cannot be forwarded to an automated answering system

A good virtual answering service knows its limits. When a caller asks something AllDayDesk cannot answer from your saved information, such as an exact price for an unusual job or a question about an existing appointment, it takes a message instead of guessing. You see the message in your dashboard and follow up yourself.

New appointments are booked on the built-in dashboard calendar by default, once you have set up your services and availability. If you connect Google Calendar in Settings, bookings can work with that calendar instead. Existing appointment changes are different: the service passes those requests to you as requests, and you confirm or decline them. It does not confirm changes on its own.

Transfers to you are also possible, but you must configure a transfer destination and the rules for when transfers happen. A transfer is not guaranteed to connect or to get an immediate response from you, which is why messages remain part of the service.

• Unknown answers, prices, or times become messages, not guesses
• New bookings go to the dashboard calendar, or Google Calendar if you connect it
• Changes to existing appointments arrive as requests for you to approve
• Transfers require you to set a destination and rules in advance

Virtual answering services generally come in two forms: AI answering and human answering. Both answer remotely, but they work differently and price differently.

Human services, such as Ruby's live virtual receptionists or Smith.ai's virtual receptionist service, use trained people to answer your calls. Ruby advertises plans starting at $245 per month as of October 2026, and Smith.ai uses per-call pricing that depends on the needs you select. Those starting prices are not complete comparisons; you would need a current quote to see included minutes, overages, and hours.

AllDayDesk, the service on this site, uses an AI receptionist with plan-based pricing that is displayed separately from this page. When comparing any options, look past the headline price and check what each plan includes, what happens when you exceed it, and how bookings and messages reach you.

• Human services answer with trained staff; AI services answer with software trained on your business
• Compare included minutes or calls, overage rates, and contract terms, not just the starting price
• Check how each option delivers messages and bookings to you
• Pricing for AllDayDesk plans is shown separately from this page