Feature
Call forwarding answering service: keep your number, let AI answer
Forward all your calls, or only when you’re busy, away or closed, and a 100% AI receptionist answers with your business name. Forward the calls you choose to a 100% AI receptionist that answers with your business name.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime
Short answer
A call forwarding answering service picks up the calls you send it from your existing business number, so you keep the number your customers already have. With AIReceptionistGo, the receptionist that answers is 100% AI. It says so when it picks up, asks the questions in your call protocol and emails you a summary after each call. You choose when calls go to it: always, when your line is busy, when nobody picks up, or outside your hours.
What call forwarding to an AI receptionist does
Forwarding is a feature your phone line already has: calls to your number ring at another number instead. Here, that other number is a private one we give you; your customers never see it. Your AI receptionist answers it like a front desk would:
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Answers with your business name, right away, with no hold music.
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Asks the questions for your industry, in English or Spanish, until it has the details you need.
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Books, transfers or takes the message, following your rules. It can put an appointment in your calendar, pass the call live to you or someone on your team, or take a complete message.
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Flags what’s urgent and alerts the person you picked, by email or with a live transfer.
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Sends you the summary, with the recording and the transcript in your dashboard.
Nothing on your website, your truck or your business cards has to change.
How call answering and forwarding work together
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Pick when calls are forwarded
Most phone lines let you forward in a few ways. The options depend on your phone provider, and you can usually mix them:
All calls. Every call goes to your AI receptionist. Good if you’re on job sites all day.
When busy. If you’re already on a call, the next caller doesn’t get a busy signal.
When nobody answers. Your phone rings first. If you don’t pick up within a few rings, it moves on to your AI receptionist.
Outside your hours. Some providers let you forward on a schedule. If yours doesn’t, you can switch forwarding on when you close.
Whoever calls hears your phone ring as usual, and then your AI receptionist picks up. Nothing tells them the call was forwarded.
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Forward your line to the number we give you
You turn forwarding on in your phone settings or through your provider. We give you the number and walk you through it. There’s no new phone, no new contract with your phone company and no new number to print.
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Set the AI call routing: where each kind of call goes
Which calls get booked, which get transferred to whom, which become a message. A quote request might go to the calendar, a supplier might get a message, and a contractor on site might be passed straight to you. After each forwarded call, a short write-up of it reaches your email.
Example call: a forwarded call to an electrician
Brightline Electric
Booked
- AI
- Brightline Electric, this is AI Receptionist, the company’s AI assistant. What’s the job?
- Caller
- I need an estimate to add outlets in my garage.
- AI
- Happy to set that up. Your name and best number?
- Caller
- Tom Reyes, 555-0148.
- AI
- And the address?
- Caller
- 82 Linden Avenue.
- AI
- Thanks, Tom. I can book an estimate visit Thursday at 10 a.m. Does that work?
- Caller
- Perfect.
- AI
- You’re booked. The electrician will give you the price at the visit.
Summary sent to you
- Type
- new customer, estimate request.
- Caller
- Tom Reyes, 555-0148, 82 Linden Avenue.
- Job
- add outlets in the garage.
- Done
- estimate visit booked in your calendar, Thursday at 10 a.m. No price quoted.
Calls you can’t take still get answered
The owner was up a ladder when Tom called. His phone rang, nobody picked up, and the call was forwarded. If the calendar hadn’t answered, the visit would have been saved as pending and flagged for you, never confirmed to Tom.
Keep your number and stop missing these calls. Get started, or hear more example calls, forwarded and not, in the AI receptionist demo.
What you decide about your forwarded calls
You set the rules, and we build them in.
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When forwarding kicks in. All calls, busy, no answer, after hours, or a mix.
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Who gets transferred. Which callers reach you live, which reach your office manager, and which never interrupt you.
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What can be booked. The types of visit, the times you offer and the slots you keep free.
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What counts as urgent, and which person gets the alert.
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What stays off limits. Prices, arrival times and anything else you haven’t approved.
The method behind each forwarded call
Our call protocols come from nearly two decades of running phone reception for small businesses.
A forwarded call is often one you’d have missed, so these three rules carry the most weight:
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It knows when to hand over. The people you named get their calls live; everyone else gets a complete message.
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It never promises what you don’t. It books the slots you offer and quotes nothing you haven’t approved.
