The Monday rush
At 8 a.m. every customer who thought about it over the weekend calls at once. One person answers the first call; the rest hear ringing, then voicemail, then they try someone else.
Solutions by problem · overflow
A second caller does not have to
become another voicemail.
A busy line is a good problem until the third caller gives up. Overflow answering sends the calls your team cannot take to the receptionist, which answers from your approved information and captures the request, so nobody has to call back to ask what it was about.
From $49/month with 250 AI minutes and one US local number included. See full pricing
Where the calls go today
The season
The first heat wave, the first snowfall, tax week, the week before a holiday. Volume triples for ten days, and hiring for ten days is not an option.
The one-line office
A single line and a single person means every call is either answered or missed. Overflow turns either into both: your team takes the calls it can, and the receptionist takes the rest.
What happens when the receptionist answers
Your carrier sends the overflow
Most phone systems and carriers can forward a call when the line is busy or after a number of rings. Point that forwarding at the receptionist’s number. Calls your team answers never leave your phone.
The receptionist answers the overflow call
It opens with the AI disclosure and your business name, answers the questions you approved and captures the request in full, the same as a call that came to it first.
Simultaneous calls up to your plan
Each plan allows a fixed number of AI calls at the same time, on shared fleet capacity rather than reserved lines. The table below reads the numbers from the published rate card.
Beyond the plan, your fallback
When every AI line is busy, the caller follows the waiting queue with position announcements, or the fallback path you configured: a short message, consented voicemail or a transfer. You decide the order, and waiting adds no AI minutes.
How many calls each plan takes at once
Simultaneous AI calls are a ceiling per plan on shared fleet capacity, not reserved hardware. Beyond it, the next caller follows the waiting or fallback path you configured.
| Plan | Simultaneous AI calls | AI minutes included | Number included | Your own Twilio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | Up to 2 | 250 | $49/month | $39/month plus your Twilio bill |
| Business | Up to 3 | 1,000 | $139/month | $109/month plus your Twilio bill |
| Scale | Up to 5 | 2,000 | $269/month | $219/month plus your Twilio bill |
AI time is metered per second with a 30-second minimum per AI-handled call. Waiting, messages and voicemail add no AI minutes. Get a supported US local business number without setting up your own Twilio account. Search by city, state or area code during paid setup; actual inventory, the number quote, accepted billing/funding and call qualification determine activation.
An example call
Illustrative example A Monday morning at an accounting firm in the week before a filing deadline, with both office lines busy. The business, the caller and the policy are invented; the receptionist opens every real call with its AI disclosure.
- AI receptionist
Thanks for calling Harbor Tax and Bookkeeping. I am an AI receptionist for the team; everyone is on a call right now, so I can help or take a message. How can I help?
- Caller
I need to drop off documents for my return. Are you open Saturday?
- AI receptionist
Yes, during filing season the office is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Documents can be left at the front desk or in the drop box by the door.
- Caller
Great. Also, I never got the questionnaire you usually send. Can someone resend it?
- AI receptionist
I can pass that to your preparer. Can I get your name, and is the email address on file still the right one?
- Caller
Dana Okafor. The email on file is fine.
- AI receptionist
Thank you, Dana. Your preparer will see the request to resend the questionnaire and a note that you plan to drop documents off on Saturday. Is there anything else?
- Caller
No, that covers it.
- AI receptionist
Thanks for calling Harbor Tax and Bookkeeping. Goodbye.
What your team sees
Synthetic example record The inbox shows a request for Dana Okafor: resend the questionnaire to the email on file, documents to be dropped off Saturday. The call never rang an office line that was already busy, and the preparer handles it between calls.