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You see every call. Each forwarded call is recorded, transcribed and summarized, so nothing is lost between your phone and ours.
More on the rules on our method.
Your protocol · Electrical
ApprovedOn the call above · Brightline Electric (example)
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It asks what matters
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It knows when to hand over
On this call: Nobody picked up → forwarded and answered
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It never promises what you don’t
On this call: Estimate visit booked; no price quoted
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It escalates real emergencies
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You see every call
On this call: Recorded, transcribed, summarized
Forwarding, porting or a new phone system
When you look at call forwarding services, you’ll find two other ways to get calls answered somewhere else. Here’s how they compare.
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Your number
Port your number: Moves to another provider
New phone system: Usually stays, after setupForward to AIReceptionistGo
Stays exactly where it is
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What you change
Port your number: Your phone company
New phone system: Phones, software, sometimes wiringForward to AIReceptionistGo
One forwarding setting
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To undo it
Port your number: Port the number back
New phone system: Switch systems againForward to AIReceptionistGo
Turn forwarding off
| Port your number | New phone system | Forward to AIReceptionistGo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your number | Moves to another provider | Usually stays, after setup | Stays exactly where it is |
| What you change | Your phone company | Phones, software, sometimes wiring | One forwarding setting |
| Your current phone plan | Ends or changes | Often replaced | Stays as it is |
| To undo it | Port the number back | Switch systems again | Turn forwarding off |
| Who answers | Whatever the new provider offers | You or your staff | An AI receptionist, with your protocol |
Porting or a new system makes sense when you’re moving the whole office to new phones. If the goal is simply that calls get answered, a call forwarding answering service is the smallest change you can make, and business phone forwarding keeps everything else as it is.
What it costs to forward your calls to us
Forwarding itself costs nothing on our side, and you can start with no monthly fee.
A few forwarded calls a month: Pay As You Go has no monthly fee, and each call answered costs $0.99.
Every call forwarded: the plans with calls built in begin with the 50-Call Plan, which includes 50 of them for $29 a month; past that, every additional call is $0.69. See every plan and do the math on pricing.
Free setup · No contract · Cancel anytime
Your month, by plan
Best fit: 50-Call Plan, $29.00
- Pay As You Go Best fit $29.70
- 50-Call Plan Best fit $29.00
- 100-Call Plan Best fit $49.00
What the month would cost on each plan: the monthly fee plus each call past the ones included.
Questions about a call forwarding answering service
Do I keep my business phone number?
Yes. Your number stays with your current phone provider and nothing about it changes. You only switch on forwarding so certain calls ring at the number we give you. Callers keep dialing the number on your website and your van. If you stop using the service, you turn forwarding off and calls ring at your phone again.
Can I still answer calls myself?
Yes. With forwarding on no answer, your phone rings first and the call moves on when you can’t pick up. With forwarding on busy, the second caller goes to your AI receptionist while you finish the first call. You can also forward everything for a day and switch back tomorrow. And even with all calls forwarded, the callers you’ve marked as yours are transferred to you live.
Do I need a business phone number that forwards to my cell?
Not for this. If your business line already forwards to a cell phone, the change is small: you forward it to us instead, and calls that need you can be transferred live to your cell under your rules. You keep one number for customers and pick up only the calls you want to take.
Does my phone provider charge for forwarded calls?
That depends on your plan, so ask your phone provider. Some phone plans count forwarded calls or minutes separately, and others don’t. On our side, a forwarded call is billed like any other call on your plan, with no extra charge for being forwarded. Plan details are on the pricing page.
Can different calls go to different people?
Yes. You tell us which kinds of calls go to whom: estimates to the calendar, existing customers to your office manager, urgent jobs to you. Phone systems call this skill-based call routing. Here it’s just your rules, and callers never press a key; they just say what they need. If you’re replacing a menu, see the auto attendant alternative.
What if I only want it at night or when my receptionist is busy?
Both work with forwarding; you just pick a different condition. For nights and weekends, see the after hours answering service. If someone already answers your phone and you need help when calls pile up, the overflow call answering page explains how that setup works.
Keep your number, get every call answered
Describe how your phone works today: who answers, when calls get missed and where each caller should go. We set up your protocol, you approve it, and you flip forwarding on whenever you’re ready. To see each step first, read how it works.