What it handles, what it captures, what it does not do
The same table on every receptionist page, because the limits matter as much as the features when you are choosing.
| On a call | Today | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Questions about hours, services, areas and prices | Handled on the call | Answered from the business information you approve. A question you have not covered gets a plain "I do not have that" and a message for your team, never a guess. |
| Reaching a person on your team | Handled on the call | A transfer to one eligible US destination, with the teammates you list tried in turn when the first does not pick up. |
| Closed hours, a busy line and holidays | Handled on the call | Your closed-hours message, a bounded waiting queue with position announcements, and the fallback path you configure when every AI line is busy. |
| Messages and callback requests | Captured for your team | Name, number, the request in the caller’s words and the details you ask for, in your inbox and on your webhooks the moment the call ends. |
| Appointment and estimate requests | Captured for your team | The request, the address and the caller’s preferred times. Your team confirms the time from the record; the receptionist writes no calendar. |
| Emergencies and safety | Captured for your team | Only the safety wording you approve, such as where a shutoff valve is, then the on-call transfer and an urgent request. It gives no medical, legal or electrical advice of its own. |
| Dispatching a crew or promising an arrival time | Not part of the receptionist | Not the receptionist’s job: your dispatcher assigns the work and your team confirms the visit from the record it leaves. |
| Texting the caller afterwards | Not part of the receptionist | It sends no text messages. Requests reach you in the inbox, on your signed webhooks and through the API. |
| Writing to a calendar, a CRM or a dispatch system | Not part of the receptionist | No named connector exists. Results reach other systems through signed webhooks, CSV export and the API. |
| Recording the whole call | Not part of the receptionist | Full-call recording is not part of the receptionist offer. Every call leaves a record of what was asked and what was answered. |
| Languages other than English | Not part of the receptionist | English today. |
| Guaranteed answer rates, response times or outcomes | Not part of the receptionist | Capacity is per plan on shared fleet, not reserved hardware. When every AI line is busy, callers follow the fallback path you chose. |
For this problem in particular
- Capacity is per plan on shared fleet, not reserved lines. The limit is a ceiling the plan allows, and callers beyond it follow your fallback path.
- The receptionist cannot see your office phones. It answers what your carrier forwards to it; calls your team picks up stay with your team.
- Waiting, messages and voicemail add no AI minutes. The AI part of each answered call is metered per second, with a per-call minimum, against your plan’s included minutes.
- It takes no payments and dispatches nobody. It answers questions and captures requests for the people who do.
What you set up
Decide what overflows
Busy-line forwarding, no-answer forwarding after a number of rings, or both. Your carrier’s settings control this; the receptionist answers whatever arrives.
Choose the plan for your peaks
Pick the simultaneous-call limit for your busiest hour, not your average. The cost calculator prices a month of calls on every plan, and a tier change takes effect at renewal.
Configure the path beyond capacity
Waiting queue, message, consented voicemail or transfer. Test it on a quiet day, because it is the one path you will not see until the busy one.
Setup starts from your website: the receptionist drafts its answers from your public pages and you review every one before paying. How setup works, step by step.
Questions before you decide
How many calls can it take at once?
A fixed number per plan on shared fleet capacity; the table on this page reads the numbers from the published rate card. Beyond the limit, the next caller follows the waiting or fallback path you configured.
Does my team lose calls to the receptionist?
No. Calls your team answers never leave your phone. Only the calls your carrier forwards, because the line was busy or went unanswered, reach the receptionist.
What does the caller hear when every line is busy?
What you chose: a waiting queue with position announcements and optional hold music, a short message, consented voicemail or a transfer. Waiting adds no AI minutes.
Can it answer my main number directly instead of only overflow?
Yes. Forward the number all the time rather than on busy, and the receptionist takes every call first, transferring to your team when a caller should reach a person.
Is a staffed answering service better for overflow?
A staffed service puts a person on the overflow call and bills by the minute or the call; the comparison page prices both on the same month. The receptionist answers the same questions every time from your approved information, and each call has its own line, so a caller is not put on hold while another is answered.
Keep reading
AI receptionist cost calculator
A month of calls priced on every plan, with the capacity of each.
AI receptionist or answering service?
Both priced on the same month, with the caller experience of each.
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Make a busy line a good sign again.
Forward on busy, choose the plan for your peak hour, and test the fallback once.